I went online.
I'm not joking!
Recently around here, there have been a couple of new businesses started. They deal specifically with you paying someone to come to your house and "De-cluttering" it. When I first heard about it I thought, "People are actually paying money for this!?" I was flabbergasted!
A small local free-paper in our city did a two or three part story of the "Professional De-clutter-er" doing her thing. While reading it, I realized maybe there was something to it after all. A stranger after all, has the unique perspective that would make some choices easier.
Say... you might be inclined to keep the little wooden shelf that you got second hand from your Great Aunt & Uncle. You haven't used it for 12 years... but gees, it came from your Uncle who was also your Godfather and he's gone now... The de clutter-er (herein known as the DC) has the ability to say to you,
"Did he make it?"
"No."
"Does it match your furniture now?"
"No."
Yeah, you can see where this is going. It's on it's way out the door.
Online I surfed a number of various sites, and was pretty shocked at some of the price quotes. One was $250.00 an hour! That's more than I pay my shrink! Of course, he doesn't clean out my cupboards... he just tells me how to deal with the depression over them being a mess.
As is typical of sites that want to sell something to you... you know what I mean they have headings like, "Have 8 cubic feet of kitchen storage in just 10 minutes!" when you click on the tab you get the "Sign-up now!" welcome page...
You know the one...
...it has all the little credit card logos that they are happy & more than willing to accept lined up across the bottom. Uh-huh.
So, after awhile I was able to glean some basic information (sans use of a credit card!) and of course the easiest idea was the one that had completely eluded me...
It was glaringly simple... if you start with "Oh gees o' pete's I have to clean my insert area here or my life is ruined!" You will overwhelm yourself before you even begin.
You'll get angry, frustrated, annoyed, sentimental... You'll fail and then ultimately... it'll turn into an even more of a mess than when you started.
I knew that, because I've done that on more than one occasion! (Sorry if you fell of your chairs again guys...) Yeah...I've only done that more times than I can count!
The best information I found was so simple I was embarrassed to admit I hadn't thought of it myself. (I'm claiming lack of proper caffeine levels in the bloodstream)
Number 1: Don't start with "THE BASEMENT" Start with a four foot section of say, the workbench. Then the next four feet, so on and so forth.
Number 2: Set a timer. Give yourself 30 to 40 minutes. Then take a 10 minute break. That way, if you're getting really overloaded, physically or mentally, you can back off and decide if you're going to go back to it, or give it up for the next little while.
To test this theory, I set the timer for 30 minutes and set my sights on the corner shelving unit. When the timer went off... I had a box for the Haz-mat Disposal Center and a set of shelves where I could just glance at to see: rubber gloves, paint thinner, yet-to-be-used stains & paints, and both new & used brushes. I was thrilled!
So after some errands today, it's back downstairs to the first four foot section of the workbench. That will be simple because two feet is computer parts & printers that will have to be stored until the next Haz-mat "computer deal" takes place. (They only charge you a quarter a pound so a tower and a printer is about ten bucks. It's a great deal.)
That may seem like I'm being a little 'twinky' but I think it's a better thing for me to ease into it so I won't get discouraged. When it comes to overwhelming myself... I'm the queen there and I really have to keep reminding myself to cut me a break!! I am only human after all! (All right... I'll stop now before one of you breaks a bone or something falling off your chairs!)
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