Home refresh for Spring CLEANING ORGANIZING AND DECLUTTERING

Hey y'all, welcome back to a new video. Today I'm going to share with you some deep cleaning, organizing, and decluttering. I will be tackling my bathroom today and I'll also be deep cleaning the old refrigerator I had, getting it ready to go to my brother's house. So today's video is packed full of lots of motivation. I hope you guys enjoy. Thank you so much for watching. If you're new to my channel, hello, welcome. I'm Keri Lynn and here I share DIYs, homemaking, vlogs. I love cleaning, decluttering, organize. Well, I don't love those things, but I share them here on my channel and yeah, I'm just tackling little projects around our house one day at a time, turning our starter home into our forever home. If you like any of that type of content, make sure you hit that red subscribe button before you leave and let's dive right in. We're going to start off with cleaning my old refrigerator. If you missed my last vlog, I'll have it linked down below, but I did end up getting a new French door refrigerator. I'm so excited about it. It turned out so beautiful, but that means that this one needs to be cleaned out and given to my brother. And the whole reason why we ended up getting a new fridge to begin with was because I thought the door of the freezer was broken on this one. Well, it turns out there was just some buildup of ice at the very bottom that you could not see. So that is why the door was not shutting after all. And after wiping it clean and everything, you could not tell that the ice was there. I promise it wasn't until we got that ice out that we realized, Oh my gosh, this is what was keeping the door from shutting the whole time. But we had already bought the new one. And at that point I was too excited to cancel the order. So I decided to keep the new refrigerator, but then I called my brother to see if he wanted this one since they just have like an older basic, you know, one door fridge. So yeah, they decided they wanted it. And now how about their project has turned into a whole kitchen remodel now because of the fridge. It's been one of those like domino effect type of things, but I think in the end it will really make a difference in their space. Just like the new fridge made a difference in ours. I did take all the shelves out and the drawers and I'm going to go ahead and use my handy dandy steamer that I have been raving about in every video that I do any cleaning. I've been using this thing. It's amazing. I'll link it below. I forgot to link it in my last video and then a lot of you reminded me. So I did add it, but I'll be assured to add this one right away. This is probably one of my favorite cleaning tools I've had in a long time. So I'm using it to get all this caked on gunk that's down here at the bottom. I'm not going to lie to you. I have not cleaned behind here underneath this drawer in a long time because I was just over this fridge, the setup of it. And, and really the problem with this fridge in my kitchen in particular is where we have a wall. The door could never open all the way. So it was really hard to get the drawer out unless you pulled the fridge out and then that was a whole, you know, thing. So yeah, I'm just complaining, but I'm just going to be honest. I didn't clean it for a long time. So this was, you know, pretty, pretty gross. Um, at least a few months worth of food back here, I'm sure, but I'm just using the steamer and a rag and just going to wipe it all clean and work on cleaning the sides, everything. I'm not using any crazy chemicals. I really do have a hard time with scented things. So I stick to like Dawn soap and the steamer and it's been working great. Ever since I got a good look in his eyes, I just knew that he was special. He said he wanted to take it slow, but I couldn't help that. I wanted to take it to the next level cause I wanted that great love like standing in the middle of bonfire. Don't know how you got there, but you hold tight knowing that you can't get burned. Just tell me how we lost track of everything by each other. I honestly don't know. And tell me how we messed up, drifting away from each other. Didn't want to let you go. Cause we wanted different things. All right. Everything has been cleaned. I'm just putting all the shelves back, the drawer and the little shelves for in the door. And I was honestly surprised at how clean this fridge came. Um, I swear that steamer is something fierce, but you know, I didn't think about it in the moment until just now, but the steamer could probably damage your fridge. So do that at your own risk, but Hey, you know what? It cleaned this one really good. Look how pretty. So yeah, that's done and I'll move that out of the way so that way we can take that to them this weekend. So I'm going to go through all this really quick. I was watching. Hold on. Let me, let me get into position. Let me lay this towel down so I'm not sitting on the bare floor. Maybe give me some cushion cause I'm getting old. So I was watching Dawn, the minimal mom, and I love her. I love her advice. Um, and she said to have like two bins. One is for absolute. I use this every day. And one is for like, I don't use this every day. And then you have a bin of like, I haven't touched this in a couple months and I don't plan to use it. Um, so I do have another container here. I'm going to empty out real quick. I'm actually just going to pour this into this. So this is going to be my never. Well, actually this will be my maybe then maybe then I'm going to use this as my never use bin. And then the middle one is going to be absolutely key. Okay. So that's going to be the game plan. Hold on. I need a trash bag. Ooh, scratch that. Okay. This