JoyinVirginia has a blog

[joyinvirginia]

THE REASONS FOR STARTING A BLOG

September 2, 2009: I have one Big Thing I am dealing with now, and decided a public blog is a good idea to keep track of progress. I want to share how I am dealing with my one big thing and other problem areas, too. I am hoping that other posters here may get some ideas or encouragement from what I share, and I also hope that others might share good ideas with me.

Here is the tale of The Big Thing: My mother has been in a wonderful nursing home for several years. We are very fortunate that my DH and I were able to purchase her house so we could keep her things just like they were, but it is clear she will never be able to live at home again. We made the decision in June 2009 to rent out the house, and were fortunate to find tenants very quickly. Who needed to move in by July 1. Oh. My.

I had NOT moved hardly anything out of the house, so when we rented it I was faced with what to do with ALL THE STUFF. Furniture, linens, old cothing, books, mass quantities of china and collectibles, and paper bags and boxes of ... paper, letters, newspaper clippings, all kinds of miscellaneous STUFF.

Not much time and lots of STUFF to move. The first thing I did was to ask cousins, family friends, my mother's friends to come over to the house so I could give STUFF to them. Best idea I had! I happily send paintings, some china, some books, some kitchen things home with all of them!

I spent about five days over several weeks at the house to move STUFF so the renters could move their things in. We cleared out all but one room and two big cabinets. I did much of the work, DH, the kids, friends, some of my mother's neighbors helped a lot. The one room was cleared out after a full day of work, by the end of July. Much of the STUFF has been put in the attic of the house, which is huge. What to do with that? We will worry about it later!

Everything else I brought to my house. Photos, paintings, collectibles, kitchen things, piles and bags of papers to go thru. I did manage to limit the piles into my dining room. I would LIKE to be able to have it cleared out and usable by Thanksgiving, which is in November in the US. The Problem: I do not feel especially motivated. The stuff has been piled up in the dining room since mid-July. I have only managed to get the pots and pans and measuring cups incorporated into my kitchen without cluttering up things.

The challenges: How to get this done while working full-time, visiting my mother in nursing home regularly, taking care of family, dealing with my own clutter problem areas in the home, taking time to take care of me, getting enough rest, and trying to exercise. All these things take time. I still have two large cabinets at the rental house that I need to go pack up and store there or bring home. Dealing with all the emotions that I experience when looking at old letters my father wrote, or something that holds a lot of sentiment. It takes lots of energy, much more than I anticipated, to deal with all the emotions.

I will use this public blog to record my progress, and how I try to keep motivated. Ideas or encouragement from others who have dealt with similar situations would be welcome.

Edited to add titles.
Topics on Page 2:
JOY DECIDES THAT SCARLETT O'HARA HAD THE RIGHT IDEA
MY DD HAS STUFF IN THE PILE O'STUFF TOO!
THE STORY OF THE GLOBE - OR I got the Whole World OUT OF MY TUB!!!
MAINTAINING ENERGY WITH ONGOING DECLUTTERING PROJECTS
SLOW AND STEADY MAKES THE PILE O' STUFF SHRINK, LITTLE BY LITTLE
Topics on Page 3:
THE ROOM GOT DONE AND WE HAD A PARTY
CLEANING THE GARAGE WITH A PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZER
HEALTH ISSUES
PRE-PARTY PREP
CLEANING IS EASIER WITH HELP
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I AM THANKFUL MY BREAST BIOPSY IS JUST FINE!!!
MAD TURKEY PARTY WAS FUN! HOUSE IS CLEANED UP AFTER HOLIDAY AND PARTY!
Topics on Page 4
STATUS OF OUR HOUSE, ROOM BY ROOM
DD'S BAND PARTY WAS A SUCCESS
THE NEW VACUUM
WE GOT NEW CARPET
AN INVESTMENT THAT HELPED ME CONQUER CLUTTER
LIFE GETS IN THE WAY - OR DID I REALLY LAST POST HERE IN JANUARY?
Topics on Page 5
MEMORIAL DAY MAY 30 2011 AND NEW PROJECT
WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING SINCE MAY 2011 (April 2012)

