Clean/Declutter (maintain the gumption)

Went to Wal-Mart last week and bought 3 Rubbermaid containers. There was just a lot of clutter in our house, and I realized just because I want to keep it for the memories, doesn’t mean I need to display it! lol. So, I started int he living room… and if it’s not one of my favorites, it’s in the box. If it’s not neccessary anymore, I take a picture of it, and give it to charity. One room down, a lot to go! But I’m on my way!

I cleaned and re-organized the office desk today. This may seem like a simple job, but please don’t be fooled! Just reading this goal’s title today was enough for me to get pumped up to do something immediately! So exciting! Hopeully, before my husband gets home in an hour or so, will be able to do a little more to the office! What a suprise will this be for him I think! I am so excited to click that I have done this goal! I will be able to do that when I feel like my house is completely clean. It could be weeks, months, or even a year! ... But it WILL get done! ;)

It’s been years since we moved, and I’d forgotten what a big impact it’ll have on the cleaning and decluttering situation. We’ll be moving into a completely clean and tidy house. The only clutter joining us at the new place will be contained clutter we’ve chosen to bring with us. We can decide whether or not to let it out of it’s cardboard cage.

This doesn’t mean the job will be done, but I think it’ll make things immeasurably easier. It can be dealt with it box by box instead of having it all around us. One sifting will be done as we’re packing, and another when we come through on the other side. I think it’ll be much, much easier to let go of things we don’t need, and keep the rest under control.

I want this move to be a real catalyst for change in several areas of life.
This is one of them.

For the last few weeks I’ve been trying to prepare to move by dragging boxes in from the garage, weeding out various crap, repacking them, and dragging more inside. I’ve tried to manage at least 1-3 a day, so towers of full & empty boxes have stacked up. I’ve gotten through a lot (and tossed/recycled oodles of crap), but the living room has been in a complete state of chaos, which isn’t conductive to relaxation when the day is done.

Today I decided to battle it. Now the sorted boxes are back in the garage, the empties are in the storage room ready to be filled, and the donation boxes are ready to go. Isak cleaned up his toys, books, lego, and art supplies and with everything out of the way I could finally vacuum again. Laundry loads are finished and away, the recycling, empties & garbage are out, the fridge has been de-junked, the dishes have been washed and put away, the surfaces have been decluttered and dusted. The hall/kitchen got a sweep, the counters are clear and clean, and the whole place looks a lot calmer, so I feel that way too. Noticeably.

The new owners called about bringing a new stove by, so I unloaded the old one and Markus got home in time to help move it and clean the floor underneath (ew!) and the side of the fridge that’s been out of reach for 5 years (ew!). We now have a new stove – it’s just too bad we won’t be here to enjoy it for very long.

And yes, I wear marabou pasties when I clean my house. I’ve missed them so…

There’s a backburned list of a dozen specific (generally overwhelming) things that need to be dealt with, and this was one of them. A whole corner of storage has been eaten up for years by outdated and decrepit technology: numerous old systems, bits & pieces of computers, things that needed to be stripped of this or that and then shown the door. It was one of those things I never got around to, and needed a bit of help sorting.

When B was here setting up the new system last week, we needed an extra connector, so I ended up dragging the whole beastly lot out onto the patio, found what we needed, then proceeded to pop out hard drives & a few other bits (small enough to fit in a kid’s shoe box) and piled the rest up for worthy disposal.

I didn’t want the dregs to end up in a landfill, so the next day Markus dropped them off at Free Geek, a fantastic local place for computer re-use and recycling:

^{Free Geek:
“We take all computer equipment, FREE OF CHARGE, working or not, in any condition.}

Your old computer equipment goes directly into our volunteer programs. Even while it’s being evaluated, people are learning to identify computer parts. Reuseable hardware furnishes computers for volunteers and non-profits. If your equipment has to be recycled, we’ll do it as locally and sustainably as possible, in strict accordance with the Basel Convention.”

Our volunteers share knowledge and get free computers, while making their communities better, healthier places. In our Adoption Program, people donate 24 hours of their time and receive a free computer. No experience required!

If anyone else has a computer graveyard hiding in the bowels of your house (or gathering dust in the corner of the room), I highly recommend seeing if you have a similar program locally.

Not only did I feel good about dropping the stuff off, they had the new RAM I needed to pick up in their computer thrift store, which helps support what they’re doing AND helps me get my new system up and running. I also managed to scratch this big de-junking thing off my mental mess list and clear more space in the garage. Win. Win. Win.

^{More info on Free Geek: http://freegeekvancouver.org}

A complete frenzy. We were having guests (some who had never been here) over for dinner Sunday, so I got up, fueled my jets with strong coffee, then did a whirlwind cleaning. High energy, auto pilot, focused and full steam ahead for several hours cleaning. It was pretty impressive. Then I dragged my dusty behind into a warm bath, washed my hair, and had a cool glass of wine before people arrived.

Yes, the dreaded T-shirt drawer. I think there were close to 100 stuffed in there. The bottom of the drawer was busting out. A shameful, neglected post rummaging mess. I turned it over, sorted them, weeded a stack out for the clothing swap box, washed a pile, re-sorted and folded them neatly inside. The drawer now opens and closes smoothly and it’s easy to find what I’m looking for. And I have a few new rags for my next cleaning project.

Maybe someday I’ll make one of those “old favorite T-shirt” quilts.

Piled on top of the usual (plus extra dishes, garbage, recycling, and piles of laundry to deal with after the long weekend), I vacuumed everything, wrestled some large under-the-bed dust bunnies and attacked my top dresser drawer, which had become a messy nightmare of overly rummaged through socks, belts, underwear, various shirts, random papers, junk, coins, bath products, etc.

I tossed a bin full of old things (so many sad socks) & put the rest back neatly. I’m hoping to get through the entire dresser this week. Eek.

All the mirrors in the house are shining. Maybe I can get through one now.

Aside from the general dishes/garbage/recycling/surface wipedown business, in the last few days I also gave the bathroom some What For: removed all the toys & bottles from around the tub & cleaned them before scrubbing the entire tub and surround, sink, toilet, and floor, washed the bath mat, towels, washcloths, and curtain, decluttered the shelves and recycled the breeding TP rolls.

On the intangible decluttering front, I also cleared out thousands of spam scented e-mails from my various accounts.

List of the day:

made beds
washed dishes
took out garbage/recycling/trash
decluttered 2 very messy junk drawers in kitchen
vacuumed feather explosion in living room (deceased pillow)
washed floor around/behind toilet
surface wipedown
picked up toys, books, music, movies, clothes, etc.
dusted
did 2 loads of laundry (throw pillows too)
banished lint trap monster
cleared empty containers/boxes from laundry room
swept
cut fresh lilacs for vases around the house