I
had been dreading today for weeks now (i.e. procrastinating) and I have, unfortunately, done
everything that I could to postpone, delay, and generally ignore the issue for
too long. Of course, every time I did that things got a little worse with a
little more dust collecting in the corners. Today, like many times before, we
finally took the time to clean the apartment. Well, at least most of it as
there is still about twenty five square feet that is still unusable as a result
of the delays in getting the leak ‘fixed’. It’s only been about six weeks (or
more).
Anyway,
even with that section of the apartment out of commission, there was still
plenty of areas that needed to be addressed and sorting projects that needed to
be checked off the list. What was a little different this time was that we were
both finally ready to get a handle on the problem so we were able to go back and
forth getting small things done one after the other. Of course, I made sure
that my wife had a few projects to do where she could sit at the dining table
which was were much of the sorting took place.
As
a result of this deep dive into the dust and unsorted mess, we found a number
of things that we had both forgotten about as they were set aside for one
reason or another to be dealt with at a later time. From books, to papers, to
cloths, we had a variety of such discoveries and now they have been put back
where they are supposed to be and where they are readily accessible. However,
one of the things that is all too common is the realization of how much crap
you have accumulated and how many things should have been thrown away but, for
some reason, weren’t.
Between
cleaning and sorting out the crap, I hauled nine trash bags to the dumpster
throughout the day. Also, as is a natural result of our deep cleanings, we set
aside a few bags of things that we will be giving away and a few items that we
will be selling (mostly books and DVD’s). It was just one of those times when
we realized that we hadn’t been missing them and haven’t taken them off the
shelf for such a long time that it wasn’t worth the limited space to keep them.
I am sure there will be more stuff once we are able to complete the cleaning
and sorting (see roadblock above).
So
now, after some sweeping, vacuuming, and dusting, I am finally taking the time
to relax for the day knowing that this project is far from over. In addition to
the things that we need to take care of in the main living space we still have
piles of laundry to do and an entire office to sort. But, we made progress and
the apartment does feel a lot better than when we got up this morning. Finally,
there seems to be an end in sight.
