Now that I am back from a short vacation break…

Living Room [√] Cleaned all couches and vacuumed carpet
Kitchen [√] Still a few boxes needing to be put away
Dining Room [√] Cleared table and put away the broiler
Bathroom [√] Cleaned the toilet
Bed Room [√] Changed sheets and Vacuumed, did laundry
Family Room [√] Cleared old papers away.
Patio [ ]
Garage [ ] 1 month ago

Plans for this weekend include to clean up this area. Scarcely recognizable, it is in fact a bedroom. I will be making the bed, and sorting this pile of items. That is a shipping crate in the background. 3 months ago

Clutter War book author stated that a good strategy is to have bare countertops in the kitchen. So, earlier this week I cleaned out the microwave which was covered by splashes of old food, scrubbed the counters, and took the unused appliances off them. I moved the blender and the toaster, which we do not use often, and several decorative canisters. Now it is just the microwave, food scale, and knife block. The kitchen is not fancy but it now has a cleaner and more appealing look. The other 2 counters/surfaces will be attempted soon. One thing at a time. I am grateful for the energy to have done this. I am trying to get peace through establishing and then maintaining a sense of order. 4 months ago

1. Pay my annual 3 charitable gifts – done!
2. Find the wall calendars I ordered for 2013 – found!
3. Unsubscribe from more spam – done!
4. Car papers in car file – done
5. Other bills in their proper files – done
6. get mail – done
7. clinic/pharmacy – done
8. read mail- done
9. file the mail that has been read – TO DO4 months ago

After debating what to do for some months, the advantage of having another roommate convinced me to clean my carpets and after a full day of moving crap and furniture, my carpets are being cleaned as I write and I am very happy to have them look nice again. The fact that my kids are grown now also plays a big factor as they will not be making the messes like they used to!

(1pm update) – The carpet cleaner is still going after 2 hours and filling up his filter with my dog’s hair. The carpet looks much better although not good as new, but I’m happy to know it will have a couple more years of life now and be in the best condition it can be. 7 months ago

I deleted 1000 read emails from my inbox. Now I have “only” 787 read emails in the inbox. It’s a start anyway! 7 months ago

I have decided that I have no business looking at mid century modern houses until I can keep my own regular house in some kind of order. This means cleaning. I am also going to make a “flipper book” from the Clutter War book. It will help make a chore list so that the house gets cleaned regularly. For example, Tuesday could be the day all garbage cans are emptied and put in bins. I’m not going to buy any new stuff for a while (I say) until things are clean.
I am having multiple orgasms over the cleanliness of this house pictured, which I cannot afford. I really like the floor to ceiling windows. 7 months ago

Exercise 1:

Q: Write a daydream of how you want your house to look
A:
Have things not be completely stuffed to the maximum. If I wanted to put another item in the closet or storage area, there would be room.
Have things put away that are not in use. Open surfaces with nothing on them.
Not have piles of things to go through “sometime”
Have things in my closet/storage areas be things I actually use, the exception being “most precious treasures”

Exercise 2:

Goal:

Now: clean out linens and have just things that work

5 years: be able to move to a different house/apt if I had to, and to have things that I would actually really want to bring in the new house/apt

Lifetime: feel like if I died, my house could be moved into by someone and it would be furnished and organized, like a furnished apartment

Photo: the current state of the closet
Having a hard time getting rid of sheets. I have 5 sets of queen sheets and 1 on the bed. There are other queen sheets but they have pills, have stains, or are not as good overall. It is my task to let them go. The closet is also difficult because we have a full, queen, and king bed. I have 3 sets of sheets for the king bed which we got a year ago. I have maybe 6-7 sheets for the full bed that I bought in 1996. There are more queen sheets because spouse and I each came with a queen bed. 9 months ago

I am going to break it down:
0. Bathe DONE
1. take clothing out of dryer that is dry and fold it – DONE
2. take clothes off drying rack and fold them DONE
3. put wet clothes into dryer or drying rack- DPME
4. Wash sheets – DONE
5. Put away shoes – DONE
6. Clean cat vomit off bed – DONE11 months ago

We are slowly getting the dust up but it is everywhere!
Note artistic butterfly stool, gift from my mother. 13 months ago

We are putting lights into the ceiling where before there were no lights! Here is one of the holes before we put the can lights up there. We are making progress. Doing the wiring now. I am chronicling the event. 13 months ago

....I am going to give up on this goal as I no longer have a house!

The house I’ve left I have left tidy and clean.

Moving in with my parents means I am now sharing cleaning responsibilities, I keep the kitchen and mine and the children’s rooms tidy and that’s it! Goodness knows how I will ever manage when I have my own house again ( if I ever do!) there’s just not enough hours in the day! 14 months ago

Bathroom [√] Toilet, Sink, Tub
Kitchen [√] Microwave, Sink, Counters, Spot cleaned refrigerator, swept floor
Dining Room [√] Dining Room Table
Living Room [√] Cleaned all couches, dusted Entertainment Center, vacuumed carpet

Need to mop floors to wrap this up. 14 months ago

Sock and underwear area was very messy and there were old socks with the elastic worn out and many without mates.
I bought 14 pairs of socks. I’ve never had so many socks
Whoopie! It is a small pleasure 15 months ago