34 Week Clean House DeClutter Challenge

Wahoo! I just saw this post on a fellow blogger's page.

It's from Family, Faith, and Fridays!
34 Weeks of Clean



Here's the deal:
She and fellow blogger Homemaking Organized have teamed up to help the rest of us get clean, decluttered and organized in 2015.
I know I'm speaking to many who already have a really healthy, or possibly even over zealous, cleaning routine. But, there still may be something in these weekly posts that spark an interest.
For the rest of us, I'm stoked!
My family lives in a fairly small 1300 or so square foot house - 3 kids plus 2 parents - 3 bedrooms!  The house seemed rather large, or at least large enough, to us when we bought it and upgraded from an approximate 800 sq. ft. bungalow - BEForE KIDS.
Nowadays, it seems like there's not even enough space to move. My kitchen that seemed spacious when we bought the house suddenly is cramped. When I enter the kitchen, it seems I'm always followed by 3 or 4 hungry people.
Goal 1 for me: Declutter kitchen so I can actually use it
I will say that I recently managed to declutter my son's room, but it took all my energy for months. It really took longer than I had anticipated, and he did end up selling almost everything that I pulled from the wreckage so he could buy parts to build his own gaming computer. SCORE! That was a win-win for both son and mama and clean, clear space.
Even more recently, we managed to tame the elephants in my daughters' room. My daughters share a room, and my youngest is an elephant lover. she has tons, pardon the expression, of plush elephants. We have moved to focus more on taking pictures of elephants or buying her things that are not plush stuffed animals, but she still has accumulated a lot. We FINALLY upgraded her toddler bed to a twin, and that gave us underbed storage. So, I bought four clear tubs and stuffed the elephants inside. Though, we still have two plastic garbage bags that need to be filed away. It was a HUGE accomplishment.
So, I have accomplished something. But, here's what happens:
When I declutter one space in our house - It has to go somewhere. Some of it gets tossed, some donated, and some moved to the eBay section of our house to list and hopefully sell.  The rest of it has to be put somewhere, and it usually ends up in a room full of clutter that hasn't been touched for years.  JUST THEN is when we suddenly need to access that space. For instance, I moved the toddler bed into the dining room temporarily so I can load it into my van and hopefully sell it this week. Well, this week is below zero temps, so I may not be doing it this week. In the meantime, we purchased three new mattresses for our children as a Christmas gift and to upgrade the toddler bed.
WHERE Do YOU THINK ALL THAT BEDDING WENT?
Plop into the dining room. This wouldn't be a huge problem, but school started again, and suddenly my daughter needed to sharpen a pencil. Guess where the pencil sharpener is?  Behind all the bedding and laundry plopped piles.
Then, I went to wash the mass loads of bedding, and discovered my washer was leaking. Oh, it's just a slight trickle, but it needs to be tended to. So, my next project will be to clear out the very tiny wash room area so a serviceman can come. This was in the declutter plans of 2015, but not until I had tackled the kitchen.
Goal 2: Clear out laundry room
In the meantime - Our basement collects the remains of the stuff we have no where else to put.  It's getting too full.  And, my dream is to clear out a space where my girls can dance and maybe even ask a friend over.
Goal  3: Clear out a space in basement where girls can dance
I'll stop for now with 3 goals, because I realize how long it has taken me to get past the kids' bedrooms (which are now in decent condition) and actually get to the point of staring down Goal 1: The Kitchen.  Though, ideally, I would like to completely declutter the basement and then make my hubby and my bedroom a place I actually want to spend time in as a respite. But, that will have to wait for another day and hopefully not after another unexpected disaster.
Oh, and one more thing:  I really don't feel comfortable doing BEFORE PICTURES just yet. So, bear with me. You might be lucky to get an AFTER PIC. We'll see how it goes.  But, I'm hopeful and determined!
Who is in this with me?