You know it is time to move when your house starts to look like this…

I am fixing to try and get psyched up for a serious rampage of closet cleaning and clutter removal.  This may take me a while—both to work up the mental determination to do that which I’d really rather not do  and to complete the entire household once I actually get started.

Since I have been focused on all things moving, this is a very helpful thing to do.  The less unwanted stuff you take with you, the less you have to unpack and find a place for on the other end.  For whatever reason, it is so easy to accumulate all kinds of things over time.  Doing the household purge does help keep the chaos of too much stuff to a livable level.  (Yes I realize this is a relative thing!)  You know it is time to move when your house starts to look like this…

Have you ever noticed that once you clean out and reorganize…how much more you can put in said space?

I love organizing….once I am done.  Love the results, but I seem to avoid the process like the plague.  Just for fun, I am going to sacrifice my pride and show you the first spot on my hit list.  Now keep in mind that I live in a house that is maybe 1100 square feet with no attic, basement, or garage for storage.  Also keep in mind that the rest of my house does not look like this…most days.

For your viewing pleasure, I am going to give you a tour of my laundry room.  I am very grateful for this little room and actually spend a lot of my time in here.  Go figure.  Well here we go…

This is the door into the nightmare…oops, I mean…the laundry room.  Notice the generous entry way.  So convenient for toting baskets of laundry.

Here we are at the doorway to the laundry room.

Isn’t it convenient that there is room for our piano?  This multi-purpose room doubles as the music room.

 This is one area where I can actually multitask quite well.  I am able to practice AND do laundry at the same time!

On days that I am feeling especially energetic, I can cook dinner at the same time.  The top shelf on this wall is where our garage items are located–ice chest, camping supplies, coolers, etc.  The bottom shelf holds a nice array of party supplies, vacuum cleaner stuff, the potato bin, extra paper towels and the ironing pile.  What can I say…I am just clever this way.

In a room like this, stuff just goes where it fits, whether it makes organizational sense or not.

So here we are at the intended purpose of this room…the blessed washer and dryer!

And here are the dirty clothes

Now what good is any laundry room without a pile of dirty clothes?

What a great place for the teenage boy laundry to live?  This mom is out of the “do the teenager’s laundry” business, so they get their own special piles.  Now the next stop in our tour is the extra pantry.

Here we have the extra pantry DIY style.  On this shelf is where the extra canned goods for our typhoon kit are located.

Here is also where all of the nice things that my friends who have already moved pass along items from their pantry.  I have noticed that on occasion, the same can of beets gets passed from house to house.  I once received one that was five years old.  I wonder how many households this one passed through?  It does pay to look at the expiration date.

The drawback to this handy panty is that if we ever blow a fuse, I have to move the whole deal to get to the fuse box.  Sometimes you just have to make it work.  Ever notice that a lot of things in life are like that?

Notice also evidence of one of my husband’s hobbies….purchasing dog food on sale.

I am all for a bargain, but there is limited space to store these great bargains.  How long do you think it will take these two little dogs to go through 3 forty pound bags of food?  I must have a two year’s supply taking up valuable real estate in the laundry room.

So as you can see, there is work to do and I had best quit blogging about it in my attempts to procrastinate.  And yes, I am well aware that I could be the next poster child for some clean-out-the-mess reality TV show.  Believe it or not, when we moved in four years ago, this room was half-empty and well-organized.    I am thinking this Mantra will be helpful…

“Move fast. Don’t overthink. Let it go!”

For great tips on going through your laundry room, check this out.  http://www.getorganizedwizard.com/blog/2011/04/30-day-organize-athon-day-9-organize-your-laundry/