33/100.
Alright, I sent out invoices yesterday. 💪
Y'know, I haven't been using this blog for a long while but it seems that writing here does help me push through procrastination. What is it about it? Just the writing things down? But when I write things down in a bullet journal it doesn't seem to work as well as writing here. I think there's something about writing things down and publishing them on the Internet for all to (potentially) see that is maybe the difference? There's more of a sense of accountability or something. Or maybe writing a blog post is just more fun? 🤷♀️
Anyho... Today's priorities... I'm not sure. Today I have a "day off". Meaning I don't have any paid work to do today. I don't have any appointments. I don't have any plans to meet with any friends. I don't have anything with a deadline that is due today. I don't have any kids around today that I have to feed. So basically it's an open day where I can work on anything. So what shall I work on?
Well, one thing I have been trying to work on is decluttering my house. There are just years and years, decades even, of things that have accumulated because I didn't have the time or energy to decide on what to do with them. Or some things I decided on but didn't have the time or energy to act on.
One thing I've noticed about myself is that I'm very methodical. I have to do things one thing at a time in an orderly fashion, otherwise I get mentally overwhelmed. So what I mean is that I can't just "tidy up" the house in a general way. If I start tidying up one corner, I find things that I don't know what to do with or that need further attention, for example: something that's broken that needs to be fixed; something that needs to be read and responded to; something that has value that could be sold; something that I think could be useful to someone, not necessarily me; etc. I also start to see the corner I'm tidying in more detail and notice the dirt and paint chips, etc. So I get hyper-focussed on that one corner and get overwhelmed. And so I end up abandoning the "general tidy-up" altogether. Mental exhaustion and procrastination ensues. And then nothing gets done. And things pile up.
Well, recently I've started a new strategy that works with my weakness instead of fighting against it. Essentially turning it into a strength. I've abandoned the idea of "general tidy-up" and going with "hyper-focussed".
I've started with my entryway area and literally going over every inch starting from the ceiling. I've dusted the cobwebs from the ceiling and corners. I've cleaned the door window, the mirror and the light fixture glass. I've very thoroughly vacuumed the rug, put baking soda on it overnight to absorb smells, and thoroughly vacuumed again the next day. I've set out a bowl of vinegar to absorb smells (I get lots of dogs coming and going in my house, so there's a general dog-smell (probably.. I can't smell it myself of course lol) plus all the stinky shoes in the entryway, I imagine it doesn't smell too fresh). I've washed the walls (have I mentioned slobbery, muddy dogs coming and going all the time?) And I've methodically gone through the items I have stashed on a shelf above the doorway.
I've taken every single item out and considered why I still have them. Then I took everything I decided I don't need to keep anymore and posted them in my local Buy Nothing group. Some things were taken. The things that were not taken, I've now put in a box that is now my "things I no longer need" box.
It took several days but I'm satisfied that I have THOROUGHLY cleaned and tidied the front entryway. There is nothing there that I don't know about, whether it's an item I've had for decades that I forgot I had, lost at the bottom of a box, or a paint chip on the wall that you can't see unless you're down on your hands and knees, or up high standing on a chair. I am thoroughly acquainted with the state of the entryway.
So now I've decided that, going forward, on the first of every month I will again thoroughly go over every inch of the entryway. It won't take as long since I would have done a deep cleaning just a month ago. It should take maybe an hour, two hours max, to deep-clean and deep-tidy.
So once I was satisfied that I had thoroughly cleaned and tidied the entryway, I was able to turn my focus on the "inner entryway". (Lol, not sure what to call it, but it's still the entryway, just a step further in.) This is where the coat-rack, shoe-rack and an antique vanity that I use as a catch-all are located. I again thoroughly cleaned, which involves moving the shoe- and coat-racks and the vanity, which is a pain in the butt, but it's the only way to clean it well since sandy-grit (from the dog-park) as well as thick dust accumulate here, rather quickly.
The big job, however, was going through the three drawers of the vanity. When I say it's a "catch-all", I mean it. This is where things I bring into the house that I'm not really sure what I should do with, go. Basically it had turned into a junk drawer. There were good batteries mixed in with bad batteries, some walkie-talkies that my mom gave my kids that they had played with for a while then got tired of, various shoe laces, sunglasses, furniture polish, scarves and snow pants, VHS tapes and DVDs of classic Christmas movies, all sorts of random things. I took out and considered them all. Decided on what I could give away in the Buy Nothing group. Everything else I put back. (For now.)
I went through the living room area using the same methodical method. There's a big item I have that I no longer need that is worth thousands of dollars brand new and sells second-hand for a few hundred. Its use is by a very niche market, but I finally took photos of it and posted it for sale. I'll circle back to it every month and lower the price until, if really no one wants to buy it, and no one wants it for free even, then I'll have to scrap it. But at least I'm trying to sell it now, instead of it just sitting there collecting dust and taking up space. And if it does come to the point where I have to literally throw it in the trash (sad face) at least I'll know I gave it a chance.
So this is as far as I've gotten with my "hyper-focussed" method of cleaning. I next have to turn my attention to this big wardrobe I have that has also become a "catch-all" over the years. There are some things in there that I know are there and I know why they are still there. For instance, there are some really cool vintage leather jackets that were given to me by a friend to either keep or sell. Sadly, they are too small for both me and my daughter. So, next option is to either sell or give away. I would like to try and sell them first. But no one's going to buy them if they don't know they exist. I have to take photos, research market value, and post them for sale. Then there are a couple of shopping cart/hand carts whose wheels are broken. I stuffed them in there because I want to reuse the bag part and throw away the frame part. Two things with this: the bag parts I want to take apart so I can use the fabric in sewing projects; the frame part I want to take apart so that I can fit them into the trash (also, potentially, maybe a metal scrapper would be interested in the aluminum parts). These are the actions I wanted to take with these, but never got around to, so they're just stuffed in there in limbo.
So those are just two examples of the types of things in the wardrobe. There are more things! And all the things together overwhelmed me, so nothing was ever done. But if I separate out all the things and just deal with one thing at a time, maybe I can get somewhere.
And... Today is the sort of day to tackle a big project like this. I can just putter, put on a podcast or some music, make some more coffee, and take just one thing out of the wardrobe and consider what needs to be done with it...
I think I'll start with the top of the wardrobe actually.
Step 1: Take everything down from the top of the wardrobe.
Step 2: Thoroughly clean dust and cobwebs from top of wardrobe.
Step 3: apply furniture oil to top of wardrobe.
Step 4: Consider each item that was on top of the wardrobe and what needs to be done with them.