Cleaning out

I almost didn't make this post because of the lack of organisation it shows in me, but thought, hey we all have our trouble spots and it's good to show projects resolved.

We have been working on various cleaning/organising projects around out house lately.  We have a list of things that need to get done we keep on the refrigerator for those moments when we have a bit of time and think. . . hmmm  what is there to do around here.  I find having a posted list works best for us because it gives us focus.

This is a different list than just daily chores, they tend to be things that are important but not urgent needs.  One project for me is our front hall closet.  It currently contains, wrapping paper and bags, tubs of medicine, gifts for people, my sewing machine and bins of fabric, it is a bit of a mishmash in there.

 Today's chore with organising the closet was to go through the 4 tubs (that's right) 4 tubs of medicines and throw out anything expired and tidy it all up.  It terrified me when I had it all out on the counter to organise to realise just how much medication we have on hand.  We tend to be minimalist when it comes to taking medicine, I guess that it why it surprised me so much.    We only take a multivitamin each and I can't tell you the last time I took something for a headache, but there it all was, something for every ailment.  I think much of it came from our recent bought of what I like to refer to as the plague.  The month long sickness that kept morphing from one symptom to the next after we returned from our trip back to the U.S.

So first things first, I removed all the tubs from the closet and put everything out on the counter to go through.

Can we all say Yikes together?

There was much sorting and much purging being done here.  

And the piece de resistance. 

That is right, you read it correctly, the expiration date on that medication is 2000!   It was only one small pill, how did this little thing find it's way here and why in the world do I still have it?  I have to admit I was tempted to keep it just for humour value, but the need to clean was too strong and a picture would suffice Guess it was about time to do a thorough sweep of the medicine boxes.

Now it's all neat and tidy and restricted to one bin.  

All similar things are put into labeled baggies so they are easy to find, and I have much more room in my soon to be craft closet.

Do you have an area that seriously needs sorting?  What are your trouble spots?  How do you attack these and keep them organised?