A Summer of Waiting

If you read my last blog post, you know that I'm leaving 5th grade to teach middle school language arts next year! I am very excited about it, but this has definitely been a summer of waiting!

I don't know which grade I'm teaching yet. I don't know what room I'm working in. I don't know much of anything... except that I have a job! (I am very grateful for that fact, by the way!)

This time of year, I'm usually already in my classroom setting up. (Teachers go back in our district on July 30th this year.) Since I can't do that, I've been doing some projects at home and hanging out with my ten-year-old son instead!

Right now I'm working on decluttering... oh my word, do you ever look around your house and think WHERE DID ALL OF THIS COME FROM?! That's kind of how I'm feeling this summer, so I'm using my downtime to get rid of things I don't love or use. That can be a pretty big undertaking!

I'm going to share some of my declutter plans for the rest of this week. This is the kind of stuff we don't make time for once the school year starts. If you're anything like me, you're going ninety miles a minute once you set foot back in your classroom!

Bathroom
Clean out your medicine cabinet! (For me, it's a drawer.) Get rid of any medications that are old or expired. Do you have big boxes of tablets, like children's medicine or OTC sinus meds, and they only have a couple of tablets left in there? Get rid of that big box. I have tons of big boxes of children's Tylenol and Benadryl, but the boxes aren't full anymore. By getting rid of the big boxes, I have a little more space, plus I know to stock back up on those things. You'll definitely need lots of cold and headache medicines once school starts back, so if you spend a little time decluttering, you'll be able to purchase those important items before you really need them (and are likely too sick to go out and get them!).

Declutter your makeup drawer. Maybe you're like me and have about 7 or 8 similar shades of lipstick but only stick to one or two signature colors. Repeat after me: IF I DON'T LOVE IT OR USE IT, IT'S OKAY TO THROW IT OUT. I used to have the hardest time doing that. I'd say to myself, "Oh, but I spent money on that..." Now you're just taking up space - get rid of it!

Bedroom
Sort out everything in your dresser drawers. I mean everything. This terrifies me. I've moved to the dreaded land of plastic bins all of my closet to contain everything from scarves to extra pajama sets. IT'S GOT TO STOP. I am pretty ruthless when it comes to getting rid of clothes I no longer wear. (I went through my hanging clothes last week and took two big bags to Goodwill today.) Now it's time to tackle the drawers. I think this is so hard for me because I have so many drawers and so much foldable stuff. I have to conquer this!

Closet time. I've done this already - but if you haven't worn it during this season, get rid of it. You're a creature of habit, and you probably won't wear it in the future. Stop lying to yourself. I know. I did it for years.

Declutter that nightstand. Why is mine so full of crap?! I think I just need to chuck it all in a garbage bag. I'm fairly certain I haven't used the drawers in months.



Those are the things I plan to tackle this week. Next week will *hopefully* be my last week not knowing what I'm doing for school next year, so it will be my last ditch week to declutter. Here's what I'll probably tackle then:

*Kitchen junk drawer (God help us all)
*Linen closet (I feel like I do this all the time and it NEVER EVER gets better)
*Laundry room (It's truly a disaster. I don't want to. But I really should.)

Do you get the urge to clean out and declutter during the summer? If you have any advice or tips, I'd love to hear them!