Cleaning up inside and out

I've been battling the blahs this week. Unlike having the blues, which makes my heart ache and results in pathetic crying jags, the blahs make me want to clean. On some level, I think I believe if I can remove the cobwebs and grime from my environment, my spirits will be lighter too.

Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't, but it's a lot more productive than overeating or watching too much YouTube.

This week's combination of howling winds and cancelled excursions left me longing for clean toilets and sinks. I was determined to tackle the buildup of calc and lime in the bathrooms. It's hard to fathom just how hard the water is here until you live with it. Calc accumulates quickly on and in everything that is touched by water. I buy vinegar in gallon size bottles and have to clean my teakettle with it at least twice a week. I boil vinegar to clean the calc off the sinks and faucets, and yes, I pour hot vinegar into my toilets. I also use a Belgian product called Anti-Kalk and American "Lime Away." Even with that chemical arsenal, it still takes scraping to remove calc deposits from certain surfaces. After three days of the blahs and a lot of hard work, my toilets and sinks are very, very clean.

I've also continued to pare down our belongings, preparing for our move. As with any clutter-busting enterprise, I find going through storage spaces multiple times is most effective. While the first round of sorting moves a heck of a lot of stuff out of the house, it's just a warm up for the second and third rounds. The first round you tend to get rid of true junk, dated stuff, and the things you didn't really want in the first place. Subsequent rounds bring you to a place where you can part with perfectly good items just because you know you don't use or appreciate them enough.

The U.S. Army's support center in Brussels has set up a place to leave blankets and cold weather clothing for the homeless. I had already given trunk loads of clothes away earlier this fall, but seeing that collection bin sent me back into my closets looking for more. I wanted to help. We had piles of real baby blankets, comforters, and throws that E-Grrrl had outgrown and then used to play with her baby dolls. I washed them and took them to the center first. Then I started picking through our sweaters, jackets, and mittens, and got E to go through his as well.

After all we'd already given away, I was astounded we were able to fill two gigantic bags with LL Bean and Lands End sweaters, fleece pullovers, sweatshirts, hats and scarves, and kids ski pants.  I'm happy to share a bit of warmth with people whose lives are so cold, but the amount of excess we have is telling. While some people rarely purge their belongings, I do it REGULARLY, and the fact that I can still find so much to give away is a reminder of how much we can live without if we raise our consciousness a bit and challenge our ideas.

Tomorrow I'm going back into my closets again and digging through the storage boxes in the attic. I'm sure there's more to share and give away. There's ALWAYS more to share.

December 5, 2007

Comments

[RD]

Sometimes it's shocking to realize what we carry around with us from place to place, and then realize we can do without. I too haul stuff to the thrift store and Goodwill regularly, always wondering how so much stuff sneaks into our closets and into our lives. It is so cathartic to take it away and know someone else may find good use for it. It makes space in the house and in the mind. (Feels almost as good as cleaning the toilet during the blahs!) ;-)

[Claudia]

Cleaning to me, is the most therapeutic thing in the world. Cleaning and giving is doubly as nice. There is nothing more satisfying than ripping apart a house from top to bottom and scrubbing it until it gleams. NOTHING. Except, maybe, drinking a whole bottom of wine and pretending you did. ** hugs **

[impy]

I had a lot of stuff. Was a deep lover of antiques, many of which were family treasures and for that reason irreplaceable. I kept cancelled checks from my grandmother who'd passed away because it was a sample of her handwriting. I had 100+ year old quilts displayed around my home, hutches, mirrored dressers, grain bins, baskets, antique china, my old riding equipment, piano, sheet music, so so many things I thought I could not possibly live without. They were me! Then? well to completely clean/downsize, I burned my house down 6 years ago. (it was an accident in truth) Amazing when you learn you can live without it all. Without more than 2 outfits a person, without toys, and tv's, pc's and multiple pairs of shoes for every occasion. An extreme, but valuable lesson. I won't mistake the warmth of possessions and memories, for the warmth and love of the human beings I reside with. Their lives are all I truly need.

[furiousBall]

blahs hit me the same way, i get busy. i have to force myself busy when the full on blues strike.

i do like Claudia's idea tho... hmm

[amber]

Oh gosh, you sound like me! I am sooo a purger.(Is that how you spell that? oh well.) It feels so good to me. Clean and purge. Yep yep. And if you can find a place to give it, even better.

I hope you feel better soon, V. Thinking of you.

:)

[V-Grrrl]

Impy,

It's hard to fathom that kind of loss. I like to think I'm not overly attached to the things I own, but I guess until you see your possessions go up in smoke, you don't really know how true that statement is.

Now I'm sitting here thinking about what I would most regret losing. Old letters from family members (back when people wrote real letters!), photos, and my own writing. Yeah, I'm most attached to paper and words...

[Peter]

There's sure is always more to share Veronica.

I was slightly amazed reading how thorough you are when cleaning your house, I felt almost exhausted myself. But then again, if it's therapeutic and functional: way to go! Your advice in a previous post regarding dirty floors was much appreciated ;-)

"Stuff" has been piling up in front of my closets and all over my place ever since my spinal incident (like you noticed, Belgian houses come with a ridiculous lack of storage space).

You'd image I'm preparing for a garage sale, but no, this is "maison pretty boy", where one inhabitant can no longer reach the shelves and the other one couldn't care less.

At present, it takes me 10 minutes to reach the basic items I really need. The clutter, all the dated stuff and even the amount of pure junk is mind-blowing.

