Boy, I am so happy to have found this group!!! I've been a lurker for quite a while (off an on), but have decided to clean up my "junque" and declutter house. I want my house to be a home.
I am a 43 year old single woman with two furbabies (kitties).
To begin, most of my home is 1st and 2nd degree squalor. I don't know the different degrees from different sources - I based mine on the SqualorSurvivors website. The worst areas are my computer room, kitchen and carport. I have been working on my kitchen and carport and they are getting better. My computer room is a hard core second degree - the only reason it isn't a third degree is because I have no animal feces in the house. I do have two kitties and, bless them, they use the litter box like good boys! For the most part I clean the boxes regularly, but didn't do it like I was supposed to until the last few months.
Growing up, my Mom always kept the house neat as a pin. She was a housewife and that was her job, so to speak. I was an only child and she was very overprotective....she always looked after me and picked up after me. I guess I never learned the proper ways to clean and maintain clutter.....and never bothered to learn it myself as an adult. I despise cleaning and have trouble making myself do it. Is that ***? Maybe so, but that's why I have clutter - I simply don't want to hassle myself with cleaning up. There are other ways I want to spend my time. The other ways I spend my time aren't necessarily more important, they are just more pleasurable. In fact, I have trouble making myself do anything I don't want to do - I am overweight and do not like exercise, so therefore I don't do it. Perhaps I am simply too self-indulgent. Another problem is that I am a perfectionist. If it can't be done right then I don't want to do it at all. Half-a$$ed is never good enough - and I am like that about every facet of my life.
I've always had clutter and been surrounded by an untidy environment. I pretty much ignore it until it gets out of hand and embarrassing...and then it begins to bother me. I let it bother me for a while and then, out of exasperation, I go on a binge. I hate every second of it but then am satisfied when I look at the clean area. I'm bad about using something and not putting it away - I don't maintain. Nothing in my house is filthy, but most could use a good cleaning and everything would be A-okay. I just have stuff, stuff, stuff.
One last problem I have is Emetophobia, which is a fear of vomiting. This is a moderate to severe problem for me and affects my daily life. It causes me to be somewhat of a germaphobe and I also do not like going many public places because of germs - for fear that I will catch a bad germ that will make me sick. However, "my" germs do not bother me - for example, trash in the trashcan, a dirty toilet/sink/tub, etc. Germs from other people freak me out a little and I avoid public restrooms and always wash my hands as soon as I come home.
I am in this situation for a variety of reasons. I can have plenty of excuses, but the fault is mine. My parents died in 2000 (only 4.5 months apart) and when I cleaned out their place I dumped it all here in my house - here I am nearly 9 years later and haven't gone through one piece of it! The house is filled with STUFF and it is so overwhelming. I feel an emotional attachment to much of it which is why I am resistant to clean out. But, my resistance is another paragraph.
I am a very green, environmentally-friendly person. Cleaning out all the STUFF in my house poses many obstacles and it's so intimidating because 1) there is so much of it 2) I want to do it in an environmentally friendly way (not just fill the landfill with all my stuff and 3) some of the stuff has value....why should I throw it away? It's all so overwhelming.
I've had a nice friend for several years and I FINALLY allowed him into my house a couple of years ago. He has the polar opposite problem as me - he is OCD and lives a minimalist lifestyle. He rarely keeps anything. I warned him that my house was a mess and once I could inally trust him enough to not judge me, I let him come over. The first words out of his mouth were "It's not that bad! From the way you talked, I thought we were going to have to call Oprah!" What a relief. He has helped me a little bit cleaning out my stuff, but I know that all of this is my responsibility. Plus, he just wants to throw away EVERYTHING, whether or not it has monetary value, whether or not it has sentimental value, etc.
This summer I got fed up with my carport. I've lived here 9 years and have NEVER been able to park my car in it! I did a little bit of work each day and, although it took me 2 months, I finally cleaned most of it out. However, once I made so much progress and felt better about everything, I just sort of dropped the project. There it sits, about 90% finished and there is just enough stuff out there that I still can't pull in the car. My guess is that it would take only a couple more hours of work and I would be finished. I have no answer as to why I haven't finished it other than being ***. It's not perfect, so I haven't finished it.
I regularly TiVo Oprah and Peter Walsh's recent challenge has inspired me. I'm putting in my 10 minutes a day cleaning out clutter. Sometimes I do a little more, but it's like pulling teeth. I do throw away stuff, but I already have several boxes to donate to Goodwill. Here recently I'm making it more complicated for myself thinking that if I save it until summer that I could have a yard sale and actually get some cash out of it rather than just giving it away. I'm not dirt poor, but the down-turn in the economy over the last 12 months has put a MAJOR hurt on my savings and I need to be frugal. I'm now in a horrible mental struggle of trying to declutter, be environmentally sensible and not throw away money. Where is the balance? I can't find it!
As far as rooms go, here are my levels:
kitchen - now a low level 2, soon to be a 1 if I continue my 10 minutes a day.
den - level 2
computer room - hard core 2
bedroom - low level 2 or high level 1
two bathrooms - level 1
One last issue is that I have a handicap of my right foot/ankle - I can stand/walk for only a few minutes at a time. I *try* to not let this get in the way of my decluttering - I simply pull up a chair and work, or sit in the floor.
Sorry for rambling. As soon as I can find my digital camera I will take some current "before" photos. (I think the camera is lost somewhere in the bowels of that horrible computer room!) I need accountability so that I don't drop the project or become ***. I'm so overwhelmed by how much stuff I have!
Thanks for allowing me to join and letting me vent.