[Meme]

First of all, I do want to say that you are wonderful daughter to this and I see no discontent or blame towards you mama- bless your heart--.
I think starting small- perhaps dealing with 10 items an evening to start off and then as time goes you many be able to add to the number- perhaps give your 20 minutes to deal with it per evening as you now have a full plate-
do not toss anything unless your heart is absolutely convinced it can go--- I know that sounds counter productive but I also know the deep emotions that this causes-
It is so personal- painful- and yet, there is some joy that is bittersweet-
If something is broken or just not able to clean for display those would the things that right now I would dispose-
do keep the letters etc. there maybe a time to decide on shredding or whatever later- things that are something that belongs or did belong to a beloved are very hard to clear out but it will be easier with time-
I am still doing this for papa hubby and yes. it very draining-
I will be praying for you and I do understand.
gentle hugs

[joyinvirginia]

Sept 2, 2009 23:34:39 GMT -5 Meme said:

First of all, I do want to say that you are wonderful daughter to this and I see no discontent or blame towards you mama... Things that did belong to a beloved are very hard to clear out but it will be easier with time...

Thank you Meme.

MY MOTHER, CLUTTER, AND EMOTIONS OF DECLUTTERING A PARENT'S HOME

My mother was a wonderful housekeeper most of her life. She always did have piles of papers, letters, newspaper clippings - but they were mostly contained in drawers, bags in closets, shoe boxes slid under something or behind something. My dad was always very neat and kept his papers filed in a particular case. After my dad died, and as my mother got older and had more physical problems, she just could not keep up with housework. Even having a cleaning lady come in for half a day every week or two just kept up with the surface cleaning, but never got to clearing out the papers and bags. I think what happened is that if someone was coming over to visit, my mother would do crisis clean-up of papers on surfaces and stash everything in a paper grocery bag, which then added to the pile in whatever closet it ended up in.

My mother always enjoyed having pretty china pieces and displayed them in nice cabinets, but never got rid of any old pieces, as she continued to add to the collection. She would just get another cabinet, until the house was filled with cabinets. Neat, pretty, she enjoyed the things. I am glad she had them. But I can't keep them all, my kids don't want them, they are too nice to sell in a yard sale, I gave the cousins and friends a chance to take them and they only took a few. So I sit and look at the boxes of china stuff and try to figure out where I will put the boxes since I am not ready to get rid of this category of stuff.

Going thru papers is taking much more time than I thought because of the emotion attached. I go in the dining room and look at the Pile O'Stuff. I pick up a small box thinking "I can get thru this quickly - 15 minutes!" I open it and see 3 old church bulletins - easy! I can toss these without looking in them!" Then I see - old letter from my dad with his distinctive handwriting. I get teary-eyed when I see the writing. I take the letter out of the envelope and read part of it and start to sniffle. I put the letter back in the envelope, put it in a pile of "keep" papers on the table between a couple of lamps and box of unknown stuff. I go to the bathroom to get a tissue and blow my nose. I come back in the room and sigh and shut the original box because there are more letters in there and now I have to fix dinner/ let the dogs out/ go put something in the dryer/ go to bed/ watch Project Runway or Big Brother. It is so much easier to do any of those things than to come back and tackle that box. Oh, and 30 minutes has now passed! And I threw out 3 old church bulletins!

Meme, you are right how this is emotionally draining. I thought I knew how hard it would be. I had no idea until I had to start doing it. I just have to continue to take care of myself and pace myself, even if I want to have a much faster pace.

Thanks for your kind words and I hope you continue to take care of yourself as you handle Papa's things.
Joy in Virginia

[joyinvirginia]

Tonight I want to write about PREPARATION AND PLANNING.

Now I have Pile O'Stuff in my dining room. Pile O'Stuff and Much, Much MORE Stuff was in my mother's house (really our house, but since we only visited and never moved anything it was still HER house.) Mother's house is about an hour's drive from my house.
We decided to rent out the home, we found renters, we had a deadline when they needed to move in with most of their stuff!