is going to be a trash bag, but once it's full, I do have this to throw it into. I hope you can see. Okay. I think you can. Okay. So this is empty. Why is it in there? I have no idea. Okay. So what did I say was the keep bin? This is going to be keep. So this definitely took a while. It was a process holding everything in my hand and asking myself, do I need this? Do I use this? Am I going to use this? It's a lot. It's very overwhelming. So I definitely recommend like getting some headphones, a good podcast, talk to a friend, have a friend come over and just sit with you or something while you go through your stuff. It'll make it a lot easier. In this case, I, to be real, I mean, let's be honest. I should not let the cabinets get this bad, but I also am a realistic person and I struggle sometimes. I had a, I would say about a three month to four month timeframe where I was just kind of going through it. And I'm just in survival mode, just trying to get by with the basics cleaning wise. I'm not worried about decluttering. I will literally throw stuff in the cabinet and shut the door and call it a day because I just didn't have the mental capacity to deal with it. But let me just vent to you for a second and tell you my thoughts on why I think number one, I got so far behind on housework and number two, why I think I was struggling mentally the most. The main reason is due to social media. Now, while social media can also cause issues, it can also help. And I'm one of those people where it's both for me. It can either be really bad or really good. And so I have found that YouTube is my home. It's where I feel safe and comfortable. And I love long form content. I love sharing with you guys. Um, you know, y'all have always made me feel so welcome. And I think that is like my piece. Well, short form content, like quick mindless scrolling actually takes energy from me while YouTube gives me energy and motivation. Short form content was sucking the life out of me. It's the best way for me to describe it. And while that might sound dramatic, it's kind of true. I basically turned my full time, you know, content creation job here on YouTube into a 24 seven job. Every single aspect of my life, I felt like I was filming or I was brainstorming what I could share. I was watching other people's content, what they were sharing. And it just was, it just took a toll. I finally, I had had these ideas of taking a break for a while, just never could really muster up the courage, I guess, because I was ultimately just scared of failure. You know, when I put like a lot of work time and effort into something, I don't like, I don't like to give up. I am someone who will, I will have my plate so full that I'm literally drowning, but I'm still going to keep pushing forward. And I think just taking a step away felt like failure to me. So I had to like realize that it's not failure to put your time and effort where it truly matters. It's actually smart. So, you know, you just got to change your perspective a little bit. Um, but I honestly have felt so great and I've had so much more time to focus on things that truly matter in my life. And yeah, I'm super thankful that I'm able to share more here. And I feel like I've been getting better content up and y'all have seemed to be really enjoying it. So thank you guys for all your love and support as always. I really, really appreciate it. I'm making some progress. It looks a lot better. I mean, I feel like it still kind of looks a little cluttered, but I mean, what can I say? I like my products. Um, I have all my makeup here though. I can just like grab it out and go. I have like eyelashes and things. I don't use daily, but I do use in the back cream. Um, I have all our hair products and things that we use daily up front. The rest of this stuff I put to the, to the back. This is all perfumes, but it's not just me these. My daughter uses them as well. So I need a lot. And then, um, a couple extra face creams, hair tools are going to be here. This is all hair clips and then deodorants just quick grab and go. So that's how I have it set up and it works. It's functioning. Looks good. Now I got to tackle the cabinets behind me. Y'all send help. You know what I was just thinking? I got this from Dollar Tree. I'm going to set it up and see how sturdy it is. I think this would be ideal for like perfumes and maybe hair tools on the bottom. That way it'll free up a little bit of space here so I can put some toilet paper under there. That would be nice. Wouldn't it? I mean, I could put toilet paper behind the cabinet, but let's just say you're on the toilet. Okay. And you need toilet paper stat. What's the first cabinet you're going to reach to this one? Cause it's closer. So I don't know. I'm going to try it and see. Um, hopefully it works. Okay. This actually feels like decent quality. I'm kind of impressed. Wow. This is actually super nice. And I mean, you can even put it on legs. Do I want the legs on there? Yeah. Why not? Yeah. This is actually really nice. I'm probably going to go back and get more of these for underneath the bathroom sinks for six bucks. Are you joking? I think this was $6. It was either six or five. I can't remember. Oh, six. So it's right there. Wow. That's actually kind of nice. All right. Then you can, Oh, you could even add, Oh, if you were to buy two of these, you could like stack them up. This should probably be good for like kids, um, like smaller kids toys, like little Legos or something. Oh, I like this. Okay. Yeah. Let's try it. I wonder if that'll fit back there. Okay. Let me try to reorganize this. Okay. So I think I'm just going to pull this out for now and just see if I can, I guess that works. And then we can