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Post by lorrainemondo on Sept 28, 2010 13:01:32 GMT -5
Greetings!
I haven't been here for ages.
I've been pretty well maintaining for a year now...I still can't get over what finally worked for me after 30 years of squalour.
I assigned absolutely everything a place to go and got rid of everything else. I didn't get hung up on recycling. I put big labels on drawers and baskets etc. so that I couldn't forget where things go. And most importantly, I made enough negative space around everything so that the items were not hard to put back.
Anyway, last night I turned on the hot water tap in the bathtub and then, luckily, remembered something I wanted to do before I had a bath--otherwise I would have had a molten flood if I had filled the tub. The water would not shut off--at all! It was gushing out full force and boiling hot. Thank God the drain is clear and no water collected in the bathtub at all, just furiously flowed down the drain.
I was so thrilled to spend 15 minutes putting stuff away in a very lively manner, taking the clothes off the floor of the bathroom and so on before I called the building manager. I never take this freedom for granted and each incident that demonstrates the benefits of arranging my life and installing cues and strategies for cleaning behaviour is such a blessing!
This community was key to my getting where I am today!
Lorraine
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Post by neveropentheclosets on Sept 28, 2010 13:17:03 GMT -5
Lorraine - that is amazing! I totally aspire to that. It's so great that you are able to appreciate it too. How far you've come...
neveropentheclosets
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Post by blossoming on Sept 28, 2010 13:51:21 GMT -5
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petuli
New Member
Joined: September 2010
Posts: 80
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Post by petuli on Sept 28, 2010 13:59:55 GMT -5
That's wonderful! Must be so fantastic for you to not have to worry about sudden emergencies nowadays. I'm just trying to get to those negative spaces you wrote about - your post is inspiration! Well done on maintaining for so long.
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Post by BetsyMarie on Sept 28, 2010 14:05:28 GMT -5
Thanks for the post Lorraine. I too aspire to what you have. The past few days I've been marvelling at how wonderful the freshly vacuumed carpet of the hallway feels against the bottoms of my feet. Such a little thing to notice. And how wonderful it is to cook in a cleared kitchen with clean everythings. I'm wondering what other pleasant surprises are in store as the rest of the house gets cleared out. Thanks again for letting us know it's possible.
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Post by ponygirl on Sept 28, 2010 14:08:21 GMT -5
LM, "I assigned absolutely everything a place to go and got rid of everything else." This is my goal.
Thank you for this terrific reminder of what can be again - or - for the first time. Ponygirl
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Post by angela on Sept 29, 2010 1:14:54 GMT -5
Lorraine, how did you decide what items to keep? I would love to have empty spaces!
Congrats on your successful year of squalor-free living!
Angela
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Post by messymimi on Sept 29, 2010 7:05:12 GMT -5
Wow. Just, wow.
messymimi
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Post by littleengine on Sept 29, 2010 8:14:11 GMT -5
Yay!!!
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MiSC
Banned
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,611
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Post by MiSC on Sept 29, 2010 9:19:45 GMT -5
WTH?? It's so simple!! Why the heck haven't I thought of that before?? You took pictures and put them in the right areas FOR YOURSELF. I've done that with the kids' room, but I've never once considered doing it for myself! Sometimes I amaze myself.
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Post by cleanchallenged on Sept 29, 2010 10:25:00 GMT -5
Congratulations! A stressful situation isnt nearly as stressful when there isnt squalor on top of the problem. Glad you were able to call the manager quickly and get it resolved. :-) :-) :-)
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Post by jodiboda on Sept 29, 2010 13:24:35 GMT -5
Congrats! I look forward to getting where you are now...can't wait!
On noticing the little things: I have noticed how much easier and quicker it is for me in the mornings to fix my cup of tea and lunch to take with me to work when the counters are clean.
Thanx for sharing your victory!
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Post by gottaproblem on Sept 29, 2010 16:13:14 GMT -5
WTG!
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Post by blessedapt on Sept 29, 2010 21:00:20 GMT -5
WOOHOO!!! Congrats!
You really are inspirational!!
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Post by lorrainemondo on Sept 30, 2010 14:36:25 GMT -5
Thank you for all the congrats! I see there are a lot of chatters online right now so I'm going to go into the chat room for some cleaning company fun!
Yes, people may laugh when they come into my home and see big labels with words like "rulers", "envelopes", "disks", "clips", "pencil crayons" and on and on all over baskets and boxes and drawers and shelves! I even covered the labels with plastic to make them more sturdy and long lasting. People do laugh but could I care less??!!
The way I decided what to get rid of was if I could decide on a place for it to dwell. If there was nowhere obvious than out it went! I got rid of other stuff too--like an old sewing machine that worked but not that well and so on.
Mostly I let the negative space dictate. And experimenting with taking things out and putting them back...if it was easy to retrieve and restore then I deemed that object a successful object.
And, yes, people do laugh, raise eyebrows and even roll eyeballs at my self help solution: GIANT LABELS LIKE IN A KID'S ROOM!
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