I'm convinced the Antwerp Salvation army would be more than willing to accept my 30 white, boxer shorts with integrated male briefs (size S, I'm clueless on how they got in my closet), but I doubt whether they are willing to

[Peter]

...assist in clutter busting. [Someone clicked the "create post" button before I was ready - wireless mouses, they can have their issues]

[V-Grrrl]

Wow Peter, I learn something new everyday. I had no idea men could wear boxers AND briefs at the same time!

Next time they have an annoying gay pride event in Antwerp, you can dye them pink and hang them on a line off your balcony. ; )

As for the cleaning--the packers come in January so I need to be prepared. We turn over housekeys in February so I want to have this very large house spotless for the landlord so we receive our security deposit back!

[Di]

The blues ... ah yes, that would be what crashed on my head yesterday, convincing me my life as a photographer was over, that I had nothing to offer the blogging world and that I should just go get a real job and learn Dutch.

Today seems to be a better day but I think not going to Amsterdam was a mistake. Sorry about that ... Jessie's slowly improving.

[V-Grrrl]

Di,

You know you're depressed when you want to learn Dutch!

Sorry Peter, it's the neerslachtigheid talking, luv.

[stuckheretoo]

I thought you weren't moving until school let out? Are you moving back to the US in Feb ?

[V-Grrrl]

We leave in March. It will take eight weeks for our cars and stuff to cross the Atlantic so we're packing out in January.

[Manictastic]

Yes, being miserable and upset helps in cleaning. You tend to have just that little extra bit of frustration to push you right over the edge to throw out certain things or fight againt kalk.
You're a very generous woman and it was nice having you in this little country of ours.

[Expat-CIT]

Oh can I RELATE! My moving truck just came last Friday, and it was literally months of cleaning out and sorting. I thought I did all of this when I moved out of our house into the temporary apartment. I was appalled at how much "stuff" our family had accumulated. While I'm not a compulsive buyer, I still have too many things in my life. Children are junk magnents as well!

I was thinking about the book writing idea we all keep badgering you about. You should really think about writing a FUNNY book about being an expat and repatriating - Peter and Neil can write the witty forward and side comments on the pages. Plus you have all this blog material you can quote from, as you have mentioned. The books I keep reading are all so heavy and serious. They make me nervous, so I finally decided to scrap them. Rather worry about things when/if they come than imagine up multiple catastrophic scenarios.

Of course I'm still waiting for the V-grrls Guide to Being on Top - the sex book! You can work on that one first. :)

[Peter]

Sounds like a great concept, Expat-CIT: I love writing side comments. Obviously, only when asked :-)

V, even with the 'neerslachtigheid' you still made me smile.

I actually discovered a large box with boxer briefs, which take the longer shape of boxers but maintain the tightness of briefs.

But hey, they're in size S (small) and I'm wearing an L (well, a European large, guess an M would suffice at Walmart, but obviously, I wouldn't be seen dead in a place like Walmart ;-)

The mystery remains:
what is a huge, unopened box of S size boxers doing in my stuffed wardrobe?

I probably just bought them to beat the blues ("one day, I will fit in an S" :-)
Don't follow my lead. It was no bright move.

Keep the faith, you all, these are the gloomy dark days before Christmas, when our changing future can be disconcerting to anyone.

[Di, you are a great photographer and we all love your work. Even when you start doubting it all, that still doesn't change this basic fact. Hang in there. Come over to the ice-skating ring in front of Antwerp city hall during the holidays: we can have a laugh watching all the people who can't skate]

[V, it would be nice to meet again before you actually take that 'there's no turning back' plane to the land of the brave and the free.]

[platypus]

I find cleaning theraputic too, although not when I have the blahs. When I have the blahs I don't do anything but I think your method's probably much better. I try to declutter regularly too and I know I have too much stuff but your post has made me think that I should have another look and see if we have more things we can pass on those who have more need of them.

[V-Grrrl]

Hey CIT, that's a GOOD idea. I can see Peter and I collaborating--me giving the humorous American angle and Peter giving the Belgian one.

We actually did a funny post along these lines once, but it came at a time when I was getting some criticism and I became concerned people wouldn't "get" the humor and find it offensive so I pulled it right after I posted it.

But let me tell you, if there's one time you need someone to make you laugh, it's when you're an expat!

Rule #1 of Expat life in Europe: Americans should be seen and not heard. Ha, ha, ha.

Peter, you better ditch the boy-sized briefs and claim your large European manhood, darlin. (I suggest using the boy briefs to dust and clean your sink.)

And when you come to America to visit me, I'm going to MAKE you come to Wal-Mart. We'll take your photo holding some REALLY LARGE briefs. : )

[Nance]

I think I will surreptitiously start hauling out boxes of Rick's crap from the basement to the curb. He hangs onto the most incredibly worthless junk. Why would anyone need drawers and drawers of rusted hardware? And, upon realizing it was gone, he'd be, in the end, grateful.

I'm not a saver, nor am I particularly sentimental. I just abhor waste, and when I see the bags and bags of perfectly good clothes my sons deem "ready for Goodwill", I shudder. I'm with you, V--we sure do seem to have an endless capacity for accumulating stuff.

[Anastasic Beaverhausen]

I do find cleaning to be therapeutic, but I often resent being the only person in the house who finds it necessary to do so often. My husband really knows how to clean things thoroughly. The problem is he works very slowly and he doesn't do it very frequently. I feel as though I'm keeping the tide at bay with a plastic bucket, since life with so many other people (with more important things to do) makes it far messier than it would be if I lived alone.