vandalia

it’s been 12 months since my first entry. i’m writing from the same desperate state. old habits. i did get rid of a bunch of clothes. again. but i’m starting to realize that clothes aren’t my biggest problem. this weekend it’s all about the files. piles and piles and papers. to. be. filed.

It’s been 7 weeks since my first entry. I did not make my initial deadline of Friday afternoon for clean bedroom floor, but as I type this there isn’t a single article of clothing on my floor! I’ve donated 12 bags of clothes. TWELVE BAGS. It feels great. As far as a total life overhaul my main problem is that I have low standards for cleanliness. I’ve always envied people who say they “can’t sleep when there are dirty dishes.” That is so far from my reality. I figure, if you can’t beat em… and for the past 4 weeks I’ve been pretending to be anal about keeping things clean. I’m going one room at a time and I started with the kitchen. I used to let the dishes pile up then tackle the grime in one nose-plugged swoop a few weeks later. Now, if there’s a dish, just one, I wash it. If there are crumbs, I sponge em up. I’m not quite as good about keeping the floor clean, but like I said, baby steps.

I’d like to think of this as the first step: I admit it. I am a clutter whore. They say the first step is the hardest but that was pretty easy. The hard part will be picking up all the shit off the floor and putting it somewhere more appropriate. Then there’s donating/throwing out stuff I don’t need. It’s actually harder to admit I don’t need that stuff than it is to admit I’m a disorganized slob. I’ve been battling my packrat ways since age 6. So far, not much progress. Though lately I’ve been inspired by…

1. The Style Network’s show CLEAN HOUSE with Niecy Nash. I’m not as messy as the folks on the show so I like to snicker at them from my couch while I procrastinate cleaning my own (glass) house.

2. I went to my friend’s spic-n-span studio apartment. It was just so SPARE. It felt great to stand in that room.

3. I’m driving my boyfriend crazy with my piles of junk. I want him to do more dishes, vacuuming, sweeping, dusting, etc. but I don’t have much ammo. (To clarify: I’m just messy, not dirty.)

4. I’m driving myself crazy thinking about cleaning all the time.

So, action plan. I’ll start with the bedroom floor. Deadline: Friday.

V