Organizing, Reorganizing and Cutting Clutter 9/14/09

First posted Sept 14, 2009

So, in order to have new floors installed, I've got to clean the surfaces of all my furniture. For me, this is no mean task. It's near Herculean in scale. Every surface is covered with STUFF... most of it isn't necessary stuff, or valuable stuff... but I'm always overwhelmed with the idea of cleaning it. I have to --- but how????

As soon as I start cleaning, I get caught up in the emotional investment I have in these things... because truly for most of it, that's its ONLY value... it's really nothing worth keeping. I know this in my head. Doesn't make it easier to get rid of the stuff.

A friend recommended I watch the show 'Hoarders' on A&E. It's kinda like 'Clean House' except rather than being about negotiating and remodeling, it's more about dealing (at least short term) with the addiction and the process of disposing of the hoard. She said it inspired her, every time she watched an episode, to go clean out another room in her house.

So I watched my first episode today and it was scary as hell that I could be one of those people in a few years if I let my addictions take over my life completely. Thank GOD for my husband, who injects some sanity to the point that nothing has gone quite that far ...(he's kinda like the Felix Unger type except he won't do much of the cleaning himself).

And yet, while our place is far from a hoard, it's also far from comfortably livable. I invited friends over for a packing party on Friday - packing up the stuff that needs to be moved off of surfaces... but before then, I've got to sort out the stuff that can go away forever... we do have limited boxes to fill, and the rest has GOT to go.

I don't know how I'm gonna do this all in 4 days... but it's got to get finished. So... I called a professional organizer... maybe I can get some help because I don't think I can do this alone. But that's a step at least.

None of this is helped by the fact that a lot of the 'stuff' is quilting stuff, and therefore not destined for the landfill. There just isn't anywhere to put a lot of it til the cabinets are in. The floors have to happen first though. Where is the sanity in all of it???

Too much stuff, too much to do with it, too little time...