The beginning...

Over the past week I have been looking around my home.  I have come to the conclusion that things are not working.  I am usually a very organized person, but this place is a disaster.  More on that in a minute. 

I am a happily married mother of 2 (and a half).  My third baby is due on May 5th.  The reason I am calling this blog 158 Days to Simplify is that I NEED for my life and home to be much more simple by the time this baby gets here.  158 days from today will be 2 weeks before the due date, so I feel this is a safe goal. 

My family and I live in a 2 bedroom townhome in Nashville, Tennessee.  We have a lot of stuff and are quickly running out of room to put things.  Now we are going to have a new person and a new person's things, too.  These are some of my conclusions:
1.  A LOT of this stuff has to leave my house and never come back
2.  We don't NEED nearly as much stuff as we think we do
3.  It is going to take a lot of work to get where I want to be

Now, back to the disaster.  I have taken before pictures of every part of my house.  Looking at the pictures makes it seem a lot worse.  If these were pictures of someone else's house I would probably say, "How can they live like that?"  And yet we are living like this.  So... I am getting things in order starting today. 

These are my goals:
1.  Accomplish something every day towards a simpler and more organized life
2.  Do more each day than my children undo
3.  Post each day what has been accomplished (probably with some interesting stories of how things got done with 2 crazy boys running around)
4.  Post before and after pictures when it is appropriate

These are my challenges:
1.  With this pregnancy I am exhausted and having a lot of headaches
2.  I tend to get bogged down in the details (so I am likely to spend a lot of time making a plan for what I want to do and very little time actually accomplishing said task)
3.  I am extremely cheap, so I am not going to spend much money on organizational supplies

I have even accomplished a few things already.  I have recycled (when my 4 year old son wasn't looking) a ridiculous quantity of drawings, cards, and Sunday School papers.  I got rid of 3 diaper boxes full of toys, toiletries, and school supplies that I had been saving for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.  We had enough to pack 10 shoeboxes with gifts to be sent to children all over the world who would not have Christmas gifts otherwise.  I have tamed my mountain of coupons that was getting out of control.

Please comment on my posts.  Please feel free to make suggestions and offer advice for organization and simplicity.  I need all the help I can get.  This is one of my before pictures.  This is my sofa table that was supposed to help keep things more organized in our living room/entry way.  Disclaimer:  My house does not always look this bad.  I have just made it through my first trimester, and very little has been done for the last 2 months beyond the bare minimum.  Don't judge me.