What a fine day this was! It began with the pitty-pat of rain on our roof, and that's always fun. But then, it cleared out, leaving us with a cloudy day, but dry.
I used my day to work on clearing stuff out of the master bedroom at Jack's house. I filled 9 bags for Goodwill and 3 bags of trash, just from the stuff on the floor. Tomorrow.. the bed and the closet! Oh.. and the laundry.
While the job is daunting, I am hopeful that it's going to get done. This is because I'm doing the big part of the work by myself. Jack's just too emotionally wrapped up in the house and he has a hard time getting rid of things. If the bags are closed, however, he has no trouble hauling them down to the car!
I am well-suited for this job, because, while I care that his ex and his family get the things that are meaningful to the family, and I care that Jack keeps the things that are truly meaningful to him, I also see that not everything is meaningful, and not everything is useful. And, even useful things are not always practical to keep. For example, how much of a person's storage space should be allocated to bandaids? Do we have room for one box? Well, sure. But two? ...Thirty? So I keep one and give the other 29 to Starburst.
So, in this process, Jack is able to help others with his gifts. And I'm helping others, too. And I'm helping Jack. And I'm feeling good to find floors and walls and furniture under the mounds of excess.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
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You go girl!!!!!!!!!!! Someday all of this will pay off.
ReplyDeleteHoly Cow! How long is it going to take you to clean the place up? Did you get the house in Indy?
ReplyDeleteI have helped on these before. It is never pretty or fast. Even if what you are doing is tossing everything it takes days on end. Sounds like they are doing well. Sounds like Janee has it figured out.
ReplyDeleteRay kb9lgs
Thanks for the votes of encouragement, John and Ray! :) You're right, Ray, that it's not pretty or fast. Sheesh. You have to look at everything, even the clothes. I have to make sure that even the clothes with tags still on are not stained or moth-eaten.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous person, I don't know how long it will take. I've been working only 3-4 hour days, and, at this rate, I think that it'll be another 2 months, just clearing out the stuff and dispersing it.
Then we have a lot of work to do in painting, trim-work, redoing one deck, taking down a tree, installing new vanity and fixtures in bath, installing new lighting fixtures throughout the house, and recarpeting the house. This is just to bring the house to minimally marketable condition. Reasonably, I think that this latter part will be a 2010 project.
It is smart to only work 3 or 4 hours at a time---one can just get to bogged down ---it is a depressing task to clean up a mess like that---been there done that---maybe not quite as bad and with more people to help. Seems like your all alone in this task.
ReplyDeleteIt might be fun when you get to fix the place up with new stuff --- make it shiny and new. I like doing that sort of thing.
You have a very good attitude about "things" crowding you life---I like that! Cara