40 bags...the final update!

now that lent is over, i am going to wrap up 40 bags for this year.  i didn't make it to 40 bags, but that is okay...that was not my overall end goal.  i am happy that i got rid of stuff, things that we don't use, clothes that i don't wear and just stuff we don't need anymore.  sarah over at clover lane wrote a beautiful post about the real issue on stuff...it is a must read, so please go check it out!

it feels so good to have a lighter house, more organized cabinets.  living in a smaller house, with very little storage, i feel i do a pretty good job getting rid of stuff each month, but cleaning and organizing does not alway happen as much as i would like.  so i really took the time to organizing and clean area with a little more detail.

so to wrap up 40  bags...here is the rest of the house that i touched:

living room bookcases and board games:

i am not sure what i do if i didn't have these bookcases in my living room!  i LOVE them so much for extra storage!

front closet:

this closet still needs works...i just have not figured out what works...drivings me crazy!

some of the kitchen drawers:

with my new cabinet in the kitchen, it has made room for some extra space...love it!  i now have a pull out drawer with all of my baking stuff, another with all of the food storage things.  i have a drawer that the girls can get their plates and cups out of...they love it!  i have never had a 'junk' drawer, but one drawer has some paper, take out menus and pens!

downstairs bath:

the dresser we got at Ikea a few months ago for the downstairs bathroom has turned out to be great storage for extra bathroom stuff and towels.  i love it and it works so well in that big space! 

my grand total = 20 bags

again, not 40, but i am okay with 20 bags...that is 20 bags less then i had 40 days ago!

let us know if you did 40 bags during lent, i would love to know!

happy thursday!

40 bags update!

remember when i told you that todd's uncle worked on another fun project for us.

well he did an amazing job on building a staircase in our garage, just take a look at it...

it has been a dream of mine since we moved in this house 6 years ago to have a staircase in the garage to walk up to the storage loft we have.  finally, we made it happen, or i should say tom made it happen.

i think todd has run up the stairs every day since they have been done!

this past weekend, we cleaned out and re-organized the garage and the loft area.  we worked for about 3 hours and finished both areas and i love the results!  we were able to move a lot of stuff that was in the house up to the loft area, since we now can just walk up there and not use a ladder anymore.

here is the finished results:

the garage...i LOVE how clean it is again!

the loft area...it was hard to get a good picture of this area, but it is in order and i now just have to label a few bins. 

we got rid of so much stuff on saturday.   we donated some furniture to a great place called bridging, took 6 bags to the goodwill and made some money at once upon  a child!

total bags = 20

there is no way i am going to make it to 40 bags, since i don't have that much more to clean out, but that is okay.  i am happy with the results and i tackled 2 of the most important storage areas in my house.

i will have one more post next week to wrap up 40 bags!

share with us...did you do the 40 bags of lent?

i would love to know how it went!

40 bags update

what i did this week:

-linen closet

-upstairs bathroom

-my clothes

i love not having a lot of stuff on the counter in the bathrooms...less to move and clean!

1.  i went through all of the medications and toiletries, threw out any of them that we didn't use or were old. 
2.  threw away any nail polish that was old and thick
3.  got rid of some old beach towels...they were so thin and ugly as well.
4. wiped out all of the drawers in the bathroom.  there is not much up there, because the girls use this bathroom, but it does get gross still.
5.  got rid of anything in my closet and dresser that i have not put on in a year.  and i ended up with 2 empty drawers....how awesome is that?  i LOVE it!
6.  i hate storing things under our bed...i feel like we live in a college dorm if that stuff under there!  so, i took everything from under our bed and found a new home for it. 

up next:
-living room bookshelves and cabinets
-dining room
-front closet

 here are a few blog friends who are doing 40 bags:
sarah has shared some great tips for tackling this project over at clover lane
sara at august fields
simple mom is doing project: simplify, which is really cool as well

please let me know if you are doing 40 bags, i would love to see your progress.
happy spring cleaning...wishing and hoping spring will come soon!