The Joy of Cleaning Out

Last weekend we had two days that were relatively unscheduled, for a change.  It was too hot to do much outside, so I started on one of the jobs I've been putting off for months - cleaning out.  We have a finished basement that is the kids playroom as well as our office area and the laundry room.  For the past year or so, I've dealt with the mess down there by not looking at it.  I couldn't take more than a few steps into the room, anyway, without stepping on toys that littered the floor.  I understood why the kids never cleaned it up.  They had way more stuff than they had places to put the stuff, which to me says "too much stuff".  (George Carlin, rest in peace.) 

My husband calls the way I deal with a mess like this "cleaning with prejudice".  If I don't instantly see a reason to save it, out it goes.  There were many toys which even the little one has outgrown.  Those went to the curb, before garbage day, and are now spread around the neighborhood, probably into houses where there are also more toys than storage space, but at least they are out of mine.  Next, a huge bag was filled with anything broken, cracked, torn, incomplete, duplicated or just utterly useless.  The few things that remained went were they belonged.  Books went back on the bookshelves.  Tapes and DVDs back in the entertainment center.  Craft supplies went into their labeled containers.  After all that, I had an amazing discovery.  There is carpeting on the floor.  It had been so long since I'd seen it, I'd forgotten it was there.

Now I was on a roll, so I sent my husband to take our son to a birthday party, and started on my son's room.  There I learned an important lesson - when you ask a 4 year old to clean his room, make sure you are very specific about what gets cleaned up to where.  When I emptied his toy box, I discovered why he'd been running out of socks every week.  When he put things away in the toy box, everything on the floor went in the toy box.  After I cleaned out the floor of his closet, I had an entire load of laundry to do. 

When his room was done, the garbage cans were filled to overflowing and I had more old toys sitting out on the curb.  Before you decide I'm a terrible mother for throwing all my kid's stuff away, let me tell you about the giant plastic tub full of toys that had been my daughter's, which we had been saving until our son was old enough to play with them.  I put those toys in my son's room, so when he came back his room was clean AND had a bunch of "new" toys in it.  He was in heaven, and has been so busy playing with the new things that he didn't even notice what was missing. 

While my son is enjoying new playthings, I get to enjoy standing in neat, uncluttered places which had been chaotic last week.  I love the energy in clean rooms.  It's like the rooms are bigger and have more air in them, or something.  I can walk around without stepping on anything but the floor.  This is my nirvana. 

Another week of work, then we go on vacation.  When I come back, I should be rested enough to tackle my daughter's room.  She is gone for the rest of the summer, so I have time.  For now, I'm just leaving the door closed.