In two weeks major renovations will be starting in my home. Since it’s hard for me to simply throw stuff in the garbage if I no longer want or need it, it takes a lot of effort to move things out. Clean up efforts included purging, selling things, recycling, shredding, and donating lots of stuff. Some stuff even requires specialized donations, which can take time to locate. For example, I had a box of broken jewelry that I felt guilty about tossing in the trash. One day I randomly saw a post on FB marketplace for someone “ISO” (in search of) old jewelry. Even better, this person was in my neighborhood. Score!
I started preparing for the work in Jan, even before I had called any contractors or received a single estimate. The scope of work remained undefined. But already I knew that it would require a big clean up effort. Slowly, over weeks and months, I’ve been spending small amounts of time working through everything. Sometimes I spend 20 minutes on one shelf in the evening after a day of work. Other times it’s a few hours spent on larger areas. It also included clean-up efforts in other parts of the house, and in the garage, to make more space.
By spacing it out over months, instead of a helter-skelter rush in the weeks preceding the demolition, I was hoping to avoid “make-work” projects for myself. These typically occur when the fatigue sets in and the time crunch starts. It’s when good decisions evaporate because things need to happen fast. This is when things get randomly thrown together in boxes with a self-promise to clean it later. However… nearing the final weeks of a months long process, everything is devolving into future work projects, despite my best efforts.
Things are getting messy in the packed boxes, and in the available areas in the house where we are storing everything. The basement, one of the renovated areas, will have shiny, new storage cabinets. While I’m looking forward to the new, storage spaces, I’m also dreading it slightly. Nature hates a void and I’m concerned I’ll find creative ways to fill the space. This after spending so many months and so much effort to thin out years of accumulation. It won’t happen right away because I’ll be busy with my “make-work” future projects enjoying the results of all the hard work.
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