Decluttering - Day 1

Everything in this picture is going.  We went through at leas 15 boxes today and I'm keeping maybe six boxes worth of stuff so far.  A few of the boxes aren't even packed that well and don't have much in them.  It feels pretty good.  Lots of trash, recycling, donate, sell, and fabric recycling.

This wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  Probably because I have help.  If I were alone, it might have been more challenging.  No hemming and hawing about whether I should keep something.  I even threw away some broken tiles I have been wanting to fix for ages.  It hurt, but I did it anyway.

Today we started with craft supplies.  Once we're done with the entire room down there, we will do another pass and see if I can get rid of even more craft stuff.  I'm really eager to do so.  Still a lot to go through; I'm hoping we get the chance.  Sounds like husband's mom will be here til at least Saturday, so I think we can make it happen.

Yesterday you could hardly walk in the basement bedroom, and now it's about half cleared out.

Tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment, and will be home around 4.  We'll declutter for a bit, then hit it hard again on Tuesday.
 

Done

 It's done!  Everything has been deep-cleaned and put back more or less where it goes.  I'm very, very happy with how it turned out.  I didn't get to redo the chairs yet.  Tomorrow, if I have time.  Mother in law comes Saturday to help with decluttering, so we have to prepare her room.  The rest of the house is pretty clean.

My husband fixed the washing machine?  We've had two repair people out in the last few weeks and it had been limping along for about a month, but he cleaned a filter and all of a sudden the electrical problem isn't a problem anymore?  We're still going to have them work on it, but I did not expect this to make any difference at all.  Ok?  Now I get to do laundry all day tomorrow.  Yay, I guess.

Honestly I'm out of underwear, so definitely yay. 

Almost done

 Tomorrow, once the paint on the trim under the windows is dry, I'll trim the blue paint there, then I'll be done.  I deep-cleaned most of this room - I need to do the window in between the china cabinets, the wood cabinet, the buffet, and the other bench.  And probably the chandelier.  
 
We went to Joann today to check out the sales.  Nothing crazy, but I did buy some fabric for the chairs, and some for the husband's photography expo booth.  I forgot to get one of the fabrics I need for the latter.  Sucks.  But I'll be back there next week to keep an eye on the sales, and I'm not working on that stuff right now anyway.
 
After I'm done with the dining room tomorrow I'll try to list more clothing on depop.  I really need to get on that. 

Well, that hit different

 

 

I hate this paint color so badly.  I hate the work it takes to paint over it.  I hate the mess it makes.

I ESPECIALLY HATE the fine layer of dust all over everything after using the sander to sand the spackle.  You know why?  Because it looks like the aftermath of 9/11 and I'm a New Yorker so that traumatized me far beyond what I was expecting today.  I had to stop and clean the dust before I could move on with the work, because it was just too much emotionally for me to handle.

Each year on 9/11 I donate to a scholarship at my alma mater, set up by the parents of an alum who died on Flight 93.  And each year, her mother sends me a thank you card about it.  Those cards were on the dining room table, and got covered in dust.  

That was it, that was the last straw.   

So now it looks like an eerily clean construction zone.  I can't win.

Blue progress

The photo doesn't do it justice.  I'm liking the blue so much better than the yellow.  Tomorrow I'll try to take a better pic so I can sell the china cabinet on Marketplace.  We managed to get the rest of the chair rail off and patch the damage.  I'll use the power sander instead of hand-sanding, because doing that much physical activity makes me having coughing fits.  Yes, I have a respirator.  Once that's sanded, I'll prime and trim the paint, possibly also painting the molding.  Then Tuesday I can roll surfaces, and maybe this will look like a normal dining room.

If I can sell the china cabinets, I'll have enough to buy a table saw.  And I really WANT a table saw, so fingers crossed for me there.  It would be handy to have for making the built-ins for this room.  I can always rent one, but I'd rather have my own.  It would get a lot of use. 

Tomorrow I'll also be listing a bunch of clothes on depop.  I figure each night I can iron a bag of clothing and prep it for photos, then the next day I can photograph and list.  I have so many bags to get through, but this seems manageable.  I did one tonight and it was like nothing.  So I guess I'll just keep going like this and see what happens?  The key is to not let it get annoying.  Take breaks, and don't watch the listings for views, just set it and forget it. There are so many other things to worry about.

I'll give that a shot.

Progress

 

I started trimming out the dining room today.  The yellow just isn't doing it for me anymore, plus we removed the very 90s chair rails so would have to paint anyway.  Oh, I had such a cute vision for the yellow, but it just didn't work in this space.  The blue matches my office, which is right across the foyer, so it will look more balanced I guess.

We also took two loads of stuff to the local ReStore, about 15 minutes away.  Four outdoor rocking chairs with two matching small tables, plus two more outdoor pub chairs, pool noodles, an American flag, and the ceiling fan that used to live in the kitchen.  They weren't sure if they had room for the ceiling fan and I'm grateful that they did indeed find room, because I really didn't want to take that stupid thing back home.

