DAY 5 - CHURNING

Today I set myself a task that inevitable leads to churning. Going through the dreadful boxes that came up from the laundry room. And I guess while I am at it go through the ones by my bed, too. Why does this lead to churning? Because usually those boxes are full of stuff I am not sure how to deal with. Stuff I just can't throw away, or don't know where to put it. So far I have gone from 6 boxes to 3. I see that as a partial success.

I found a piece of paper for health insurance to get some money back that I wouldn't even have attempted to look for as I was sure it was lost or good. I got rid of a pile of broken things, papers and wrappers. (I am not sure how they end up in boxes in the first place instead of going straight to the trash.)

I hate this part of decluttering. The contents of the boxes are usually of the following origin:

• emergency clean up: everything was stuffed into a basket and the basket hidden from sight
• normal clean up with some left overs that I didn't know where to put so they ended up in a box "to be dealt with later"
• stuff I have sorted through before on which I couldn't decide.

The first category is the easiest. The second is hard and the third is very frustrating. There is usually a reason I didn't want to deal with the stuff in the first place. Progress was slow but progress none the less. I think I will turn to some real cupboards and drawers tomorrow for a change of scenery. 

surface of the day: the dreaded boxes

7 a day: Random pieces of junk, more random piece of junk and even more random pieces of junk!

DAY 2 - 1 ROOM DOWN

The end of day 2 finds my busy and exhausted. The repairman called early this morning to ask if he could come in the morning instead of the afternoon. First I was worried, that this would mess up my whole day. After thinking about it for a moment I realized it could be to my advantage.I had planned to be running errands in the morning and to clean up in the afternoon. I know myself well enough that I would have been too tired, and probably had skipped cleaning up all together.

So I cleaned up in the morning. I was kind of frantic as I had hoped to have the laundry room clean by the time the guy showed up. I more or less managed to do just that. I evacuated the hoard, a total of 4 boxes and baskets. After that I cleaned the kitchen and the hall.

I finally managed to check off my first room. Quite the achievement, isn't it. Ah well. On the other hand, maybe not. It is only the little room behind the front door. It has one little white chest in it. It contains sweaters, gloves and scarfs. Everything was still in perfect order. 

Funny thing is that when I took the picture I realized there was still a pencil under the chest! So I got it out. I am not sure if I can consider myself on track as I have been all over the place so far, but crossing even this tiny room off is a start. 

I think the reason for my not being able to focus is that I am simply scared of having a real life. That I am not sure what I would do with myself if I really got a grip on things after all these years. I guess I could always go back to hoarding if a real life doesn't suit me! 

Surface of the day:top of the freezer and the dryer

7 a day: box of kid's clothes

CHIMNEY SWEEP TRAUMA

I hate the yearly chimney sweep visit. Not only do you not get a specific time, but not even a date. only an announcement that they will show up "the beginning of April". On top of that, they need to go to the basement AND the attic, the 2 most sore spots in my house. After seeing pictures of my attic you would know why I don't want anyone up there.

I have made really good progress in my attic, and it still looks terrible. The basement has definitely seen more organized days. But hey. April was a few days away, so when the doorbell rang around 3 pm  in  the afternoon of the 27th of MARCH I simply wondered who that could be.

AH! The chimney sweep. And not only one. But 2 of them! He had brought an apprentice. "It's definitely not April," was my greeting for them. Rude. I know. Hahaha! I was too shocked to be polite. Well. They were all nice  and apologetic and said they'd been working so well, that things went faster than expected and would it be alright if they came in now. 

Who am I to send them away? I warned them repeatedly. Ah. I wish I had worked a little harder this morning. The kids' rooms were all officially a mess, I shut my bedroom door. The landing wasn't cleared but thanks to my hard work that morning there were only 2 baskets with stuff instead of 3.

Well. They managed to reach what they needed to reach. Embarrassed as I was I kept apologizing. Mr. Chimney Sweep has seen the house a few years in a row now. He probably knows that nothing would have been any different if he had shown up 4 days later. Ah well. I am still alive and now I have a whole year until they come again! 

Surface of the day: 1 basket full of miscellaneous sorted through
5 a day: 5 books