Cleaning By Letters

I haven�t been in the basement since the weekend, but I did a lot of work up to that time. I did my best to stick to one area at a time, and I even managed to clean out those areas pretty well without making the rest of the place messier. I tend to do a lot of mess shuffling, but not this time. I had two whole boxes full of garbage, and there�s another one that�s just waiting to finish filling up before going out too. I didn�t even throw out that much because I got fed up and just threw everything away, as you will plainly see. At least I can walk through this area once again.

For convenience, here�s the map again.

Since section E had never been touched since the time we moved here, I decided that would be first. It was something small and relatively easy, giving me quick results with lots of momentum. The boxes were mostly filled with books, particularly craft and quilting books.

I whittled it down to one box, and that one is only half full. All the books in that box are keepers that I would like to put on a bookshelf in the living room. Right now though, there is not bookshelf in the living room. I�ll settle for one half-filled box compared to the mess it was before. The license plates were from one of the other areas I cleaned. It�s one of those fondness for home things, even though they are tacky as hell.

I originally started section H next, but there were things in section H that belonged in section G (the closet), so I decided to go ahead and do section G. It was another small area that would be quicker and provide me even more momentum from fast results.

This area was just a matter of organizing, despite how horrendous it looked before. Once everything was in its place, I was able to get all three of those blue containers of Christmas decorations back where they belong only ten months after Christmas. I have to be careful what I put in here, because it gets damp and moldy. It�s one of the few places in the basement that allows moisture in it. I�m not sure that there�s anything I can do about it. I just put indestructible things near the damp areas, like the cat kennels and tools.

Next came section H. There was no more avoiding it. Section H is where most of John�s stuff resides and was also the home of lots and lots of paper. The paper is what generated most of the garbage. I finally built the laminate bookshelf that has been in my garage for many months. That is where most of the books from section E found a home. That bookshelf made the after picture kind of crappy. I did my best to fix it up, but it�s still hard to see any detail. There is enough visible to see that there is now open floor space there.

Can you believe there was a desk back there? It was so stacked full of junk that you could hardly even see it before. This area has a long way to go, but even so, it�s now one of the cleanest parts of the basement. If I keep it up, I�ll soon have my own craft area!

Section I is a subsection of H. I couldn�t take it from the same angle because of the bookshelf, which will eventually be moved against the wall once there isn�t other stuff against the wall.

That box in the front of the "after" picture is another garbage box. All that stuff in the back corner on the right is John�s. I did what I could to stack it up and consolidate it. He and I didn�t work on the basement together yet again this weekend. Like I said, it�s going to be an accomplishment to hold him to that. He certainly won�t suggest it. I am going to have to announce that we�re going down there and nag him to death, even though he agreed to do it. He did work hard on the yard, and he ran some errands this weekend. It didn�t take all weekend, but at least he wasn�t sitting on his ass. It might just take me boxing everything up and stowing it under the stairs and getting rid of the things I know aren�t worth anything more than to feed his packrat-ishness. I know I wouldn�t like it if someone went through my stuff, but he�s had lots and lots of warning. Some things just take ultimatums.

Section J is another subsection of H from the right side. This is where most of the paper hung out, and there is some more of John�s hoarded computer stuff. It also houses many of my Longaberger boxes and bags, things that I keep because they actually do add value to the stuff I have. I plan on finding a new home for these things, but I haven�t done it just yet.

Even without getting the area completely clean, it looks so much better. It feels better to go down there. I even found my old resume and employment information, which was something I needed anyway. I can only imagine how angry I would have been had I had to dig through all of that just to find those things. Now I don�t have to. Now I just have to write the resume, which is another something I�m putting off. I�m putting it off just by being here, so I�ll quit talking about my basement and work on that. I told myself I�d do it today. I�m not going to let myself down anymore, so that�s what I�ll do.