Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2021 10:41:45 GMT -5
Hello, older person here who's doing the job herself. Stage 2.5 or so. My landline was knocked out by an electrical storm in early July. I've been using my cell phone more and more, which is good, because I've kept rescheduling the appointment for the landline repair, which may entail the workman coming into the house, at least the basement and maybe the first floor.
I've been dirt-blind for so long that I'd see piles of mouse droppings at the back of counters in the kitchen and just mentally shrug. I've been able to clean all of that up in the kitchen, but there are still three buried counters that probably conceal more of such treats. Unfortunatly, when I reschedule the phone service date, I go slack and stop making my daily plan. So doing something relatively painless and simple, like vacuuming my bedroom, starts to seem like a Herculean task. I know it's not; I forced myself to do it yesterday, because my three cats are living in the bedroom (it's the only room with A/C), and it's not right to have them live with megadust. I emptied the vac bin 3 times and disposed of a shopping bag full of my hair, fur, and dust. Today, I'll do laundry and some cleaning in the basement, then finish the "stove wall" in the kitchen and begin on one of the untouched counters. That's my heartfelt plan.
I was a bit vexed when I started reading here because so many people seemed to be in the maintenance stages of their journeys, and I was looking for someone who's in the genuine squalor stage, like me. It took me two days to realize that maintaining your gains is possibly the most difficult part of the process, making those lists and counts incredibly valuable. I can see how much I need this myself; I go right back to cluttering cleared counters and spaces, as if I cannot tolerate them. And yet I have this fantasy of clear, clean rooms, of painted walls and ceilings, of living mise en place. But I know that having such a dream is nearly meaningless; I can visualize so well that I come to think I've done work I haven't. When I think of my old apartment dining room, there are beautiful draperies at the windows. In reality, the windows had only roller shades and glass sheers. There was a bolt of fabric in the corner that I'd mentally made into window treatments and hung.
So at this embryonic stage, I need to keep forcing myself to maintain my gains--cleared, clean surfaces--and press on with the rest of the kitchen, and then tackle my office.
I am fortunate in that I know how to clean and organize, have the tools and products to do the jobs I know are ahead of me, and sufficient resources to get other materials if needed, at least up to a point. I just need to mobilize my energy to do the work I've mapped out, and continue doing it once I've desqualored, sanitized, organized and restored an area.
Any suggestions from the veterans would be welcome.
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Post by NewLifeToday on Aug 22, 2021 11:19:59 GMT -5
Hi, @mussidenn .  Welcome! It's nice to have you here. I like your user name. I think your plan is super. I like the way you write. I have ups and downs, and spurts and stops, and sometimes a few steps forward and then get stalled. And then I start going again. To me, any step of progress, any time at all, is going forward. I agree about maintaining the gains. I don't always do that, but it is my goal. For me, part of having the emotional wherewithal to keep going, is to have support and connection. Posting here helps me. I wish you joy and look forward to more of your posts. |
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Post by goldenthreads on Aug 22, 2021 11:42:23 GMT -5
I was a bit vexed when I started reading here because so many people seemed to be in the maintenance stages of their journeys, and I was looking for someone who's in the genuine squalor stage, like me. It took me two days to realize that maintaining your gains is possibly the most difficult part of the process, making those lists and counts incredibly valuable. I can see how much I need this myself; I go right back to cluttering cleared counters and spaces, as if I cannot tolerate them. Welcome, @mussidenn. I wondered about this myself when I joined a year ago. I'm more of a newbie than a veteran, but I can say that doing maintenance tasks has meant that at least I'm not making things worse. And developing these habits has made the regular chores seem less like onerous impositions that reality throws at me and more like brushing my teeth. For the most part, now, I just do these things and don't mentally push back. And with regard to what others are doing, well, some people are in maintenance. Many others have a few rooms in maintenance but have what they call a room of doom or offsite storage units. I've done a lot of reading here, and I've realized that some of what looks like maintenance at first is actually extended decluttering. There are people who are donating clothing week after week, people who are getting rid of toys that their adult children do not want for real or prospective grandchildren, and so many varieties of clutter and decluttering that I am now learning to accept my own peculiar version, which is decades' worth of papers in boxes. You've made a fine start. I'll leave actual advice to others. P.S. A quote from my post earlier today: "Transferred oats from the bulk container to the smaller one I use. This took only seconds, but the point is that I had been planning to leave both containers out to remind me to do it later (!?). Then I realized that that would clutter up the recently cleared and clean counter. This morning I have earned points for defending the space and for doing a quick thing almost as soon as I thought of it.  " P.P.S. And now I have "Muss I Den" running through my mind. I like the song, so thanks!
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Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2021 14:13:34 GMT -5
NewLifeToday and goldenthreads, thanks very much for your responses to my post. They helped me get half of what's on my list done. It's as if I had sweet little puffs of helpful wind at my back, filling my sails of resolve. (And I'll leave off with sloppy metaphors there.) I sometimes think I'd never have let things get so bad if I lived with someone who spoke English. The cats try, and it may be my failure to translate rubs and licks into attagirls, but that's the way it is. Human contact is so important, even through screens.
Been reading about Diogenes Syndrome. I answer to some of its characteristics, but I bathe and I do not hoard trash or garbage. But enough distraction--back to my list!
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Post by NewLifeToday on Aug 22, 2021 15:23:26 GMT -5
Hi @mussidenn. Hooray for progress! I, too, find support necessary.
I wish you continued successes and happy moments in whatever you are doing.
Hope you can find some English-speaking, or native-English-speaking support.
I know how that is. I read every book in English on the local library shelves when I lived overseas. Broadened my education, but wasn't the same as homegrown company.
Lots of smiles and best thoughts to you!
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Post by def6 on Aug 25, 2021 16:08:29 GMT -5
Pleased to meet you @mussidenn and Welcome to our group! I have the same dirt blindness.....however, when company is coming over I can all of a sudden see everything in it's amplified, awful state. Then I try to clean everything up in one day. Cleaning "along" if definitely better! (and safer) I am trying the 5 minute method now with a lot of success because, In theory, we can stand anything for 5 minutes. For a filled up counter in the kitchen (and boy I've had them) I would turn the kettle on for tea, take cups and glasses off counter and put in dishwasher, sit somewhere and drink tea and think to myself :I have just started cleaning an area that I have not been able to touch in a while.....that is terrific. Then the next 5 I would pull up the garbage can and quickly throw away all trash. if you have a mask  and gloves one step could be raking nasty debris into the trash if possible. |
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Post by joyinvirginia on Aug 26, 2021 15:00:55 GMT -5
Welcome mussiden, glad you are on the forum! I have a house with mostly organized and clean rooms, but TOO MUCH STUFF. I hope to one day have a guest room, but right now that room is PACKED with stuff from both adult DDs, clothing, books, miscellaneous STUFF! Daily have to defend kitchen counters and drawers.. from myself! We are here because posters here understand why we celebrate getting rid of a bag of magazines or books, or emptying the trash, or having space on a table so you can have dinner there!
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