decluttering

I bought a vacuum cleaner as my prize for finishing my super secret project. It’s a canister vac with a HEPA filter. Part of the reason for this is–you may remember my decluttering? First we did the garage, then the office, then the kitchen?

We are not done. The first rule of declutter club is once you’ve figured out where something goes, you don’t rest until it’s there. But we were foolish, and old, and one can no longer work a twenty hour day. And now we have to regroup, rediscover what was in boxes we thought we marked, and go from there.

Unfortunately our 8-hour cleaning days (the only time we can afford to spend doing this) aren’t enough to finish a project. So there are things…making me crazy. On the other hand, we’ve unearthed closet floors we haven’t seen in ages. We’re getting a good look at what was underneath all that clutter and it’s not pretty. Why do things stick to the bottom of the game shelves? How long has that been leaking? Which long dead dog do you suppose left that half chewed rawhide bit…

It’s not like I was hoarding, or buried alive but I was living in a little bit of foolishness. That, “I’ll get around to that when I have time mindset” was taking over. Plus, nobody pays me to dust, just saying. With three kids in college last year? I was working!

My old upright vacuum, which seemed to worked for carpets, but not at all well on our wood floors, isn’t doing its job. It weighs a ton, plus, every time I vacuum I get a sinus infection.

I wanted a really expensive German deal. I got a Kenmore. I hope that people in America made it but I doubt they did. LET THAT NOT BE THE last sacrifice I make to common sense. Nobody needs an $1100.o0 vacuum cleaner. Even if it’s on sale.

So, today we will pull that out of the box. I have my eye on using it on the walls and floors and under all the furniture in our bedroom. Most people feel like doing their big cleaning in the spring, but I guess I’m kind of contrary. I want my house clean and warm and welcoming, with the fireplace going and a clean kitchen full of the vivid scents of stew and baking bread in the winter.

Today we’re decluttering the garage! This hasn’t been too long coming. We did have a massive fire in 2012, and since then, most of the things that have been stored there are things that were boxed up after the fire.

Because the interior of our house was so badly smoke damaged our contractors gutted it and rebuilt it almost entirely from the studs out. So there are things in boxes in the garage from that moment in my life, like a time capsule, waiting for me to unearth them.

Fortunately, that time capsule is only 5 years old and not 35!

I’m not gonna lie. This time it’s personal. It’s possible we need to move. Do you remember those word problems in math? The ones where the train leaves the station in Des Moines and a car leaves in California, and they’re both traveling at certain speeds and you have to calculate where they’ll meet?

Well this is exactly like that. My family is changing. I still have three at home, and as far as I’m concerned they can stay with me forever. I suspect they have other plans. Two are still in commuter colleges gatting AAs before they go off to four-year institutions, so they wont be living in dorms for another year or two. One is just leaving college, his lease is up in August but he and his girlfriend will be looking for a place together.

BUT that train I mentioned? Is my husband’s mobility. He suffered an L1 Fracture and a traumatic brain injury as a kid. As a result, has some neuromuscular issues, which, as he ages, are becoming more problematic. We live in a two story house, and he now needs mobility aids. So…

I suck at math. And anyway, this is an ongoing problem. His trajectory isn’t going to take a straight path from A-Z. Some days are good days, other days are not good days. So we work, and we wait.

And my feeling is that it’s fine to say worry about tomorrow tomorrow, do your worrying, have your anxiety, when the incident you’re worrying about comes to pass. I try not to borrow trouble. I know that’s the idea. But often, I do my worrying ahead, that’s how I am. I have to plan for the worst, have that plan in place, so I can walk through now not paralyzed by the seeming enormity of the tasks at hand.

If we have to sell this house, I don’t want to have to do a declutter, clean, and stage thing on a bad day. Best to get it out of the way now.

For those of you whose days are all good days, or whose days are not all good but you couldn’t imagine ever letting any clutter build up so this wouldn’t apply to you. I’m out here in the hot sun filling trash bins so you can remember to be grateful, it’s just another service I provide!!!

The Epic Saga Continues…

Today’s great adventure?

What she said…

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