have this stuff up here too. So I'm mid decluttering and my stepdad called and invited me to go fishing. So I'm going to go. Um, I got my hat, got my long sleeve shirt on. I got to change into some shorts cause it's so freaking hot. My tennis shoes. And, um, I'm going to meet him over there. We're going to go fishing for a Oh, look, he caught one. Oh, I thought you got Oh, that was on. Oh, look, it kind of hooked him. You didn't even eat it. Dang. Wow. That is a good one. And it looks like, yeah. I'm back from my fishing trip. I didn't catch anything, but it's okay. It was still fun. Um, but I'm back home. I'm going to finish up my, my job here. Um, I got to all this pretty much organized. I got to put this little, this is one of my hair rollers. I got like a whole pack of these from Walmart. They're really great. The only thing that they don't come with is like a little tie and my hair will not hold on these. Even when I twirl it and spin it, my hair falls out. So I have to usually use like some type of clip with these, but they are good for like curling the front main piece. Like usually what I'll do is I'll, I'll curl my hair like away from my face and then I'll roll it up like this and then put it like right here on the top. I'll include a picture. I think I took a picture the other day. Um, and then I'll just clip it or like put a hair wrap around. And that seems to help get some volume where I don't have volume. I literally have no volume in my hair. It's so flat, so thin, but you know, we always want what we don't have type of thing. But anyway, let me stop chatting. Let me turn this camera around and get this done. I will say I'm pretty content with how it looks, although it's not the most aesthetic, it's functional. So I'm going to leave it like this. Um, go ahead and close these doors up and start working on all this nightmare and up in here, which I already took one of the bins down, but I'm going to get all this down and reorganize. So while I take everything out of these cabinets, I did want to share, I'll have this video linked below if you are interested in seeing how I added these cabinets. It was so easy and really affordable. I just took upper cabinets that are for the kitchen and stack them on top of each other and attach them to the wall to a stud. I did not build a base for these in here just because it really wasn't necessary. Um, you definitely could if you wanted to, but just to keep it really simple for myself, I just stacked them and attached them to the wall and called it a day. And I did the same method, um, with my husband to build our pantry and our kitchen, but those we actually put on a base. That way they were all the way up to the ceiling, just that way they didn't have like a gap at the top. But, um, yeah, this is like a game changer. If you need storage and you live in a small home that doesn't have a whole lot of square footage, this is key. I'm telling you. Um, but also if you're new here, let me just give you a quick backstory. So we bought our house in 2019. It's a 1200 square foot, three bedroom, two bath with zero storage, zero. There is no hall closet there. It was no pantry. So just over the years, we have just kind of added little things, you know, on an affordable budget, working slowly, but surely to make this home a little bit more functional. And one thing that I really want to do is create a larger closet in my bedroom. So I've wanted to do this for a while, like kind of reconfigure how our closet is set up. So currently it's long and narrow. Like I literally have to turn sideways to walk into our closet. Um, so I'd like to create almost like a kind of like notched out square outside of the closet door. So that way now we could have like an actual walk-in closet. We can have all of our clothes hanging up. And then the long skinny area, that could be for storage. I could actually just put a ton of shelves that are not really thick and then utilize that instead. It would be so nice. I could even put these cabinets in there along the top, you know, and maybe some at the bottom and then even like shelves in between. I don't know. I just like, there's so many ideas. It's just time and money. One day, I'm gonna just add it to the list of things that I want to do. And then, you know, sometimes like we'll have like projects in mind that would be so functional and be really great. And then I share them with you guys and we never end up tackling them. Or, you know, over time I just feel like it's not really worth it. I'd rather spend my money on other things. And when I tell y'all we've had one thing after another, um, we have. And that's just how it rolls. You know, you could just get hit with a bunch of things. But, um, yeah, I mean the fridge was kind of like a splurge purchase, to be real. I mean, because at the end of the day, the fridge was not broken. So that can't even count that as a a hiccup. But let me tell you one of the hiccups we had. How about our pool? Our swimming pool, you guys, had to be trashed. And you will not believe why. I'll be sharing more in depth about this in an upcoming video. But our pool was filled with fiberglass and the kids got ate up. It was so bad. It was the worst hour of my life trying to help them get the fiberglass out of their legs and their arms. But yeah, so that was another purchase we did not expect this year. But, um, yeah, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. And that's what I'm going to keep doing. Okay, so this stuff right here, please don't mind it, it's actually to my steamer. I'm gonna find a container once I get some of these other containers empty and I'm gonna put my steamer in that and it will actually go in the kitchen. But for now, I just shoved