Clearing out the corners
I have two basic approaches to cleaning. One is the “make it presentable” approach which involves basic pick up and stowing things out of sight. During this I try to put things where they belong, but my primary focus is on creating order in the living spaces. The second type of cleaning is “Corners first.” This is when I start by digging out the corners and closets of the house. I’ll empty out a closet completely and the only things that are allowed back in are the things which actually belong there. This type of cleaning invariably unearths bags full of garbage and even more bags of things that are for giving away. I always feel better after this type of purge and the house is much easier to keep orderly after I am done.
I haven’t had time to do any “corners first” cleaning for months. Today I started in our storage/shipping room. It is amazing the quantities of not-particularly-useful stuff that got shoved into there to be “out of the way.” The problem is that with the influx of new merchandise and books this summer all of that stuff had become very much in the way. So I sorted, and threw stuff out, and stashed things in the garage rafters. I have a huge pile to donate to a thrift store. I have another big pile that needs to be hauled over to our storage unit. I can now walk in the shipping area. I can quickly and easily access the things that I will need to fill orders. The space is functional again. It is amazing how much less stressed that makes me about the upcoming events of the summer.
In the process of organizing the shipping area, my office has improved as well. I still have more work to do there. I’d like to be able to vacuum soon. Also, I need to be able to put a guest bed in there. After my office, the next place in need of major attention is the garage. The garage shelves have turned into a huge jumble of things which don’t really belong in there, but which did not really have anywhere else to be. I know that at least a third of the stuff out there is useless to us and should either be given away or thrown away. We need the space and some of the stuff would be useful to other people.
I worked steadily all day. I need to have another couple of steady work days like today. I’m hopeful that I can have them next week, unless there are more urgent business tasks waiting to ambush me. The one thing we did not do so well was have a family outing. The weather ruined our intention to attend the church picnic/swim party. Then Kiki fell sick which ended the plan for a family trip to the movies. Hopefully we can do the movie trip on Monday instead.