Yep, we spent two more hours in the basement, sorting, tossing and organizing. I hadn't been confident that we would carry on, but the lure of endorphins released when somethings become nothings compelled us. This time I sorted a box of bathroom things we brought from Lexington in 2006. I now have a lot of cotton balls, having just purchased a giant bag of them day before yesterday. A lifetime supply of Campho-Phenique (so good for chigger bites) also is in the drug store inventory now.
We accumulated two large bags of trash, two large bags of recycling and a huge pile of cardboard boxes. We didn't need 400 egg cartons, for example, having only 12 hens. I talked Dennis into keeping only this many. He also kept the Billy Bass that our grandchildren enjoy so much.
I started another box of donations to the Social Service League of Lawrence. (Those folks do a lot of good in our community.) We cleared a table top and much of the countertop of the do-it-yourself cabinet.
All of Dennis' rolled maps and drawings are in one place now. I thought the orange box especially appropriate.
Dennis has carved out a corner to become his work-out area.
It is now possible to walk all around the basement without stepping over things. This is where all the cardboard boxes used to be.
What is working for us is that we concentrate on one area at a time, sometimes together but mostly separately. We help each other as needed but what really keeps us going is our camaraderie in a common task, working together toward a goal.
No "before" photos appear here, although a few untouched areas sneaked into the "after" shots. I'll just say that before we started cleaning the basement we were on the watch list of a "Hoarders" talent scout.
Eventually we will finish the basement task of making nothing out of something. It won't take many more days like this. Then I can quit worrying about dying and leaving a terrible mess behind.
We accumulated two large bags of trash, two large bags of recycling and a huge pile of cardboard boxes. We didn't need 400 egg cartons, for example, having only 12 hens. I talked Dennis into keeping only this many. He also kept the Billy Bass that our grandchildren enjoy so much.
I started another box of donations to the Social Service League of Lawrence. (Those folks do a lot of good in our community.) We cleared a table top and much of the countertop of the do-it-yourself cabinet.
All of Dennis' rolled maps and drawings are in one place now. I thought the orange box especially appropriate.
Dennis has carved out a corner to become his work-out area.
It is now possible to walk all around the basement without stepping over things. This is where all the cardboard boxes used to be.
What is working for us is that we concentrate on one area at a time, sometimes together but mostly separately. We help each other as needed but what really keeps us going is our camaraderie in a common task, working together toward a goal.
No "before" photos appear here, although a few untouched areas sneaked into the "after" shots. I'll just say that before we started cleaning the basement we were on the watch list of a "Hoarders" talent scout.
Eventually we will finish the basement task of making nothing out of something. It won't take many more days like this. Then I can quit worrying about dying and leaving a terrible mess behind.
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