This morning I woke up earlier than the kids, which meant I had two hours of quiet. After the mandatory coffee and shower, in that order, I took some pictures of the main living areas with the new furniture placement by my designer friend, Kristen. The work isn’t done yet and the house is covered in construction related dust, so it’s filthy. But we’re getting close.
The Furniture Placement
Kristen put the furniture where she thought it should go for staging purposes for when we put the house on the market.
The top left picture is of the family room looking into the kitchen and breakfast room. The top right is looking from the kitchen into the family room. The big black unit is an entertainment center that holds the television. The middle picture is from another corner of the family room. The door to the left of the fireplace leads to the sunroom.
The bottom left picture is taken from the front door/foyer looking into the dining room. Through the french doors is the room formerly known as my office, but that now serves as a small TV room. The bottom right picture is taken from the family room looking into the dining room.
If you want, I’ll do more pictures (and bigger) once we start putting our stuff back in there – the stuff that we decide should go back in. For now, most of our belongings are hanging out in the sunroom until we decide we want and need a specific item, at which point we will bring it back in and put it away.
The house echoes when we walk through it, even with the furniture in there. Which I find oddly comforting. Because it means it isn’t jammed full of crap. At least not in those rooms.
A Before and After
This morning during my quiet time, I decluttered a basket that had been put in the sunroom. It had been in my office.
There was a lot of paper in there. Paper that went into the recycle bin or in a bag destined for a shredder. I also found three gift cards. Score! I hope they aren’t the kind that eventually dwindle to nothing, because I have no idea when they were purchased. One is $50 for a restaurant, one is $25 for Amazon and the last is $15 to Barnes & Noble. Scha-wing!
I will definitely be going through this again when I have all of my office stuff in one location, so it will get pared down more. But, for a first pass, I think I did a pretty good job. I don’t know about you, but I find it’s easier to decide I don’t need something when I see that I have four others.
Getting everything in one place has been one of the “rules” I’ve been following in my decluttering mission. It’s a pain to have to go through the whole house to locate every single pen or whatever the item of the day is, but it helps with the decision making process. It’s also depressing. Because, really? We have twelve unopened packages of fill-in-the-blank?
Back Update
Please accept my apologies for my lack of skill and effort in the Pic Collage department. I had the spinal injections yesterday and I’m suffering from the I-Don’t-Wannas while I recover. So, these are as good as they get today.
And I know I shouldn’t, but I really WANT to hire somebody to come in and clean my house from top to bottom when the construction is finished. But I won’t. But I want to. I really, really want to.
I think having someone come in and doing a good cleaning when construction is done is a good idea. Consider the some of the money you’ve made from decluttering as money for this. Remember they are pros at this.
That’s true on the cash from decluttering front. It’s nice to hear support for having someone come in and clean up the construction mess. We’ll see…
I don’t understand why you can’t have someone come and clean. When we moved, I was pretty much at wit’s end, and getting a cleaning “team” saved a little part of my sanity. It’s not as if you are asking someone to do it for free–you are supporting their work. Go for it.
Jean- I didn’t want to hire anyone because we, all four of us, were getting LAZY about cleaning. And my kids have no day-to-day housekeeping skills. They’re learning, but they need to take on more responsibility. BUT, I do get the whole “one-time” thing isn’t going to ruin that effort. Except I’m afraid that the “one-time” will morph into “every week.”
FWIW, I’ll cast a vote in favor of hiring someone to clean your house. You hate housework. You have major back health issues. And I know you want to teach your children self-sufficiency, but I’m guessing you don’t and will never do ALL the the things you COULD do you yourself, such as changing the oil and other fluids in your car, growing most of your own food, sewing your own clothes. If you really liked auto mechanics, gardening, or sewing, you might do those things, but I’m guessing you wouldn’t feel bad about not doing them if it’s not also a real pleasure.
My family and I choose to live more simply than our income would dictate, but we have someone come in once a month to clean our bathroom and kitchen and do a little dusting. We still need to keep it up the rest of the month, but we’re a lot happier now that someone else is doing it REALLY THOROUGHLY once a month. And in your case, you can look at it as freeing you up to do more decluttering since you won’t need to spend all that time vacuuming and dusting!
Yes, I do hate housework. Yes, I have major back issues. Twist my arm…
I support hiring someone to come in and clean, too. It’s so much work to get packed and moved, it will be one less thing you have to worry about.
Thank you, Jeanne!
During our family’s resolve to Buy Nothing New in 2013, we were in a serious car accident and I was forced to hire someone to clean our house while none of us could. I swear, nothing hurt more than cancelling that service once I was healed up!!! (sigh).
http://fabulouslydomestic.com/nothingnew/
I hope you’re better now! And yes, it’s painful to rip off that bandaid. Very, very painful.
I also vote that you should hire cleaners to come in–they’ll bring shop-vac vacuums! You don’t want to ruin your own vacuum with construction/drywall dust, right? You don’t get a medal for doing-it-all-yourself!
The other alternative is to recruit your kiddos to do the cleaning WITH you. I remember cleaning baseboards with a wet rag and cleaning solution before my parents’ Mardi Gras party when I was in fourth grade. I’m sure I got paid $10-$20 for an afternoon of cleaning with my mom and brother.
You’re making such major strides! Every basket you tidy up, each piece of furniture you donate or sell–you’re really rockin’ this challenge lady. Pat yourself on your [healing] back.
And one final point to help you decide if you should pay for cleaners: What would you tell your sister or best friend to do if she were going through the same back pains and construction?
Well, I would tell my sister/best friend to hire a cleaning crew! As for the shop-vac, Stephen has one, so that isn’t gonna work for us. 🙂
Thank you for the kudos on progress. We still have such a long way to go, but you’re right. We have made some great headway.
I vote for hiring a cleaner as well. And I think Laura’s question is an excellent one for making a decision about it.
Sounds like I’m not the only one thinking hiring someone to clean construction mess is a good idea. Sometimes circumstances dictate we seek help–no matter what rules we’ve set ourselves. You’ve got so much on your plate right now; no need to make it harder.
It’s unanimous. Hire a professional one time and do your own cleaning thereafter!
I can not tell you how to do this but maybe Kerry can sas she was able to, but you need to make the pictures in your blog bigger. When Kerry posted a picture you could double click on it and it would open in a new tab in a bigger size. When you double click on yours it opens in a new tab but the same little size and you cannot see much especially in the collaged pictures. Just a suggestion. Thanks
Thanks, Susannah. I’ll try to figure out how to make the pictures bigger. In the meantime, I’ll load the individual pictures onto the Facebook page.
The pics are up on FB now.
I know how hard you’re working, on this project, on your rehab, on raising your children, on your paying gig. Add my name to the now-long list of people who advise you to treat yourself to the deep cleaning indulgence. You’ve earned it!
Also, I think I understand your position vis a vis your donations is in some measure philanthropic; however, a fried (actually, Kelsey’s mom) is a purger extraordinaire. I asked her for a resource to dispose of the electronic items, and she suggested http://www.gazelle.com. They’ll actually evaluate and pay you for your phones, etc., and their mission statement is responsible recycling, whether your item has value or not. If nothing else, the couple of dollars you’d get from them will help offset the cost of the cleaning crew!
Ooh, thanks for the referral to the gazelle.com website! And, thank you for weighing in on the Should-I-Shouldn’t-I housecleaning discussion. 🙂
You have more important things to focus on right
now than deep cleaning! Why add one more HUGE item on
the “to do” list? It is hanging over your head like a large storm cloud.
Simplifying does not mean having to give up things like
cleaning services if that will make you happier, give you more time,
and allow you to focus on more important issues!!
I knew there was a local group that focuses on women’s issues that Tennessee has also used to dispose of her old electronics. Here’s what she said:
“Also, I used to take phones to The National Council of Jewish Women (Preston Royal) 214-368-4405 if I just wanted a tax receipt and not $$.”
Hard to be more convenient than that!
Thanks!
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