Home Stretch

The kids will be back on Sunday afternoon. I'm not working again until Monday. That means I have today, tomorrow, and Saturday to get the basement as done as I can.

This week's Purple Heart pickup:

 This week's garbage pickup:

This week's progress:

Most of the stuff that had to go out has gone out. There will still be extra garbage next week, and another Purple Heart pickup sometime in July. But most of what is still down there stays down there, and that's the really hard work--figuring out what to do with all the stuff that stays. Finding room for it, keeping it tidy & organized.

Today is mostly about clothes & fabric.  I have laundry to do, clothes to sort, and fabric to fold. It's a good thing it's cooler down there!

Realization

So even though I've removed 12 metric tons of crap from my basement, it still looks like a garbage truck exploded.  But now I think I understand a little better why that is, and what to do about it.  Also:  a weight loss correlation.

Essentially, what I'm doing is sorting into two categories:  stay and go. The "go" can be either garbage or donations, but it gets out of the basement.  But all the "stay" stuff is still there.  Yes, I know:  duh. I've been so busy trying to just get through the masses of piles (Jeff called it a berm) and move forward, deeper into the basement, that I didn't do much with what's left behind. I didn't really have a plan for what to do with the stuff that stays. 

But I think that I've made as much forward progress as I'm going to for a while. I've gotten quite far back, all the way to the stuff that has been in boxes for years.  This kids can't be blamed for that stuff, but it's fairly neat and contained, and I'm willing to leave it for the time being.

Now it's time to go back. Back over the pile of shoes and start figuring out what will go where. Back to the books and toys that I do want to keep. And that's where I get stuck. I don't know what to do with it all. We have a couple shelf units (full) and bookshelves (fuller). There are some plastic storage bins, also largely full. So I'm not sure exactly what will happen to all the stuff we still have down there. That's my next big challenge, and it's what I'll be working on this weekend.

The weight loss correlation:  I've been working through the basement by taking one area and just getting through it.  "When I'm done with this section of floor, I'm done for the day, and it will look so much better without that big pile."  But when I am done, I don't see the difference. All I can see is what isn't yet done.  There's a similarity to looking in the mirror. I know I've lost weight. I know my clothes are smaller. But when I look in the mirror, I don't really remember what I used to look like.  I see old pictures, and just feel perplexed.  I don't remember how that felt. The only difference is that I know I'm happier when I look in the mirror than I was a year ago.  I guess that'll have to do.

How is this possible?

While the kids are in Florida, I'm cleaning out the basement. This is a truly Herculean task--fully half the basement wasn't even accessible.

This is just the front part of the basement. It doesn't even begin to show the true measure of the worst part.
I've worked on it every day, sometimes only for an hour, sometimes longer. 

Purple Heart has come out once so far.

This is actually only about half of what they took today.  I managed to get a lot more toys and a few more bags of clothes out before the truck came.

A friend came out to pick up dozens of books for a book exchange she's having this weekend, saving me an extra trip.

(OK, turn your head to the side, because I can't get the picture to rotate.)

I've dragged countless bags of garbage up the stairs.

And the result?  The basement looks worse now than it did before.  Seriously!

Yes, I can see a lot more floor than before. Yes, I know that it's better.  But I'm so tired, and there is so much left to do. The clothes, the toys, the SHOES.  I have until the end of the month until the kids come back, and I'm determined to get it in really good shape before then.  I'll update again next week.