it right here because I had room for the extras. But I have medicines, first aid kit, my like wigs and stuff are behind there. I have nail polish, all my nail stuff, perfumes in here instead because I don't grab these every single day. I have like my one that I wear daily and I usually have that one out. But these, I feel like it just kind of cleared up some space in here, which makes me feel a lot less overwhelmed opening this cabinet. So I'm going to leave that like that. I need to touch up paint. I'm going to do that today because this looks terrible. I'm pretty rough on myself and this is dye from my hair. But anyway, towels are fine. They're going to stay there. This, seriously? Oh, and a bra thing. See what I'm saying? I'm so... This is terrible. I don't even have the words, you know? Nail stuff. This is first aid. Put that up there. Fits good. So I'll fold this towel. That's actually a pillowcase down there. But I need to go through this bag and this bin and all these sheets. Wish me luck. I'm just going to pull it all out and start over. Oh, oh my lord. I don't even know what's in here. That's okay. That's okay. My holster, I mean, right here. So let me just refold some of these sheets and stuff. So that is my sons. Oh, I'm borderline about to sneeze. That weird smell is happening every single time. It never fails. Did I ever tell you all the story about the weird smell? That no matter where I put my sheets, my pillowcases, it does not matter. They smell like my old house back when we lived on Knox. On Knox Drive, by the way. Not my dog. We named our dog after that street. But when we moved into that house, I swear, I swear there was a spirit. And our clothes, the closet, everything smelled like that. Well, I've gotten rid of everything basically. All this is new. So how does it, how does it smell like the old house? It make it make sense. It doesn't make any sense. I don't understand how it could smell like that house when this sheet has never even stepped foot into the house. It's crazy. But yeah, I'm pretty sure there was like a spirit or something that has followed me. But I mean, the smell is not too bad. It could be worse, you know, so I'm not too mad at it. And as long as it stays in the sheets, I'm fine. If it doesn't go anywhere else, that will be okay with me. But I just thought it was kind of interesting that this smell is following me. Nobody's gonna know. I do not hold these the correct way, so do not judge me. I don't really care because I have so many other things to focus on than making the sheets perfect. So I just do my best and my best is good enough. So if we go like that and then you go like this and then you pretend, look at that. Okay, this is a set. I did see a hack a long time ago and the only reason why I didn't do it is because I don't really have proper sets of sheets right now. These are all just like extras. All the sets that we have are currently on our bed, but you take the pillowcase and you put the fitted sheet, the flat sheet, and the other pillowcases all into that one pillowcase and then put it in the cabinet. So that way when you need a new set of sheets, you just pull that one, you know, kind of like bag out, your little pillowcase bag, and you have everything you need inside that pillowcase. I thought it was genius. This is the last bag that I have to go through and then the bathroom will be completely done except for I just need to do like a cleaning and then like touch up the paint in here, which I am going to do that. I just need to get some paint brushes. So I might take the kids to Dollar Tree after school to pick out a little tree anyway because they've done so good on their tours and then I might grab some like cheap paint brushes to fix this because it looks so bad. And I want to get another little rug. They have really great cheap rugs at Dollar Tree, so I can get one for in here too. But yeah, I'm going to finish going through this. That's all my trash pile. This is about as good as it's going to get in here. It's not perfect, but like I said, I don't really care and usually like if we change our sheets, it's typically just to change them until the new or the ones that we have are done, but these are always great to have like if we have company and then if I do have company, I wash them, I freshen them up because they always smell funky like I said. So for now, it just, it works. I'm just gonna shut the door and nobody will know. Towels are fine. Those get used up so quick. I don't care if those are folded, but yeah. I, oh geez, I feel pretty good. Okay, here is this massive heavy bag of garbage. Isn't that insane that it's been that long since I went through this space? So before you think it's all like wasted products, it's like old medicine, expired things. So crazy, but I feel super proud that I got rid of all this stuff. Okay, so I'm almost done. I'm just gonna clean off what's left here. This is just some necklaces and things I need to sort through in a different section, but I'm gonna do a quick clean. I did get some new blinds for in here, so I'm gonna put those up and I also went and got a rug and I got paintbrushes to paint this cabinet. So we're gonna do that really quick and freshen this space up and make it look all fresh and brand new again. I think it'll make a huge difference. This is definitely one of those moments where it gets worse before it gets better, but it does come together pretty quickly after this. I kind of just had like random stuff stacked together because I knew where it needed to go. It was just a matter of putting it away really quick, but once I'm done with the quick tidy up, I am gonna go ahead and get the blinds up first and then once I get those in place and everything's