Official: Too Much Stuff
You would think that having recently divested the household of 8 boxes of books I'd be sitting pretty. Not even close. Can't even tell they're gone, to be frank. We officially have too much stuff. Junk. Crap. Detritus.
In order to make room for the washing machine repairman (who didn't show up yesterday and swears, swears they're coming tomorrow morning now) I had to move things that I'd been storing in the laundry room (which is larger than a standard closet but smaller than a walk-in closet). Those things largely bankers boxes of papers and assorted files) are now taking up a good corner of my kitchen. The kitchen is already my defacto office and I have shelves, boxes, filing cabinets and all the random things you'd expect to find in an office here in addition to the stuff you'd expect to find in a kitchen. The kitchen table is completely ringed by boxes, shelves, bins and piles waiting for storage. We've even got shelves in the corners of the landings in the stairway and in the upstairs hallway!
Upstairs the bedroom is in the same state: shelves on every wall, over the bed, under the windows. Boxes, laundry baskets, drawers and other storage options ring the bed on all sides. Closets are full (winter clothes, summer clothes, everyday clothes, business and "occasion" attire, luggage, and some stray boxes of yet more junk). The upstairs guest bathroom has spent the last year as a storage room, mostly old boxes of Kate's old toys or kids' books that are slightly damaged (thanks to a book-binding nibbler named Bonnie) and not suitable for resale but still decent books that I can't bring myself to throw out or recycle. Kate can't walk in her room at the moment because I haven't been able to take apart the old deluxe (expensive!) bunny cage to get it out of her room nor have I been able to remove the coffee table that has lived in her room as furniture since her Kindergarten days. I'd put that junk in the garage but the garage is also full. FULL. In anticipation of the recent windstorm I moved a large pile of boxes (and goddamn packing peanuts... oh how I HATE packing peanuts) off the back porch and into the garage. That took up the very last available space that there was in there....
The "office" is also full. Years ago we took the door off the room to be able to get another book shelf wedged in. That shelf is long full and so is the rest of the office. Full, full, full.
I look around at all the stuff and I know more is coming. There's always more. Birthdays, Christmas, new technology supplanting the old, more Green Ronin books (and more...and more...always more...) and things I can't even predict. I look around and I don't know where to start purging. We need those Clean Sweep people to come and ruthlessly purge. Or a giant dumpster from Trashbusters that can just be indiscriminately filled and hauled away.
In order to make room for the washing machine repairman (who didn't show up yesterday and swears, swears they're coming tomorrow morning now) I had to move things that I'd been storing in the laundry room (which is larger than a standard closet but smaller than a walk-in closet). Those things largely bankers boxes of papers and assorted files) are now taking up a good corner of my kitchen. The kitchen is already my defacto office and I have shelves, boxes, filing cabinets and all the random things you'd expect to find in an office here in addition to the stuff you'd expect to find in a kitchen. The kitchen table is completely ringed by boxes, shelves, bins and piles waiting for storage. We've even got shelves in the corners of the landings in the stairway and in the upstairs hallway!
Upstairs the bedroom is in the same state: shelves on every wall, over the bed, under the windows. Boxes, laundry baskets, drawers and other storage options ring the bed on all sides. Closets are full (winter clothes, summer clothes, everyday clothes, business and "occasion" attire, luggage, and some stray boxes of yet more junk). The upstairs guest bathroom has spent the last year as a storage room, mostly old boxes of Kate's old toys or kids' books that are slightly damaged (thanks to a book-binding nibbler named Bonnie) and not suitable for resale but still decent books that I can't bring myself to throw out or recycle. Kate can't walk in her room at the moment because I haven't been able to take apart the old deluxe (expensive!) bunny cage to get it out of her room nor have I been able to remove the coffee table that has lived in her room as furniture since her Kindergarten days. I'd put that junk in the garage but the garage is also full. FULL. In anticipation of the recent windstorm I moved a large pile of boxes (and goddamn packing peanuts... oh how I HATE packing peanuts) off the back porch and into the garage. That took up the very last available space that there was in there....
The "office" is also full. Years ago we took the door off the room to be able to get another book shelf wedged in. That shelf is long full and so is the rest of the office. Full, full, full.
I look around at all the stuff and I know more is coming. There's always more. Birthdays, Christmas, new technology supplanting the old, more Green Ronin books (and more...and more...always more...) and things I can't even predict. I look around and I don't know where to start purging. We need those Clean Sweep people to come and ruthlessly purge. Or a giant dumpster from Trashbusters that can just be indiscriminately filled and hauled away.
Labels: clutter, housekeeping, junk
