Cleaning Up a Cluttered Life

Keeping it Clean

2009-02-24T09:59:00.000-08:00

In going through my many stashes of "things that need to be fixed" I came across a bag of clothes that need to be cleaned in some way with the majority needing stains, particularly underarm stains, removed. I found some great advice online but as always, Real Simple seems to have come through for me with their article on removing Perspiration Stains http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/cleaning/stain-removal/removing-perspiration-stains-10000001533277/index.html

I began with an internet-mined method of 1 part Hydrogen Peroxide:1 part Baking Soda:1 part water applied to the stain and scrubbed around with a toothbrush. The scientist in me tried this method on only one side of a white cotton t-shirt, a blue cotton tank top and a white polyester button-down to see what would happen vs the comparison of the original stain. Checking in on them today, the treated side looks better than the original stain, but not what I would call "fixed".

So today I tried the OxyClean and boiling-hot water method, which seems to be working better than the 1:1:1 mix, judging by the wet shirts (stains always look lighter when you've darkened the shirt around them with water). I'll have to check back in once the shirts have dried.

Another interesting stain guide from Real Simple:
Stain Removal 101 http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/cleaning/stain-removal/stain-removal-101-10000001541307/

2009-01-28T11:35:00.000-08:00

LA came to visit over the weekend, so I thought I would clean things up. She was here between Christmas and New Years and my place had been a hot mess, so I got to straightening things up. Remarkably, I was able to straighten and vacuum in only a few hours and even more remarkably, she noticed and commended me on how much better everything looked. Who Knew?
Now I am hooked on getting rid of things. I head up to my folks place and things hit the traschcan and recycling bucket much more easily. I am able to read and process papers that I once was unwilling to part with. I only print what I need and file thoughts and notes electronically, if at all. I am amassing a trunk-full of salvation army donations and consignment shop clothes; I just need to get on the stick and get those things to where they can be loved anew by someone else.
I feel as if the load of stuff I have always chosen to carry has been lightened and the idea of moving no longer frightens me. OK, so I still have a long way to go, but this is a grand start!

How This All Started

2009-01-19T12:41:00.000-08:00

I had always meant to blog. If only so I could say I'd done it. I setup this account some time ago but only recently, following a fairly devastating job loss did I come up with some topics to at least test the waters.
I lost my job the Monday before Thanksgiving. I had been worried about this, as my manager was consistently belittling me and my efforts at work, so I figured she was trying to get me to quit. But any employee worth her salt knows that you don't collect unemployment if you voluntarily quit. So I persevered.
And then they called me in for a "meeting". I was pretty sure this would be it but how could it? My employee reviews were clean. I worked long hours and kept my clients happy. I kept my contractors in-line and was consistently under budget. Granted, I used the internet during work hours, but who doesn't? They couldn't possibly fire a competent employee just because her manager, and her manager's boss are mean-girls.
Oh, but they can. At least, in Pennsylvania. They can lie and tell the HR manager that you "weren't performing to expectations" despite the good work and good reviews. They can lie during the exit interview and then tell you how sorry they are that things worked out this way.
They offered that I could be fired effective that day (it was already 3pm) or I could "resign", effective two days later and not say a word to anyone in the meantime. Seeing as I have always had packrat tendencies and it took me the full 2 weeks to clean out my desk, my computer files and my e-mail from my last job (and even then I was going crazy) I opted for the two-day reprieve with the caveat that there was no way in hell that I would be doing work on any of my projects, just focusing on organizing the stuff I was taking as well as passing on the project files that I would not be taking.
It was still exhausting, especially since I didn't have any wiggle room with the date, T-giving being on Thursday. I tried to keep people out of my space, so that they would not notice all the empty spots on my shelves where my reference books used to be and ask me why I was amassing so many boxes on my drafting table.
Thank God one of my closest friends works with me. She has traveled the world and moved many times, so her pragmatic packing helped me get 90% of my stuff out of the office and into my Honda by Tuesday night. We piled the boxes in the front hallway of my apartment building, with the idea that I would sort through them and store them in my basement locker until I found a new job.
Fast forward to today. I have gone through the boxes at least once but found it to be hard work-even debilitating, at times. Some of the boxes migrated up to my apartment where they have been piled in a corner of the living room for quite some time. There are at least two boxes of old architecture/LArch magazines that I need to review and pitch. My roommate, as well as the other tenants in my apartment have not yet complained, but I get agida worrying about the day that they decide to complain.
I already have more than a few things that need to be reviewed, archived or pitched. Now I have a whole new layer of stuff to review and get rid of.
Did I mention, debilitating?
So this blog is meant to be a way for me to document and channel my inner organizer. Maybe this will help me sort things out. Maybe this will become just another thing I feel guilty about doing/not doing. I am hoping it will be a way for me to vent and maybe share my frustrations of a 31 year life of collecting and amassing. A point from which I can move forward and not have to make excuses for the stuff I have. I plan on moving in the next year or so-do I really want to deal with the amassing then? Or can I be proactive, using this time that I am unemployed to better myself and my situation.
Only time will tell.