 

 

Tomorrow we are going to remove the rest of the chair rail from the dining room.  It's so fucking ugly! That nonsense has no redeeming qualities.  And my brain is so desperate for change, I really sat here and painted half a room.  The rest will be yellow for a bit still, while we remove it, spackle the damage, wait til it dries, sand it, prime it, then trim that side of the room.  There's furniture we need to move and all.  But I just HAD to start, I had to see SOME kind of change.

Plus, I want to sell the china cabinet in the second picture, and the snap I take of it to put on Marketplace will look much better with the blue background.  Once that's gone (and I sell the one in the other corner) I'm going to make built-ins, because storage in this house is damn near non-existent.  We put in a lot.  And that's stupid!  This is a huge house with no fucking storage!  Who built this damn thing?

Anyway.

Letting go

My bullet journal reflection for February.  And I was gone for two weeks of it!  Honestly, we're in for such a shit show.

I went to bed last night absolutely shaking with anger, after trying to deal with yet more nonsense that is broken, doesn't work right, missing, or otherwise just not doing its thing.  It's like everything I touch is electrified.  Sometimes I don't know why I bother trying.  I want to make things better, but it's all just... well, it's a shit show inside this house too.

But I think I've finally progressed to a point in my life where I'm really ready to get rid of a majority of what I own. It was a slow-burn thing for me, to be ready, but I've been thinking about it and letting it marinate for a very long time and I think I'm there.  I have about a dozen bags of clothing to get rid of, lots of furniture, stuff to send to fabric recycling like old sheets and duvets, craft supplies, and various odds and ends.

I absolutely cannot wait til next week when my mother in law gets here.  This is going to be amazing!  Our goal is to clean out the basement bedroom so my husband and I can have a real floor put down.  The room is already painted and ready to be a real space.  It's just packed to the gills right now.  And I think I'm angry enough to let most of it go.

Speaking of which, yesterday I got so mad at a curtain of fairy lights that I just simply threw them out.  Progress!

I should really just stay in the house

 

At Home Depot:

Me: Do you guys have the GE Cync lights? I thought I saw them here at one point.

Employee: Is that a brand?

Me: GE? General Electric?

Employee: That's a brand?

Me: *brain BSoD*

General fucking Electric? Not ringing any bells?!!

 

This hurt my brain pretty badly, so I called three Home Depots in my home state of New Jersey.  The young-sounding kids who answered the phone of course knew what the fuck General Electric is, so I think this is a Virginia-education problem.

Do better, assholes.

One step closer

 The cabinets are gone.  Still some stuff down there, but we have a whole huge corner of the basement empty.  EMPTY!

The guys who came were fun.  It turned into a whole thing, but we laughed through it.  Mostly issues with their trailer.  

So, I have $440 and SPACE.  

Tomorrow I will list more things on Marketplace and see if we can keep this train rolling.

I'm also looking forward to getting a dumpster.  So much little nonsense, big nonsense that can just go.  And I'm learning to just say FUCK IT and let things leave my life.

Mother in law is coming on the 8th, and we're going to power through the rest of that stupid basement.  YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED, BASEMENT.

Sometimes days be like this

 Yesterday and today have had me dead.  So much shit is already broken in this house, and now shit that had been working fine has just stopped doing its thing, stopped responding, suddenly doing weird things, etc.  Everywhere I turn, something is messed up.  And the house is just straight messy!  To someone like me, who probably has AHDH (diagnosis coming soon!) everything but extreme minimalism seems messy and overwhelming.  And boy, am I overwhelmed.  

 We're absolutely decluttering.  Things go in the out piles or trash every day.  Still, I'm full up and at the edges of my pain boundaries.  Today we worked on the basement.  Made good progress!  It looks better!  Someone is coming over tomorrow to pick up the old kitchen cabinets, which will mean a lot more room down there!  I was grumpy the entire time.  We were literally doing what I've wanted to do for ages and I was just pissed off all through it.  Fuck's sake with me.

Maybe I'll feel better when the cabinets actually go, when the trash actually goes, when the donate pile actually goes.

We discussed having a standing appointment each Saturday to bring stuff to the ReStore.  That might be the only way I start to mentally lighten up.  Because FFS...

The kid coming to get the cabinets (and I assume he's like 25 max because his name is Jaden) is really sweet, has been super communicative, and might want to take other stuff too.  He says he just bought a house and has nothing.  Well, pull up a chair son, because I have EVERYTHING.

Of course, I can't find half the shit I wanted to give him.  God damn I'm so sick of this.

Ok ok ok... look, my mother in law is coming back in a week or so to help me deal with the rest of the stuff in the basement.  That will feel good, right?  And we can call Jaden back so he can get stuff.

Also, I'm painting my nails and the paint never fucking dries?? WHY DOESN'T ANYTHING FUCKING WORK RIGHT.  ANYTHING!