We got a LOT done in about 5 days. Preparation and planning was key.
I made a list of things that would help with cleaning and packing. I collected boxes from work and grocery store. I purchased a few plastic storage bins. Copy paper boxes are great for china and collectibles. I had bags of newspaper to pack Stuff in to protect it from breaking. We usually recycle the paper, so i just had to remember not to take that bag to the dump. I put together cleaning supplies including garbage bags, paper towels, Clorox wipes, things like that. I should have included a few pairs of disposable gloves or Playtex gloves.

I arranged to have help. The DH and one teen DD. Teen boyfriend of one of my DDs is very helpful at carrying things, and would help for free. Neighbor of mother's offered to help for a few hours. One of my neighbors offered to come help one day. I also phoned a day ahead and asked several relatives and close friends to come to the house on that day to look over things and take anything meaningful to them. PLEASE take it!

I arranged for trash pick-up from the home for later. I did not anticipate a large load, but thought we would have something, and I was right. We got there early, we took a break and left for lunch, and planned not to be too late leaving. We stuck to the schedule.

The actual day of: after getting there early, we planned attack. My neighbor was assigned a cabinet to work on, empty, and pack up whatever. She was good at throwing out obvious trash and piling up papers I needed to look at and make a decision on. Mother's neighbor volunteered to pack up dishes, she had a good efficient system and did that. Teens were assigned to tote things up attic stairs, starting with small tables and cabinets that then could have other things piled on them. I called relatives when we got there and they came over early and picked out a few things they wanted. I tried to get them to take more, but was only a bit successful. We did not worry about recycling papers, just put trash in the trash and "to be looked at/ sorted" in another bag or box to bring home or tote upstairs. Decided to do the sorting and close examination later.

We had a pickup truck to take things back to my house that I wanted to use myself, or sort thru. Many bags of miscellaneous papers ended up in that category. When getting back to my house, we focused on unloading the truck and did not worry about consolidating Piles into one room until days and even weeks later. When we were in the midst of all this, there were piles in the garage, on the screen porch, in the music room, in the family room, and also the dining room. It took about 4 weeks for me to consolidate everything into the dining room into the Pile O'Stuff. An added benefit is that I also went thru some bags in the garage that I had stashed there a while back and found some things I had been looking for!

So here we are now, about 2 months after the moving of the Stuff. Writing down recollections and feelings about this process is definitely helping. Tonight I went into the dining room and spent 30 minutes working on the Pile O'Stuff. I found some shelf space for some books I want to keep. I found a few things to donate to upcoming yard sale at church. I went thru papers stashed in a small gift bag. Of all the newspaper clippings I only kept one. Old unused cards with envelopes stuck together - I have plenty of those, out you go! Wedding program for people I don't know - gone. Catalog from 2001 - I don't think that sale is still going on. Two little hallmark gift books - with no writing in them! Mom meant to give these to someone, once upon a time, but I can donate or gift them myself. I found 33 cent stamps and one cent stamps - unused.

30 minutes to deal with one bad of Stuff from the great Pile O'Stuff. Good, because it is prograss. Frustrating, because I wanted to do so much more, so much faster. I made decision to limit that work to 30 minute increments right now. I really can't stand to be in the room for much longer than that.

If you are reading, hope some ideas are useful for you.
Joy in Virginia

[Meme]

I think the older ladies had a better skill at organization and although they tended to keep a lot of things they kept them up also- but alas age does slow us/me down and does take the energy away and things seem to take over -
my mom was like that- tons of stuff but all fairly neat and tidy- she had good habits like always hanging her clothes up as soon as she took them off-- and keeping things up like laundry and dishes- she wiped off all the spices etc. as she used them -

I am glad you limited your time as this is difficult thing to do- and I am glad you have those bitter sweet moments like dad's letters- they hurt but it is a joyful hurt--
I will pop in again soon- just dealing with some health issues so I don't do too much on the net.

