Clutter, Anxiety, Oh My!

 Since about Thanksgiving I have been having a lot of anxiety.

I typically have a little anyway but nothing like what I am experiencing now a days.

I thought it was due to a ridiculous amount of germs invading my house. First Mono, then a stomach bug, then the flu (that was passed throughout all the kids and husband over the course of 3 weeks) then another stomach bug, pink eye, then sinus infections, croup and colds. 

Or maybe it's the now 2 very active 9 months old exploring my home and causing me to run in 50 different directions all day long? 

Or a better reason- the crazy wild 6 year old, 5 year old, & 3 year old forgetting what it means to clean up after you play with every toy you own. 

Or it could have been Thanksgiving and Christmas and our many trips to Georgia. 

But Sunday afternoon I got the call that my great grandfather had died. And we made a trip to Georgia for the funeral. We walked in the house yesterday evening and I realized immediately where my anxiety was coming from. 

Clutter. 

Lots of clutter.

As I'm bringing in a tub of more stuff from my mom's basement wondering where to put it I began to notice that every surface of my house was covered in stuff. 

Not important stuff. 

Just junk.

I have a slight touch of OCD. I like things to be in order. Always. I like my counters cleaned off, the top of my fridge holding only a cookie jar and knife block. I loathe nicknacks. 

So today, totally embarrassed by the shape of my house, I am posting these before pictures (and eventually after pictures) of my cluttered areas

 (and some that are just down right disgusting) that desperately need help. 

This is in hopes that if I make the whole world see what kind of filth I'm living in that I'll feel obligated to actually clean and organize it. 

So here goes.... 

My kitchen bar. 

My now clean bar. (Those pictures need to be hung up but babies are sleeping) 

My bathroom shelf. Nothing is in the right basket. (and I must put the corner molding piece back on)  

Computer Desk. The lamp doesn't even work!! 

Cleaned desk area. Even fixed the lamp. :) 

My refrigerator. 

My clean refrigerator. 

My microwave. 

My clean microwave! 

My laundry room- aka "everything that doesn't have a place goes in here" room. :( No wonder I don't want to do laundry! 

Part 1 of our clean laundry room. I'll post another once I get all the linens washed/dried and put away.
Thick king bedding takes up A LOT of room!! 

Part 1 of our sunroom. The bench opens up to hold shoes, scarfs, hats, and gloves. 

Part 2 of our sunroom. The big box, lamp, toddler bed and box spring need to go to Goodwill. (And has needed to go for about a month now....)
This is also our only true storage area. Behind the curtain really is organized... even though you can't tell right now. 

**I should add... no children (and no one besides Josh and I ever really go in the sunroom or laundry room. My babies are perfectly safe. Both doors are locked always***

Some more organizing I've been doing lately...

Bookcase #1

Bookcase #2- Now Clean

I didn't post the before because it was super blurry. But you get the idea. It was a mess. 

Bookcase #3

Of course, balancing life with 4 very active young boys and a sweet 9 month old daycare kid is hard. 

I want to still take cuddle times with Tripp while the babies are taking their morning nap and Brennon and Zachary are still at school. We don't get those moments often so enjoying them is especially important to me. I don't want to replace board game time with the boys with cleaning out my refrigerator. I don't want to find that I'm rushing through homework with Zachary to dust my ceiling fans. So in tackling all these tasks I have to somehow find the time to do them all accomplished without making my family feel like my to-do list is more important than they are. 

So wish me luck in my quest to de-clutter this home and keep my family from feeling neglected while it all gets done.