To Clarify...

The comments have been made to me that my house doesn't seem cluttered.  I deeply appreciate these words of encouragement!  I don't mean to imply that I'm overwhelmed in clutter all over the house.  I think in general we do ok with keeping on top of things so that if someone pops by, we aren't overly mortified.  I'm more concerned about the clutter that you won't see, but that makes my life stressful.  Cases in point:

1.  My sewing machine resides in a cabinet above my washing machine, upstairs on the second floor.  But my measuring tape and straight pins are kept in a basket in a cabinet above my desk in the basement.  That makes no sense, makes me run all over the house, and stresses me out.

2.  Tools are kept in three places with no rhyme or reason.  So if you need a screwdriver, chances are you have to look in three different places and it will always be in the third place you look.  Same goes for batteries, cleaning supplies and medications.

3.  I have a stack of ziploc disposable storage containers and a stack of blue lids.  The lids appear to go with the containers.  I have tried 8 gazillion times to match the lids to the containers (because they are not ALL ziploc - there are store brands mixed in there), to no avail.  And yet they are still taking up real estate in my cabinet and falling on my head when I search for sandwich boxes for packing the kids' lunches.  Why are they there?  Why is the cabinet above the fridge filled with odds and ends of mismatched, often chipped or cracked demitasse cups, saucers, creamers and fruit bowls?  Sure, they were essentially free from the Replacements Ltd. yard sale a couple years back, and sure, they were meant for Fancy to use in tea parties, but let's face it.  They're ugly, they're broken, she doesn't want them, and they take up space.  Every cabinet has issues like these.

4.  Why does a drawer in my bathroom contain the following: an unopned pack of Gerber onesies, a box of vintage Strawberry Shortcake birthday party invitations leftover from my 5th birthday, a much nicer flute cleaning rod than the one that actually resides in my flute case, a Michael Kors canvas bag meant for storing my hot orange purse in (um, does anyone find that useful?), the dust jacket to Madeline, two footies (you know, for when guests come over and want to try on my shoes), a plate stand, a Grover Washington, Jr. CD, tissue paper, a pattern for drapes, a 3x3 framed Anne Geddes print (baby lost in purple lilacs), RugRats temporary tattoos, stay-at-home-mom business cards that do not have my email address printed on them, a Master Cuts promotional punch card, a necklace I'm pretty sure Geof picked up in Hawaii that I'm pretty sure he needs to start wearing again, eyeliner, a tuner, green ribbon, two framed pictures of infant Hi-Hat, post-it sight word flash cards, a tape roller left over from when we had cats (we've never had cats in this house), light bulbs, 1 book of checks with our Maryland address printed on them and one book for an account we no longer have, a butterfly clip, 4 pens, an interesting faux mother of pearl button, and a step-by-step guide to English Smocking (because, remember, I am a do-it-yourself-er, and I will need this guide to use for looking up questions I may have along the way as I figure out how to do English smocking all on my own).

This is the clutter I'm talking about.