[creativechaos]

joy, thank you for sharing your blog and your process with us. great job on all that you have done! i'm glad your mom has a kind and good daughter like you. the world could use more like you!

regarding the papers; the letters go slowly for me. i am down to a box of them. it may take me a year to clear them and of course i don't want to get rid of ALL of them. i too get teary when i read letters from my deceased mom, dad (who died when i was very young) and friends. i can only take that a few letters at a time and i get overwhelmed.

re: the good china you have that was your mom's: is it antique or fine bone china? if you can find out its worth and you want to sell it for some extra money, perhaps ebay or craigslist would be a good venue for you, or a very good consignment shop. due to being poor, i have consigned better clothes i had and made some extra money which comes in handy for paying winter bills for a few months when i have no work an run out of savings. (i work seasonally).

i love how you're baby stepping through this, and you seem to have a good plan. you have done wonders in a short amount of time! i may join you with the thanksgiving goal because i have a lot of clearing out to do and had hoped to do it this summer but didn't get far. i would choose end of october for my goal because i will be digging dahlias in october/november and need to have enough room to store them. don't want to hijack this blog, so perhaps i'll start a new one or dig out my old hoarding blog on byways. been making steady progress and slow, but not blogging about it. too busy!

[zinnia]

Sept 4, 2009 0:00:44 GMT -5 joyinvirginia said:

We got a LOT done in about 5 days. Preparation and planning was key.

Thanks for the reminder and tips.
Congrats on your BIG project- and hugs to you.

[joyinvirginia]

Thanks for the comments, Zinnia, Meme, Creativechaos. Creativechaos, some of the china is antique, and some of it my mother bought from replacements limited. However, demand for the particular china is not high right now and the money it would bring at this time would not be very much. I have spoken with a woman who owns an antique shop, and she will take things on consignment whenever I am ready to put some things up for sale. I want to take my time, and also to let my DDs decide if they would like any of the things to use.

I have been using an old cast iron frying pan and enamel-coated cast iron casserole dish my mother used for years. I am enjoying using those two pieces and learning about cooking with cast iron.

Here is MY LABOR DAY WEEKEND REPORT.

The first Monday of September is a holiday in the US. Saturday - In the morning did some laundry, ran dishwasher, vacuumed some upstairs, put some of laundry away. Younger DD and I went to visit my mother at the nursing home - about one hour drive. We took mom out for late lunch and for a shopping trip. DD and I also made a short stop by a cousin's house near the nursing home. I brought some old family books that belonged to our grandmother for her to look at, she is doing some family research and this will help her and help me to get a few things.
Sunday - Younger DD and I got up, went to church, carpooled with neighbor, came home and fixed a nice dinner in that cast iron casserole dish, spent some time just relaxing with DH and both DDs and reading in the afternoon sitting on the screen porch, and doing laundry too.
Monday - DH, DDs and I went to bicycle ride and picnic at friend's home that is an annual event, saw lots of friends. Then came home, did some laundry, fixed dinner, loaded dishwasher.
What about the unusable dining room and the Pile O'Stuff? I found a tote bag belonging to DH in there and gave to him to put in proper place. Also found portable DVD player that DH found a home for in computer room. I spent about 15 minutes emptying a medium-sized tote bag that had some letters, a few photos, but mostly old junk mail about magazine subscriptions, fancy food catalogs, tissues, napkins, church bulletins, fund-raising appeals from religious groups and community groups, receipts for paid bills to companies that don't even exist in Home Town anymore, stuff like that. The tote bag is now official Letter Bag where I will put old letters I find.

I worked on a related area: Kitchen. My kitchen is clean and organized, thanks to installing pull-out shelving a few years back. BEST thing I ever did in the kitchen, helps my knees, helps me see exactly what I have. Well, since I will have this extra china I decided to get rid of some stoneware pieces I do not often use. Our church will be having the annual fall bazaar, bake sale, and white elephant sale in October and I am spent about 45 minutes pulling out things to donate. I put about 25 mugs and cups on the counter so family could look and pull out their favorites, and will be donating 22 mugs and cups in addition to 6 cup and saucer sets for the white elephant sale. Now I have some empty space in the cabinets and a home for the cast iron frying pan and casserole! It is a really good feeling.

So - the dining room is unusable still. I now have a new target date - youngest DD wants to have party for her birthday in early Nov and room will need to be presentable by then. There is a tiny decrease in the Pile O'Stuff. I have identified some of MY stuff from my teen and college years that I can dispose of easily. I have good place to donate things for the church sale in October.

