Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Today is day one of the twenty-odd days I have asked for or will be asking for, and am receiving, help with my massive decluttering project. I posted in two Facebook groups for help in January and I have six women coming on different days for four of the five days. Today, I have one woman coming who is not part of either Facebook group and she is walking into a mess.
My volunteer today is one of my local clients, Lauren. Lauren had messaged me after she saw one of my journal posts mentioning my massive decluttering project and told me she would like to help. I was sick at the time and focused on packing up my older daughter’s belongings, so I told her I still needed more time before I was ready for volunteer helpers (I am still not sure I am ready, but here we are.). I sent Lauren an email the day after I posted in the Facebook groups and she stepped up for the first day available.
Lauren was prepared. I warned everyone that it is 80 degrees inside my house, and they needed to dress accordingly. Lauren came in wearing layers for the outside cold and quickly stripped down to shorts and a tank top to tolerate the heat. Lauren was here for four and one-half hours and she is a worker. I am not surprised Lauren worked so hard for me because I know she goes above and beyond for her clients in her business.
I had pulled six storage buckets of items away from the shed clearing on Saturday, so Lauren and I started with those. I had two buckets of kids’ books for various reading levels. One bucket I had sorted yesterday with Mika and Lauren helped me sort the rest of the books today. I am left with one, smaller bucket of above reading level books for my seven-year-old, Mika, to save until Summer 2022. Lauren is an amazing packer and she got a lot of books in the storage bin. It is still a very heavy bucket, even if it is not an 18-gallon tote so I will ask my son to put it in the storage shed for me this weekend.
One of the buckets does not need to be sorted. That bucket is full of LEGOs, Mika’s favorite toy. Mika has a wall of adjustable shelves in her room and I let her choose five large storage buckets for the floor level. Mika has one bucket full of Bionicle LEGOs that were her brothers. This bucket from my upper shed will make three buckets or regular LEGOs once it gets transferred upstairs. That is a whole lot of LEGOs.
Lauren helped me sort the rest of the buckets of items I had claimed when sorting on Saturday into like items. I had saved some clothes for my girls to try on, some DVDs for my older daughter to decide if she wants to keep at her new home, and a bucket of baby and toddler toys about half of which I donated. I ran out of steam and did not feel like sorting that last toy bucket on Saturday. Now I have sorted buckets waiting for others to decide what to do with the items. Mika and I will be trying on a lot of clothes this weekend.
When Lauren and I finished the Saturday leftovers, we moved on to the lower shed leftovers from last year. I had kept a few dozen t-shirts that I had collected before, and a few of them after, my accident that left me paralyzed. They are all short-sleeved and I only wear one short-sleeved shirt now; the shirt I wear swimming. I have emaciated arms from muscle atrophy, and I do not like to look at them. Lauren and I sorted the shirts I wanted to photograph into a pile, and I videotaped Lauren holding the t-shirts so I can get a screen shot of each one when I download the video to my computer. Three more boxes, empty!
My piece of advice to you is to take what your friends want to give. Lauren was here for more than four hours, and, even though my mess looks just as bad as it did when she got here, I have only four buckets full of items for my family to keep or donate, three boxes and a bucket of items left from my lower shed ready to donate, and a grateful me because I know the progress was extraordinary.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.
Today is day one of the twenty-odd days I have asked for or will be asking for, and am receiving, help with my massive decluttering project. I posted in two Facebook groups for help in January and I have six women coming on different days for four of the five days. Today, I have one woman coming who is not part of either Facebook group and she is walking into a mess.
My volunteer today is one of my local clients, Lauren. Lauren had messaged me after she saw one of my journal posts mentioning my massive decluttering project and told me she would like to help. I was sick at the time and focused on packing up my older daughter’s belongings, so I told her I still needed more time before I was ready for volunteer helpers (I am still not sure I am ready, but here we are.). I sent Lauren an email the day after I posted in the Facebook groups and she stepped up for the first day available.
Lauren was prepared. I warned everyone that it is 80 degrees inside my house, and they needed to dress accordingly. Lauren came in wearing layers for the outside cold and quickly stripped down to shorts and a tank top to tolerate the heat. Lauren was here for four and one-half hours and she is a worker. I am not surprised Lauren worked so hard for me because I know she goes above and beyond for her clients in her business.
I had pulled six storage buckets of items away from the shed clearing on Saturday, so Lauren and I started with those. I had two buckets of kids’ books for various reading levels. One bucket I had sorted yesterday with Mika and Lauren helped me sort the rest of the books today. I am left with one, smaller bucket of above reading level books for my seven-year-old, Mika, to save until Summer 2022. Lauren is an amazing packer and she got a lot of books in the storage bin. It is still a very heavy bucket, even if it is not an 18-gallon tote so I will ask my son to put it in the storage shed for me this weekend.
One of the buckets does not need to be sorted. That bucket is full of LEGOs, Mika’s favorite toy. Mika has a wall of adjustable shelves in her room and I let her choose five large storage buckets for the floor level. Mika has one bucket full of Bionicle LEGOs that were her brothers. This bucket from my upper shed will make three buckets or regular LEGOs once it gets transferred upstairs. That is a whole lot of LEGOs.
Lauren helped me sort the rest of the buckets of items I had claimed when sorting on Saturday into like items. I had saved some clothes for my girls to try on, some DVDs for my older daughter to decide if she wants to keep at her new home, and a bucket of baby and toddler toys about half of which I donated. I ran out of steam and did not feel like sorting that last toy bucket on Saturday. Now I have sorted buckets waiting for others to decide what to do with the items. Mika and I will be trying on a lot of clothes this weekend.
When Lauren and I finished the Saturday leftovers, we moved on to the lower shed leftovers from last year. I had kept a few dozen t-shirts that I had collected before, and a few of them after, my accident that left me paralyzed. They are all short-sleeved and I only wear one short-sleeved shirt now; the shirt I wear swimming. I have emaciated arms from muscle atrophy, and I do not like to look at them. Lauren and I sorted the shirts I wanted to photograph into a pile, and I videotaped Lauren holding the t-shirts so I can get a screen shot of each one when I download the video to my computer. Three more boxes, empty!
My piece of advice to you is to take what your friends want to give. Lauren was here for more than four hours, and, even though my mess looks just as bad as it did when she got here, I have only four buckets full of items for my family to keep or donate, three boxes and a bucket of items left from my lower shed ready to donate, and a grateful me because I know the progress was extraordinary.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.