Re: Tell about your big projects, obstacles, outcomes (and treasure!)

[Anonymous]

TASK: Major declutter of living room. We actually have a before photo that was a requirement for my ADD assessment (3 photos of my living space). I would sooner die before showing it to anyone else.

CHALLENGE: both my ADD husband and I have never been able to do this type of cleanup without fierce arguments, and never able to sustain our efforts for more than 1 hour.

METHOD: got a BIG paper recycling bin, another box for papers to be shredded, a big garbage bin for stuff to be thrown out. We started on the floor and worked our way up, that way I was able to get in and start dusting and swiffering the laminate floors (surprise! they have a pattern that isn’t black dust).

UNFORSEEN OBSTACLES: I would go from one room to the next taking things where they belonged, and then become somewhat overwhelmed and paralyzed by the clutter in the other room. At one point I noticed it was a nice day and wanted to go outside to clean off the egg some idiot threw at it last March – even got sidetracked enough to get the cleaning supplies and razor blade scraper together when we realized we didn’t have the right ladder at home and it was also pouring rain outside. So back to the original project.

Also, I went to throw out a blow-up mattress in a duffel-style bag because I knew it had a leak and we hadn’t used it in at least 10 years. My husband recovered the duffel-style bag and wanted to keep it, but I said “WE HAVE TO MAKE TOUGH DECISIONS. THROW IT OUT”.

TREASURE: found my lost camera lens cap – sucked something up with the vacuum skinny attachment from under the couch. Actually sucked up two large objects but this one was too big to be sucked into the vacuum. I wonder what else I sucked up? My husband kept the 10 cent coin I spotted on the floor. Not much change this time around.

WHAT MADE IT POSSIBLE: My husband got his CPAP machine last week (for severe sleep apnea) and also started taking his Ritalin, so he now has energy during the day. I am now on Modafinil (narcolepsy med) which keeps me alert during the day and I also had good energy.

We didn’t finish the room completely, but it looks much, much better.

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