The office....AGAIN!

Another early start to the day with the Olympics on tv, but me not being a sports fan I decided to tackle just the boxes left over from decluttering the office closet. I only got half way through & down to a bin & small container when I realized I have company coming on Friday for the weekend and better forgo decluttering and focus on cleaning. Bahahahaha. Yeah right. Me? Focus?

I shoved the remaining boxes into the guest suite (not even going to post a pic of that chaos) and started rearranging so I could steam clean the carpet (there’s a stain I strategically hid with the bins) and then the room is completed....one would think.

I wasn’t satisfied with the arrangement, as per usual, so I dragged in all 4 custom-made cat furniture pieces that were randomly spread around the house. I think they look better all together but need to decide which of the chairs to keep as there really only needs to be one. The cats love sleeping in the green wingback chair and I like the office chair. Keeping in mind it’s more the 3 cats’ room with 3 hidden litter boxes & a cat door than it is my office anymore. Many years in the future, NONE of anything in the room will move with us when we downsize, so which chair should I keep?

PS. Rather than drag the wingback chair out, which is extremely difficult, I rearranged AGAIN to accommodate both chairs and continued vacuuming & then steam clean the hallway and master bedroom vanity area. By that time, supper was ready but my back was shot. Ow ow ow ow ow.

PPS. Did I mention company coming is my step daughter who is an Interior Designer? Yeah. After supper I rested... oh wait no, folded laundry & made the bed, braved the -33 windchill to start my car to get the mail but the blowing snow made for zero visibility so instead, I waded through above the knee snow to feed and water the 2 feral cats (-20 in the playhouse, I think they live underneath it & only go in through the cat door to eat, then go back) Once back in and warming by the gas fireplace, we watched tv but before the show even ended, I moved one of the love-seats and taped the baseboard & window trim on the east living room wall in preparation for....guess who’s painting tomorrow? That is if I can get out of bed. Why do I do this to myself? 

DAY #19 - Clean up the family/living room

Nope. I tackled the bedroom closet & armoire. Oh, & put all the groceries away, (thankful hubby does grocery shopping) ate supper standing at the counter while cleaning the freezer.

Is it just me and my ADHD or does each task seem to have a trickle down effect? I am still struggling to stop cleaning & rearranging and focus on decluttering and leaving it. I guess if I am never satisfied with the final outcome, there is no FINAL outcome? Does having too much stuff offer me too many options?

Yesterday’s “cleaning” the entryway led to “cleaning” the front room led to “cleaning” the living room. (Cleaning=rearranging) I swapped the end tables from the 2 rooms, moved the sofa table into the dining room, dining room table into the front room, guest suite table into dining room, turned the kitchen table  into an island, etc. Yeah. It’s exhausting. My stuff is exhausting me. It’s filling up space but not filling up ME! It’s taking away. Taking up my time, energy & attention on “cleaning” rather than on living. Doing. Being.

Aha moment. Thank goodness I found that promoted post on Twitter or I would just continue the cycle & circle.

ADHD pros & cons

For the past 2 days I was SUPPOSED to be mudding & prepping a bedroom to be repainted by yesterday rather than going through 20 years of Tax documents that need to get shredded and reorganizing an office. A new kingsize bed arrives today and I have to move the master bedroom bed into the unrepainted messy spare room. Sooo, the old bed won’t get reset up BUT our bed will & THEN I will tackle prepping and repainting the guest room. I started that project this past Saturday but after washing the walls with TSP and rinsing with clean water (first time ever doing that before repainting walls) my arms & back were exhausted so 2 days in bed slowed me down. We stayed home this winter rather than head south with the rest of the Canadian Snowbirds because my pain specialist put another request in and said they would call in 3 to 6 months, back in MAY!!  Still waiting for call from a back surgeon to set a date. Starting and not finishing projects is a struggle for ADHDers. Or starting one thing then moving on to start another without finishing (or cleaning up) the last project. I’m so thankful my Hunny understands and is not concerned about my slow pace or continuous mess.  Procrastination is a part of ADHD too. Having a partner who hates painting leaves it up to me so any complaints from him would be null and void anyway. It sure would be nice to have a painting partner though. I think it’s fun. Others think it’s work. I think it would be more fun & less lonely if I had company. Anyone want to just come & watch? Lol

Another sleepless night (dam you Insomnia) Sleep is so important to recharge, repair and rest the brain. Better get some shut eye or I won’t be able to keep my eyes open trying to patch nail holes before painting. If I paint. Who knows what project I’ll try to tackle tomorrow. It’s not like it’s a major family holiday or anything. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American Friends 🦃 🎉🇺🇸

Learning to Let Go

I just learned one is supposed to go slow when it comes to decluttering but my OCD & ADHD (even though I’m on medication) still kick in. I have spent the last 2 evenings in the living room going though my partner’s outdated tax documents. (6 boxes from 1988-2008) while watching (listening to) Xmas movies on W. Before I knew it, it was 4am (hyper focused) but I got 3 boxes separated into 3 bins. Recycle. Shred. Keep. 

Today I got half way through the final 3 boxes & next thing you know, I’m cleaning the office!!  It was upside down after rearranging bookcases & putting up shelves in the closet to make room for pretty, tidy, wicker boxes. It was not put back in proper order since I needed to condense the 6 boxes of old papers first. I’ll mark it down as a bonus because I’ll have accomplished 2 things in 2 days when I was only planning on accomplishing 1. Sometimes ADHD has it’s benefits. 

Now that I’ve joined the Unclutter.com organizing support group on Facebook, I look forward to the guidance & planning that will help me stay focused so I can proceed to declutter in a more organized & efficient pace. Thank goodness for Twitter breaks where I saw Donna Smallin Kuper’s promoted on Twitter. 

Sort of wish I saw it 3 years ago when I started to clean, organize & declutter but apparently moving your stuff from one room to another is not decluttering. You’re just exchanging hot spots. One room clean. Another even messier. You know you have too much stuff when you have to buy more stuff to put your stuff in. I’m not buying anymore bins to hide it all away. When out of sight is out of mind, why keep it if you don’t even use it. Let it go. Let it go. No I don’t want to build a snowman. I want to build a life without clutter.