Let the Nesting Begin

I stopped by Target today and picked up a bunch of those plastic storage bins because I knew they were on sale. I'm experiencing that post-Christmas freak out where I'm looking at the size of our house, lack of storage space and all the new things that need to have homes found for them. The project I had in mind was Jacob's closet. Since the time he outgrew his first onesie it has been on its way to looking like this:
I just always packed his clothes up in cardboard boxes and they had to stay in the closet because they wouldn't be safe in the attic or basement. Not much is safe in the attic and basement. The attic is a tiny little strip of space that not much can fit in anyway. The basement is dusty and messy, half of which is designated for the bunnies, and we always have projects going on in there so anything that does get stored down there would just need to be moved around every couple months.

I've got to clear some space before the baby comes so Jacob and I didn't waste time re-packing the clothes in the new bins. It was so funny going through everything and being reminded of some of my favorite outfits Jacob wore. He got such a kick out of seeing the tiny little things too. It was nice for me because I got to refold everything so it all matched perfectly and sort them into categories...and you know how important extreme organization like that is to me.

My baby shoes

The shoes Jacob wore to our wedding
before he was a year old

My most favorite jammies of his -
Under the Nile Organics and the pea hat

Shirt that was originally mine as a
baby, and Jacob wore too

Hat Jacob wore home from the hospital,
and the socks he was supposed to wear
but his newborn feet were too big!

I'm always looking around and seeing all the clutter in our house, wondering how it ever got like this, how we acquired so much in such a small period of time. I'm starting to realize the main difference between our house and a normal person's house is not that we have more stuff or more junk, but that we have absolutely no storage space. We have a small closet in Jacob's room just deep enough for the clothes in it, a bigger one in our room and then a (slanted) coat closet under the staircase, but it's not accessible for stuff that you'll need on a daily basis. We have no garage, a tiny shed, and the basement just isn't practical for storing anything other than tools and crap. So all our 'stuff' either has to fit in a desk drawer or under the couch, and the rest is right there for all the world to see. I have gotten control of my former hoarding self, but it's like a 12 step program where all your faults (clutter) are there in plain view of everyone.

Anyway, we did pretty good with Jacob's closet and now there is some room on the floor for the overflow off toys for which there are no other good places. But just once I would like a portion of floor or wall that is just there, empty.