Steam Cleaning Project Complete

I haven't posted in the last few days. We've been steam cleaning the carpets and it threw everything off more then I expected. I didn't even take pictures. I was embarrassed by the massive piles that cluttered up our main room in order to get at the floors in the bedroom and den. There were things everywhere.

I learned something from the last few days though. I learned that cluttered spaces make me depressed and frustrated. I could have guessed that but it took actually experiencing it to know.

Ever since February I've been decluttering the house. My Wife was worried at first but now she is less concerned. I think she has started to trust that I'm not going to get rid of anything she loves. I'm also doing my best not to get rid of anything I love either.

What you can't do when your house is overfilled: Sweep, mop, vacuum, do the dishes, do a 5 minute pickup. Seriously. I tried. And the house is better then if I hadn't tried. But doing a pick up is very difficult when most of the things out of place are supposed to be in a room you can't actually take them to.

Dishes were the least effected because we kept the kitchen area pretty well clear. But even dishes suffered. It isn't just the physical difficulty of doing the work. It's the will power. When you've been cleaning a room all day you are tired. When you have to step around piles every day you are tired. It's hard enough to do the basics when things are clear and easy.

It's Wednesday and we are done! In spite of the struggles over the last few days I'm glad we did it. And it will be easier next time because next time I'll know how to do it more easily.

I learned a lot about cleaning from doing this. I learned why I need to keep things in containers that can be easily moved. I learned that shoving things behind the bookshelf just makes more work for me later.

My wife understands me better. Having seen the sort of thing that I stuff into corners she commented, 'you are messy too!' I was surprised. I thought she knew. But I guess I had my messiness. I hide it under beds and behind shelves. That might sound ok, but it means that every room is always overfull and that we can never find the measuring tape because I stuffed it in a corner. I've been working on ways to discourage this habit I have. I think cleaning the carpets is a great way to do that, because if I'm planning to clean the carpets then I decrease my motivation to stuff something somewhere -- it will just be more work for me later.

Sunday To Do List

Apart from the basic chores we also stocked the pantry and had brunch with my Wife's mom. This was the first time meeting her, and it went quite well. I also tried spinach in a smoothy for the first time ever. That also went

• Sweeping
• 5 Minute Pickup
• Dishes
• Check bathrooms for Clutter
• Stock Pantry
• Brunch with Mother in Law

I removed everything from the Den except the couch and our computer desks, in preparation for cleaning.

Monday:

On Monday we steam cleaned the Den.

I started by removing my desk to the bedroom, which turned out to be a pleasant place to work because there is a window looking outside. My wife had work in the morning so she set up the machine for me while I prepped the room. After she left I steam cleaned and then went to work on a practicum application. She got home at 12pm to find me very hungry but done. I had to leave at 4pm to meet my Best Friend for a Castle Adventure so I got something to eat and rested a bit. After I left she steam cleaned the other half of the Den. 

It was very hot on Monday so the room dried quickly. Around 9:30pm I put everything back into the room. My Wife had fallen asleep on the couch and I wanted to surprise her with a complete room.

I also managed to run the dish washer and sweep. I didn't do my Weekly Kitchen Cleaning.

Tuesday:

On Tuesday we started putting books back on the shelf. On my suggestion we sorted by category rather then by who the book belonged to. We have a fiction shelf, a genre fiction shelf, a graphic novel shelf, a how-to shelf,  a coffee table book shelf and a personal shelf for each of us. Things aren't all on the shelves but we are getting there. 

It was a lot easier to do chores with everything moved, but I still didn't get much done because I had a terrible headache.

I didn't do my weekly vacuuming.

We aren't completely done. The books are not all in their proper homes yet. But the house is out of chaos and back to being a pleasant place to live.

Pictures

Here are the very few pictures I took that are relevant to the last few days: