I have a problem . . .

I'm MESSY!

But the first step is to admit it, right?

Now, I don't mean messy like leave the bed unmade (which I do . . . A LOT!), but I mean messy like I don't like to throw things away in case I need them in the future. Seriously, I found pieces of batting less than an inch square. BATTING!!

Now this is a problem because S is a CLEAN FREAK! It stresses him out to live in clutter . . . and seeing him stressed out means I'm stressed out. So, before Alison was born, I decided to de-clutter. This still isn't done, but I'm close!

This week, I decided to work on the guest room/craft room. And, boy, do I have a situation.

The good news is this pile is gone.

The bad news is this pile is still in progress!

(PS: the cat, correctly named Ralph, gets stressed out by piles. So I've had additional cleaning today!)

My process is to pull EVERYTHING out into another room (in this case, the dining room) and then go through making piles and lists.

Here are my lists (on the door).

Here are my pile markers (for my book problem only, they had to be done separately!)

I have everything separated out, 5 bags of trash and 3 bags of charity/Half Price Books. Now I'm just working on finding room for everything. As this is a guest room first and foremost, there is limited space. So, I'm culling ruthlessly (yes, I have cried. No, I haven't gone back through the trash . . . yet!). So, until I knock a few projects out and get some more space, no more starting projects (A HUGE difficulty! I'm a starter, not a finisher!) and no more buying random fabric! Please keep me honest!!!!

I know this isn't a flattering picture of me, but if I can't be real here, where can I be real? So this is what I'm working on . . . should be done in a few days. I have a trip to the Container Store on schedule for this week. Hopefully it will get done without too many more tears!

See ya on the other side!