like clean and wiped down, I will then paint the cabinet because it desperately needs a good fresh coat of paint. All the times I dye my hair in here, it's like inevitable. It's gonna get everywhere every single time, so I just paint over it and it works every time. I do manage somehow to cover the sink pretty well, which is nice. Eventually I'd love to replace this whole vanity and get a new countertop. I want something with like a marble design. Something with any type of design would be great just because I feel like all white, if you have an all white counter then you know. It's just it looks so dirty so quick and any type of veining would be really nice to have and plus I think it would match really well with the shower. Cordless lift bamboo shade. This is easy to install. I will be the judge of that. If I like these, I plan on ordering the same ones for in the kitchen. Oh, they're very pretty. Oh, these are gonna be perfect. I was actually holding them upside down and didn't realize it. I was holding it from the bottom. It's actually the other side and this is the part that goes up and down, but I was good. It took me a minute, but I did figure it out. This is why I should read instructions, but I never do. I always just like dive into projects. I'm like, oh, I'll figure it out. I did end up reading the instructions because I was a little confused, but it was super easy to install. You put the little brackets in and the blinds slide right up in there and you put it on this like little washer and it locks it in place. Good to go. I definitely want to order these for in the kitchen as well. I'm just not sure about the style. I wanted to do maybe something a little bit more linen in there. We'll see. I'll keep y'all updated. If I decide to order this exact ones, I'll install them with you, but I don't know. I don't know just yet. And oh, I did want to mention they did have like a vinegar smell. Dylan hated it. It didn't bother me surprisingly. Usually it kind of drives me crazy, but it being in the bathroom, it just kind of felt like I cleaned with vinegar. I don't really mind that, but Dylan hates that smell. So just keep that in mind. You might have to let them air out outside. Yay! We got blinds! Super cool. Awesome. It's perfect. The paint color I'm using is called Pebble by Vyond paint. I love this color so much. I loved it so much. In fact, that I painted all the trim and doors in my house this color, the pantry, my buffet cabinet, and also my bathroom vanity, and the cabinet behind the bathroom door. And it dries so smooth. It looks amazing. Very professional finish without even trying too hard. Now the only reason why the inside is scuffed up is just because of those metal drawers. That is a mistake on our part, but the actual vanity where I've painted it has held up great. But of course with my hair dye being there, you know, that's why I needed to repaint and, you know, touch up any scuff marks. Any paint is going to have some scuff marks. So yeah, he did in fact scare me and excuse my language earlier, but that's what happens when I get scared. So yeah, but I did end up picking up the rug from Dollar Tree. This one was five bucks and these are just great rugs to have just quick, you know, throw down like in front of the shower or the bathroom vanity or something. This one's been holding up really great in here, so I really like that. Okay, bathroom has been freshened up. It looks so much better, so much cleaner, and it's organized. So super excited to get ready in here now. I have all the cabinets done. Give you like a little overview. I did stack some toilet paper here in my mirror, but everything else is pretty good, and this is the perfume I've been using recently and loving. It's from Scentbird. I got like the little trial so I could try them out. Which one is this? This is the Burberry. It smells super good, so that's what I've been using. Actually, I'm going to freshen up a little bit. So that is all nice and clean and organized, and then back here, all done. So very, very happy with how this all turned out. It looks so much better. Okay, up here is a little bit more chaotic, but like I said earlier, this is just like the steamer stuff. I plan to put that in a different spot and then it won't look so crazy. Like, let me just show you. So for now, that will go there. Oh, and then these band-aids are supposed to go into that first aid kit, but either way, it looks so much better than it was. It's organized now. At least it's gone through, and then down here is just going to be for like the linens. So perfect for that. I'm so excited. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Seriously, it's crazy how much like an unorganized bathroom, how much it will like affect, you know, your day-to-day, but I love it. I'm super glad it's done. Now, next thing that I need to do in here is paint the walls. I do plan on painting in here pretty soon, and I do want to get a new mirror. I want to get something a little bit wider that will fit into this like little trim out area, and then I want to get something that has lights on it for like, you know, like the vanity type mirrors that have like the pretty lights going around. They have them on Amazon, and I really love the way they look, so I want to upgrade the mirror so I can see better when I'm doing my makeup. But this, um, these blinds are so nice. Oh my gosh, I am so glad I got these. I love that you can still see the light coming through, which was like super important, but it's not like crazy now in your face, and then if you need privacy to shower or whatever, you can close them so that way whoever's in the backyard won't see you, but they look so good. I'm really, really happy with that.