Plus, my laundry is clean - not put away, but clean and in basket and if I go to bed NOW and get up early I can put away a lot before leaving for work.
I am - still nibbling away at the Pile O'Stuff!
Joy in Virginia

[Meme]

another thing that I learned is that something you feel the need to keep -keep and later as time goes by- you may change your mind and let it go and that is ok too---
I am really going slow right now with papa's things because I am still kind of sortiing with family members in mind but I now told them they must come and sort as I can not store things for them for a later date--
I feel ok now replacing these things as mine in my heart now rather than focusing on that they were dear hubby's and I know that he would support me in not keeping the things- but darn it all- did he have to keep so much--LOL and everything is heavy!!!
blessings to you as you continue this clearing out and remember it is ok what ever decisions you make ....
the letters are very important for family history and some museums even take them now- especially if they are written before or during and important history event such as the world wars-

[joyinvirginia]

THE BUSY WEEK AND A GOAL FOR THE DINING ROOM PILE O' STUFF SORT AND CLEAN-UP

EEEk! it has been a week since I posted on this blog! It has been a very busy week with school starting for younger DD, who is in band and needs to get picked up 3 days a week after school because of practice. Pants need to get hemmed for both DDs, I did that. I enjoy sewing and doing things for the DDs but it takes time. I was a Good Mom on Friday and sat in the uncomfortable bleachers to see the band play at the game. The weekend we were gone on our annual bicycle trip. Sunday I did pack up one more small box of my kitchen things to donate to church yard sale.

Monday: worked, and got to stay late, DH picked up DD from the late bus. Got home and felt energetic, so ran dishwasher, did 3 load of clothes, got one box from the Pile O'Stuff in dining room and found it was full of OUR stuff - old magazines, an old phone book, some catalogs - easy to go thru, most went into recycle bag and a few recent magazines are in a bag to go to the waiting room at work tomorrow.

NOW - New Challenge. We have a group of friends who get together every year the weekend after Thanksgiving for a party. I got a call from one of the organizers tonight asking if WE can host the party this year. For various reasons, other friends in the group cannot host, at least not easily. DH does not think we can be ready. I have already promised DD that the dining room will be cleared by first of November so she can have a birthday party here. I think we can host the after-Thanksgiving party. I did compromise with DH and said we will see how much progress we have made by the end of September before definitely commiting to the party.

Having a goal of having the party here will help motivate me and speed me up. One box every couple of days will NOT accomplish this goal. I am going to pick up the pace, and keep track of things here. Wish me luck!

[Meme]

You are doing so well and to have a time goal- I know that you will be able to host as I feel you are looking towards doing that--------hoping hubby can help too and the daughters- you have a busy life style so you are doing an amazing job--- our thanksgiving is in October(Canada) so you have a bonus in time--LOL

[joyinvirginia]

Thanks for the ongoing encouragement, Meme.

Every week will be a busy week from now until end of band season. I will be really, really happy when younger DD can drive herself some places! But that won't be until next summer. It looks like we will have one committment or another most weekends between now and Thanksgiving. So I have to pick up the pace on what I do during the week.

TOPIC: NOT ALL THE STUFF IN THE PILE 0' STUFF IS FROM MY MOTHER'S HOUSE

Tonight I plopped down in front of the TV for Survivor premiere, Supernatural rerun, and a new Project Runway episode. I pulled out a few boxes and bags from Pile O'Stuff and sorted as I watched TV. There was one gift box full of old cards, letters, receipts, church bulletins, and junk mail. I tossed the receipts, bulletins, and junk mail, also most envelopes, and saved the rest in "Tote Bag Of Cards and Letters". I also found lots of saved Campbell soup labels, my mom had saved them for kid's school "Labels for Education" program, now the labels will get taken to school!

I had a wicker laundry basket full of knick-knacks from mom's house. I unpacked that to see what we have, pulled out five small things with no sentimental value to add to donation box, found shelf space for three unique carvings and a wooden box, younger DD took a small trinket box, and made space on dining room table for remainder of stuff. It will either end up in cabinet or packed up again in sturdy box. There are a few china pieces that might have some monetary value, but not sentimental value, so I need to check these out.

