My first Major Task of the week was the one I most dreaded. I figured it would be best to do it and get it out of the way: Cleaning out my closet.
Let me explain my closet to you. It's quite large. A walk-in. It's also the only form of storage we have in this crazy apartment, which means that absolutely everything gets thrown in there. Thus, I haven't been able to see the floor in over two years. The word "messy" would be an understatement. The thought of cleaning it out was so daunting that it was the leading factor in why my roommate and I extended the lease on our apartment last year instead of looking for another place that would presumably not turn into a money-sucking sweatbox in the summer. So yeah, cleaning out my closet was not high on my list of fun afternoon activities.
I came up with a game-plan: to pull absolutely everything out of the closet and sort them into three piles: Trash, Donate, and Keep. The donation pile was going to be huge, since I'm moving to another country and am trying to get rid of as much as possible, while the pile of stuff I'm keeping would be a fraction of that size. With a deep breath and my Glee pandora station cranked up, I set out to work. And work I did.
It was sweaty work. My closet has no ventilation, even though I set up my small fan inside the closet. I stopped pulling stuff out every so often in order to sweep the very visible dirt on the floor. I found my missing Rick Steves' travel towel that I couldn't locate last year before Grayer and I went to Costa Rica. I found missing socks and felt the need to apologize to the dryer for blaming it for sock thefts it apparently did not commit. I found 374 plastic shopping bags that I was saving up to make yarn out of for an environmentally friendly crochet project. All the while I kept reminding myself that this was why I have historically moved every 6 months or so. It prevents a mess like this from building up.
Four hours later, I had an amazingly tidy-looking closet that I could actually walk into, and a car chock full of donations to take to the goodwill. I donated several bags of clothes, shoes, sheets, towels, stuffed animals, two sewing machines (yes, I had two sewing machines. One was a miniature one I purchased for small repairs, the other one was given to me second hand, but was broken. Neither of them had been touched since being put in there), and no fewer than 18 pairs of slipper socks, thanks to a strange and most unfortunate slipper sock fetish of both my mother and YFA, who feel the need to include a pair of slipper socks in every Christmas gift or care package. No one needs that many pairs of slipper socks, even if they live in Siberia. One is enough. And now I can't stop staring at my closet. Not only can I see the floor, but I can see the entire floor. I can practically see my reflection in it! (I wet-swiffered.) Maybe I should have done this sooner. I want to give guided tours of it to show it off.
On Tuesday, I took on the second-most daunting task ahead of me: cleaning out my desk. It didn't take nearly as long, but it was evidence of my irrational fear of mail, what with all the unopened mail that was in there. I don't know why, but for some reason, I'm convinced my bank is going to send me a formal letter someday, and put into writing that I don't have any money. As if I can't see that when I look at my account. Note: This irrational fear does not pertain to "friendly" mail from friends and family, just the stuff sent by the bank or insurance company.
And now I have the two worst parts of moving over and done with. I'm feeling really, really good about my week of unemployment. What can I clean out next?
1 comment:
I'm still impressed you had 2 sewing machines.
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