Ex Boyfriend Debris

2009-01-19T12:18:00.001-08:00

So what do I do with the debris of relationships past?
I have had 3 long-term relationships in my life, each of them adding to the cache of ex-boyfriend junk that is (mostly) stashed in boxes in my childhood bedroom at my parents' house. From time to time, I go through and sort some things out, releasing into the landfill memories that I once thought were too dear to part with.
I have realized, in reviewing this junk over time, that it can be overwhelming, so I have devised a method by which I do a number of "passes" through the junk in question. I conduct an initial review, where I can assess the junk and devise a plan of attack. The second pass is sometimes easier, as I now have a base line for what should be pitched and what should stay. Sometimes, there is an additional layer of organization thrown in, that gives me a feeling like I am in charge of the clutter and know what to do next. Every now and then, I am able to upend a box into a trashcan, but that is the exception, rather than the rule.
So the most recent breakup was (sadly) over 5 years ago but the debris lingers on. I was still living at home when it happened, so I think that's how it became encapsulated in boxes that haven't moved ever since. Part of me wants to keep this stuff: cards and notes, rants and visitor passes to the gated community he lived in (sick that I would still have all of this, I know). It reminds me of how a (dysfunctional) relationship works. Part of me wants to burn it all a-la Tai "rollin' with the homies" in Clueless.
What do "normal" people (read: non-packrats) do with this stuff?

Clutter Style

2009-01-19T11:42:00.000-08:00

I am finding, as I sort through the clutter of years gone by that I collect both on an emotional and archivist level. For as much stuff as I have from ex boyfriends to how-to advice, most of it has been organized fairly well in manilla folders and categories, into hanging files and expandable folders. Dare I say that I am an organized packrat?
Last night I spent the afternoon at my parents' house, home of just a few boxes of clutter (that make me feel really guilty) combing through things that really should have been trashed some time ago. Maybe it's because I haven't seen or needed some of these items for many years that it was a very easy purge. Maybe it's because some of the people and places tied to these items no longer mean that much to me.
I managed to find a very well organized 3-ring binder full of makeup and beauty advice from teen fashion magazines dating as far back as the early 90's. I had dutifully cut the rough edges off the ripped pages and placed them in protective sleeves. I labeled the categories as follows: Bettering the Self, Skin Care, Makeup, Nails, Vitamins, Exercise/Weightloss and Regimens. There was a lot of fairly worthless advice from the likes of Seventeen, YM and Reader's Digest. A few late 80's/early 90's pages ripped from Mom's McCalls and Family Circle Magazines. To look at me during that time period would be to know that A: this was a kid who was lucky to be naturally good looking and had pretty great skin for a teenager, but inwardly awkward and confused about her own self image B: Mom provided nutritious meals for us kids and our super-duper metabolisms did the rest, so the exercise/weightloss articles were just a reflection of where I thought I needed to be, rather than a true need for advice.
It makes me feel horrible that I let women's magazines, targeted at teenaged girls (which, for the most part, I no longer read) tell me what to worry about. I saved a few thigh-targeting workout routines (hey-I need them now!) and tossed the rest into the recycling bin. I plan on reusing the binder for recipes, as the recipe binder I currently have (and recently re-organized) is bordering on overfull. Now I just need to cook more!