Cleaning House

This week I taught a class at our local library on organization. I will be the first to admit I am far from perfect in the being organized department. Sometimes with all that goes on here at the farm I do forget a few things or I find myself procrastinating. In preparation for the class I decided to get rid of some bad habits and to tackle the clutter that had made it's way into our house.
Bad Habit: I loose my keys weekly. Ok, I don't really loose them I just forget to put them back where they go and it takes me a little longer to get them when I need them. And sometimes I can't remember which pocket they are in. So I decided to get a hook on my purse and every time I get in or out of the car I hook them on my purse. This seems to be working for me so far.
Bad Habit: I procrastinate and I am not sure why but I am working on it.
There are more Bad Habits but I think I will try to work on them one at a time for now.
Clutter: I don't know if your house is like mine but clutter just seems to find it's way in. We have more stuff than we need and we have things we just don't use often enough for it to take up our space and time.
 We started getting rid of the clutter in our closets first. The result was 4 garbage bags of clothes that just didn't work for us anymore. (That's not including the boy's hand-me-downs that get passed to a smaller cousin.) The next area was our bathroom where I found 18 bottles of lotion or soap that didn't work for us. We make our own soap and lotion that I really enjoy using so all those extra bottles just taking up space under the sink needed to go. I also got rid of any towels or washrags that were ratty. In the living room we found 52 books from the bookcase that we probably will not read again, 20 some videos/dvds, and my husband gave up his entire tape collection from the early 1990's.  The kitchen cabinets held still more clutter with lots! of  plastic bowls, 5 baking dishes, 4 pots and pans, 23 cups/mugs, etc, etc. You get the idea. So far the total is up to 360 items!
While it's still a work in progress, it feels really good to get rid of things that just take up precious space and time. Our next goal is to try and eliminate the clutter before it even comes through the door. That may be the most difficult task.
"I make myself rich by making my wants few." Henry David Thoreau

The closet

Our laundry room.

 This is the organization workhorse of our house. And this is the first time ANYONE has been let in.