I thought all of stuff in dining room was from mom's house. However, I found a big shopping bag on the table was actually from older DD, stuff she had decided to recycle. She and I went thru it briefly to verify everything was for recycle, we did pull out one colorful folder in perfect shape that younger DD will use for school now, and one book that can be donated to church sale.

I also found a box full of old papers/ junk mail/ magazines for me and DH, most of that was for recycle too and has been added to big shopping bag, that is full and has been moved close to garage door so I can take it next time we go to dump. So now I have more room to walk into dining room, I CAN OPEN MY CHINA CABINET DOOR!!!, and if I stretch a bit I can place things on the empty space on the dining room table.

On Monday I can start taking things to church for the upcoming white elephant sale. I will be so happy to take my (so far) four boxes of donation things. We will still have a couple of weeks to go thru more stuff, and donate more stuff! There is a bag of clothes in there from the kids, and a few other things they want to donate. The dining room has just become the donation dumping ground for now.

I can SEE progress now, and I can SEE MORE FLOOR! I am very happy. I am going to try for Sept 30 to get everything in the room sorted. Then I have two more cabinets at mom's house I need to go back and pack up, mostly china and knick-knacks. I plan on packing and storing that for now.

I think we will be able to have a party in the room in November!
Joy in Virginia

[joyinvirginia]

LOTS OF PROGRESS THIS WEEKEND!

On Saturday I worked for a few hours on the Pile O'Stuff in the dining room, by grabbing a container of Stuff and working on it while watching TV - I am catching up on Models of the Runway and Bridezillas.

Folks can say whatever they want about Hoarders/ clutterers, etc - some of those Bridezilla women are REALLY CRAAAAAZYYYYYY!!! and SCARY, too - I saw the episodes where some of them have GUNS! And one CRAZY Bridezilla brought her gun to the church! Thank goodness no one made her angry during the ceremony.

Found: old letters, old Christmas cards, few pictures, $5, lots of newspaper clippings of articles my mother was interested in - all those went into recycling bag except one cute photo, some inexpensive kitchen accessories, some of MY old schoolwork (from high school), old paid bills (phone, gas, medical), junk mail, ancient catalogs, a couple of Mad magazines (my favorite) from 1970, bathroom soap and a soap dish with several chips, some Reader's Digest magazines from 1996, several books, and a Modern Bride magazine from 1983 when we were planning our wedding!

Also in the dining room I found crate of bicycling stuff belonging to DH, a pair of sneaker I had been looking for was in the crate too. Don't know how it got in the room, DH claims he does not recall putting it in there. Three garbage bags in the dining room are from younger DD's room where she cleaned out the closet of things that don't fit/ she won't wear.

Sitting in the car right now are: a big bag of magazines to go to work on Monday morning, I will put in waiting room of clinic; 5 boxes of donations to take to church tomorrow night, first date they will take things for yard sale coming up in a couple weeks. Also got more things of DD's from the room - a metal mesh storage cubbie thing, a bulletin board. The trash and recycles are out in garage.

I can see MORE of floor in dining room; I can fully open the china cabinet door; I can REACH the dining room table by stretching just a tad. HOORAY!

OK, so The Pile O'Stuff in the dining room is the biggest concern right now. Time to discuss the Other Concerns. In my kitchen, I have a desk. It becomes cluttered constantly. Right now there are several books on it, the biggest being cookbooks I consulted but then have not yet reshelved, even tho it has been several weeks.

A downstairs bathroom closet has hardly any room. It is full of Stuff. I do not even know what the Stuff is. I do know it is a nice closet with pull-out shelves and the space is being wasted on junk I cannot see, and do not know what is in there, and certainly don't need because I haven't used anything out of there is ages. Years, really. But what if we get more goldfish one day, and I have tossed a perfectly good air filter and pump? What if that happens? i would have been so wasteful! At least that is what I think when I have tried to toss the air filter before.

