The Big White Farmhouse

As part of the 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge, I decided today was the day I would tackle the linen closet.  We’ve never had one before this house and do I dare admit that it was a selling point for me?  I was just a little excited about it!  But in that whirlwind last September known as the two weeks between move-in day and our Little Miss’s birth, I unpacked boxes, shoved linens wherever they fit, and called it a day.  


Five months later (FIVE!!), I’m finally putting some order into the chaos.  I was a horrible blogger and forgot to take before pictures, but I’m sure you can make a mental picture.  It was bad.     


Inspired by this pin:

I purged, decluttered and organized, and ended up with this:

It’s not finished, but it’s a big improvement.  I still need a couple of baskets to hold the sheets and something on the floor to corral extra toilet paper.  I want to make an upstairs cleaning kit too.  Looking at these pictures, the OCD part of me wishes the baskets were all the same color.  I may change them down the road, but for now, a free upgrade sounds good enough for me.

Let’s put this activity in the “I hope it will happen today” category.  My boys are oh so very crabby today and I’m close to pulling my hair out.  So maybe this will be a welcome distraction?  We’ll see.


Anyway, part of our kindergarten curriculum focuses on measurement.  I found the free “Measure the House” Printables over at Let’s Explore.  They are obsessed with tape measures, so I think this should be a hit!    

For more learning activities for kids, check out my Pinterest boards: Learning and Math.

Truth time: we have way too much stuff.  I’m tired of the clutter and the piles and the basement of who-the-heck-knows.  Four kids have made me crave simplicity.  But they’ve also made me, well, tired.  I know the purging process takes work and as much as I’ve desired it, I’ve been too lazy to start.


I’ve heard about bloggers who work on a 40 bags in 40 days Lenten Challenge before, but have never participated.  Until now!  

I’ll be sharing more pictures on Instagram as I go (using Ann Marie’s #40days40bags hashtag). Let me know if you are too, so I can follow!  Simplifying is more fun with support 🙂