The Purge Gets More Involved

[pseydtonne]

This weekend I filled two large garbage bags with crap that had been taking up my mud room (the room at the front entrance of my apartment). I emptied five boxes.

I never thought I'd find myself inspired by this process of tossing stuff and organizing what remains. It's probably boring on the surface, but it's doing something to me, something I like.

The more I organize my apartment, the more I come in touch with an empowerment. I enjoy the process, not just the results. I enjoy the freedom from revering objects I'd saved for reasons that aren't good enough anymore. I feel more in charge of myself, less a victim of my past.

This has gotten me ready for the most important thing: ramping up my job hunt. When I visited dear ladymondegreen three weeks ago, I learned a lot about myself. She taught me lots of things including pointing out that I hadn't been emotionally ready to accept a real job hunt because I was still recovering from the old job. Now I am ready to spend my time on a proper job hunt.

It probably helped when my roommate said "well, it's been what, six months since you lost your job?" I replied "Seven weeks! Nowhere near that long." He then said "oh, then it's only felt that long."

The public rooms in the house are mostly in order. The mud room is a bright and cheerful library and cloak box. The living room, kitchen and bathroom have stayed clean enough the whole time. The dining room is functional although it needs another bookcase for my roommate's DVDs. The hall closet no longer has a rolling rack in it so coats can be hung in it. My bedroom is mostly functional, with the caveat of a giant pile of clothes and luggage that need to be sorted one last time -- what I've been calling the Modulo, because it winds up with the remainders from each sort job.

In a few days I will begin tackling the worst part of the problem: the back room of the apartment. When we looked at this apartment last February, my roommate and I chose our bedrooms instantly: he wanted the one away from the sunlight and traffic, while I was drawn to the windows and the view of the streetcars. The real estate agent described the apartment as having three bedrooms, but the third room clearly wasn't equal to the other two -- it's a walk-through to the kitchen. So we called it the Staging Area and it got full of boxes.

A friend came to the house on Saturday. His two-year-old daughter began calling the room The Scary Room and that name has stuck in my head. My roommate and I have been discussing which pieces of furniture in the rest of the house need to move so that we can break down what's in the Scary Room.

I'd go on, but I've been half-sick since Saturday night and I should've been asleep a while ago.

Comments

[itoshii-koi.livejournal.com]

Im glad you are feeling better and good luck with the hunting. I have to start that after Una is born I will be returning to HELL for only enough time to make the maternity leave pay legal. I could use some inspiration on going through stuff and getting rid of it, any suggestions? My scary room has developed into an office on one side and a baby are in the other, problem is all the scary stuff is now packed away in the closet. Eventually I will need to get at it and use some of it. Other stuff like art work or empty sketch books and boxes of craft supplies, I dont want to get rid of but I dont know when I will have the time to pick any of it back up. Good Luck again on your hunt, hopefully will talk to you soon.

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

You may not need to get rid of your creative stuff. You may simply wish to figure out which stuff can be in the basement for three years versus which stuff won't even look like legible English in one year.

Good luck with nesting!

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who is a professional organizer and this stuff is right up her alley. Would you like her name/number?

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

This sounds like such a great process. Thanks for writing about it.

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

Thanks for liking the writing!

[eclecticavatar.livejournal.com]

I really wish The Canadian would take a page from your book and start a big revamping, himself. I love going through these periods of renewal, it's absolutely invigorating to a person's whole worldview!

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

It's not something one can force. Otherwise one winds up man-cleaning: you go through the motions but none of the spirit is there. A room looks tidy, but everything's just been shoved into the drawers and it'll all explode back out in a day or two.

My motivations have been very personal, such as: I miss some of my stuff. I want the rest of the stuff to get out of the way so I can use the stuff I like. If I don't have room for all of the stuff, which stuff don't I need? The answer has turned out to be "a hella lotta it."

The other big personal motivation has been: I need a structure while I hunt for work. I need a reason to get up before noon and not just let my roommate lead me around. When I shuffle and toss stuff, I feel stronger about my ability to make change.

[eclecticavatar.livejournal.com]

All the same reasons why it would be good in other people's cases, too. But, like you said, it has to be a personal choice, like quitting smoking or losing weight. The drive's really got to be there.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

You are an inspiration, my dear.

G and I have been cleaning as well--just have to be careful since after, I don't feel the way normal people feel after they clean--I feel like hell for awile.

Go you:) You give the rest of us messies hope, you do:)

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

Mrowr, thanks!