5 & 1/2 Months Later

Yep, it's been over 5 months since I've posted which I just happened to notice because of Amanda's new post, so I'm posting an update and a few goals for the month of September.

I ended up slacking on the decluttering process back in April because I'd started college classes. Last week I'd finally decided that I was going to just have the garage sale with what I'd already decluttered and attempt to go through the garage as well (which I did). I'm pretty sure I sold well over 500 items, leaving me with 2 totes, a box and a rack of coats.

During the month of September, I plan to:

• Sort through the garage sale items and sort to donate or sell online.
• Drop off donation items
• Post items online for sale
• Scrub the shower & tub (I hate hard water...my tub is a "goldenrod" color (5 points if you know that color) and I'd like to see it white again
• Attempt to remove the paint from carpet in bedroom with goof off (pointless but going to try anyways)
• Begin job
• Start new college classes
• Clean out filing cabinet

I *intend* to post before/after pics now that I have a memory card reader again.

Wow that was hellacious

I don't know what got into me this morning, and I almost didn't make it through the day, but I accomplished a HUGE thing today. I did have help; I drafted the kids into picking up most of the monstrous pile. I started in the back of the house, in the boys' rooms, and swept EVERYTHING into the living room. In some (most) houses this probably wouldn't amount to much, but let me tell you, without exaggeration, that was a lot. When I'd gotten it all out of the boys' rooms, the back of the hallway, and 1/3 of my room, there was a solid mass of sh...stuff through half the hall and all of the living room, wall to wall to wall, a minimum of 6" deep. A good dozen baskets of laundry hauled downstairs later, it looked like the picture below.

I also moved C's dresser out of E's room. It's stashed in the hallway for now; I don't have anywhere else to put it that doesn't disturb someone else's room. Can someone remind me why the girls are sharing a smaller room than B has to himself? There's a little more furniture rearranging to do there, but that's a job for another day.

We always say that one cannot *clean* (PCCX especially) what is cluttered. I don't necessarily have a clutter issue, per se, as I don't have a lot of collections and things to be whittled down and weeded out, but there is a veritable ton of stuff just out...trash on the floor, laundry on the floor, toys on the floor, papers on the floor, everything on the floor. There's no way I can clean anything until all of that is gone. That's what today was about: taking back at least a couple of rooms so that I can get in there and really clean stuff. When I recover from today that is.

Spring's coming, honest

The weather may or may not agree depending upon where you are, but Spring really is approaching, and with it the widely recognized "spring cleaning" season. PCCX is here to help. Really the PCCX chore list is virtually identical in all 4 seasons, except that Spring and Fall have season-specific transitional tasks. For that reason, and also because I think people tend to be more receptive to the concept during "spring cleaning" and when preparing for major holidays, Spring and Fall PCCX take up 8 weeks each instead of 5. It's sort of understood that some of the more detailed or out of the way things can reasonably be skipped during the Winter and Summer rounds, but since I'm in no position to draw those lines for people the cleaning lists are the same each time.

Prior to last Fall's PCCX we debuted the 20 Days of Clutter preparation. It seemed popular so I'm bringing it back for Spring, starting tomorrow. Since it's more difficult, if not impossible, to properly clean surfaces and areas that are piled, stuffed, overflowing with *stuff*. Each day there is a new focus, some area or category of clutter to tackle. How you choose to deal with it is left to the individual. If you want to spend 5 minutes on a 27 Fling Boogie of the most obvious or intrusive items, fine. 15 minutes is great. If you are so moved, spend longer on a particular area and really get it taken care of. Every thing that is gone or put away when we start to actually clean shelves and drawers and floors is going to be seconds or minutes saved. The purpose of the 20DoC is to remind you of things you might have too many of, or that may have outgrown their usefulness or their homes, things that are perpetually "out" instead of put away, and to prepare your home for a good spring cleaning. I hope you find it useful.