My bedroom upstairs, with the Amazing Magnetic Cedar Chest. This chest has an upholstered seat on top, and my cats LOVE to lay on it and look out the window. Only problem, cats have not been able to get on it for at least 6 months. I cleaned out my closet, and stuff from closet I didn't know what to do with ended up on the chest - and got piled higher and deeper - and there it sits. The cats are not pleased. The big cat bites my toes sometimes, I know it must be because of this, I am such a bad cat mommy!

Our computer room/ office. That you can get into, but cannot readily get to anything else. Even the door going to the attic. because of stuff in boxes from when we tried to straighen up, but- you guessed it - got sidetracked halfway thru, and never got back to it. I hate to even go in the room (I use a laptop downstairs). Waiting for someone else, like DH, to clean it up has not worked. He can concentrate so intently, he doesn't even notice the mess!

Older DD reminded me today that we should do something about the attic. Because it is full of stuff that was mostly tossed every which way when we got a new roof last summer, and then had to get ventilation modified when we had to replace heat pumps, and it either has been too cold or too hot to get up there, and besides I REALLY hate to go in the attic. Really. You can hardly walk in there. So we should toss most of the stuff up there. But did I mention I really HATE to even set foot in the attic?

As you can see, the Pile O'Stuff in the dining room is just the beginning. I will keep posting updates on my adventures with Piles O'Stuff as I make progress!

[Meme]

hugs and enjoying your blog-- I will write more as soon as I am feeling more up to par- just wanted you to know I am here cheering you on-----------

[joyinvirginia]

Thanks again for the encouragement, meme.

Today's adventure: TAKING THINGS TO CHURCH FOR WHITE ELEPHANT SALE!

Our church will be having fall fund-raising event in a few weeks. There will be a craft and bake sale, and a BIG White Elephant sale, what some folks may refer to as a jumble sale or garage sale or an indoor yard sale. As I have been unpacking some boxes from my mother's house, and cleaning out my cupboards to make room for stuff I am keeping, I have been boxing up donations for this sale. Tonight after work I went to church to drop off my first bunch of donations. I took SEVEN small boxes full of stuff. Each box was about one foot by one foot or two feet, so I figure I got rid of about 14 cubic feet of stuff! Hooray.

Donations included (not complete list):

• a crocheted afghan that nobody ever used
  
• twenty-two ceramic and plastic mugs
  
• four circus souvenir mugs - kids don't want them
  
• five large puzzles
  
• five stoneware cups and saucers
  
• stationery set
  
• decorative bulletin board with ribbons
  
• kids sticker sets
  
• decorative dish towels
  
• straw wreath
  
• measuring cups
  
• sugar bowl
  
• and many more things including lots of kitchen odds and ends
  

It felt GOOD to get those things OUT of my house and OUT of my car. The Pile O'Stuff in the dining room is slowly but surely shrinking. My next goal is to get all remaining boxes that are on top of the dining room table OFF and unpacked, and to use the surface of the table to lay out exactly what I have here, including pictures, knick-knacks, photos. That way DDs and DH and I can look at everything and decide as a group if pictures should go up on walls, who wants what knick-knacks (if any) and what I have kept so far should be discarded. Goal is to do this before the church sale in two weeks, so any more things can be donated. I have a package of picture-hanging hardware ready to go, so we will not be delayed in hanging up pictures.

With any luck, I will be able to get most of the room cleared by the end of this month! Then only two more big cabinets left to be cleared at my mother's old home. Mostly china and a smaller amount of knick-knacks in those cabinets, but they are large cabinets. The renters have been very patient, but we gave them big break on rent the first two months. I am thinking most of the china at mom's house can be packed very securely in smaller boxes, and stored at my house for a while.

Watching the clean-up shows like Clean House or my favorite Clean Sweep does NOT give an accurate picture of this process. not even the Hoarders show (which I really enjoy) puts enough emphasis on process. If I had a team of 6 or 8 or 10 people here to help take things out, to help unpack things and clean as we went, things would go so quickly. There is no crew here, so I take my time going thru box by box. It is slow progress and gets frustrating sometimes. I just have to remind myself to be proud of any progress.