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

[TB]

"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."

Right on. I feel the same way and try to do this at least once a year. It's good for the soul, at least MY soul. Jeff, the packrat that he is, would probably disagree.

It's so nice to hear you talking about your preparations to move back to the states.

[AP in UK]

My husband and I have moved 5 times in our marriage. With each move, we purge -- and with each move we swear that we aren't going to let stuff accumulate again. But it does. Even after a massive downsizing before our move to the-land-of-no-storage-space, we seem to have accumulated stuff. I suppose you'd suggest that we shouldn't wait for our move home to get rid of it!

[vaninnie]

CIT:
Trash the books. They don't know diddly. Just get here & live; you'll do fine.