No matter how many steps a task or project has, the last one is the hardest.
Remember how I was so proud of not removing my suitcase from the closet to do the seasonal clothing changeover? Yes, I eliminated the need to move it from the master bedroom back into the closet.
I eliminated that step completely. Which was good.
Really.
Since I tend to ignore that particular last step for months at a time.
But I still ignored the last step of zipping the suitcase and setting it upright.
Y’know . . . so I could ACTUALLY WALK INTO MY WALK-IN CLOSET!
And somehow, this seemed logical to me.
It seemed logical until half-way through the problem-solving-inside-my-head discussion I was having with myself this morning. The discussion about how was I going to hang one more item on the doorknob.
The doorknob that was completely full on both sides of the door.
In my moment of despair that there was no more Doorknob Space available, I suddenly realized how absurd my dilemma was. Y’know, since closet doorknobs aren’t actually designed to hold entire wardrobes. Turns out, there are rods INSIDE THE CLOSET for that.
This is also the point when I realized that the reason I was stressing over my lack of Doorknob Hanging Space . . . was that there was a suitcase blocking the door of the closet.
Soooo, just like a good slob-blogger should, I zipped up the suitcase, set it upright, and moved it the eighteen inches necessary to put it in its place and allow me to walk into the closet and hang the clothes on the ever-so-spacious rods.
Yes. I have issues.
Carolyn says
That seriously made me laugh out loud. Love your blog!
Sally says
See, I fully expected that to end with you fixing the suitcase but LEAVING all the hangers on the door. Clearly you’re not the only one with issues.
Nony says
Ha!
ShannonP says
Hey! I resemble that remark! LOL
Pam says
I’m convinced “FOLLOW-THROUGH” is the most important demon to conquer!
Christie says
Oh, I love you!
Slob with OCD says
Oh, God Nony that’s great. This reminds me so much of the video you did where you ducked around the cabinet drawer 11 times!
It helps me understand how much my own slobbiness is not laziness. I don’t clean cause I don’t think it will stick or work. But I will walk around something 25 times before I move it. That doesn’t save me a bit of energy. I’m building up to being good about my dishwasher because I finally am getting that it’s easier to cook in a kitchen where you don’t have to move everything.
Thanks for the inspiration and the laughs.
Jen S. says
I have a better one. How about when someone asks where something is and you give them an *exact* location – on the floor in the . . . (pick a room). Why do you know where it is? Because it’s been laying there for days/weeks – right there, on the floor, often in the middle of the room. Sometimes it’s even under something. I still know right where it is. Ironically enough, it’s when I clean that I can’t find anything.
Jeanine says
This is me.
ShannonP says
Noni, you have been spying in my home again. ;P
Sherri says
I think you were put here on this earth just to make me feel better! lol
Joan says
I suppose it’s too late to let you in on a secret of how you could get more hangers on that doorknob…
Once the knob just won’t one more hanger, just hook the next hanger around the neck of the outside hanger. Easy as that. You can get at least 3 or 4 hanger on each outside hanger.
But, that’s not really the kind of tip we are looking for around here, hmm.
Mary Stephens says
Hehehe. You made me laugh too. 🙂
Alana in Canada says
Oh me too! I have been thinking about this very thing for a few days ago–but I could never rite such a hilarious post about it. Thanks.
Mary Stephens says
I have to laugh, but I can’t help wondering where I’m doing the same thing in a different way. I’ll probably stumble upon it sooner or later. 😉
Leena says
LOL!
You are hilarious and yet this post made me think what last steps I’ve left undone.
KellyJMF says
Better than zipping and standing the suitcase up so you could hang more clothes from the handle. Um, not that I’ve ever done that… Maybe I should just go clean something.
Sharon says
This is why we love you. You put into words what so many of us experience. How many times will I lay the hanging clothes, ON HANGERS, neatly on the chair outside the hanging closet, making a pile 2 feet high, before I realize that success is just 4 feet away, in the form of the actual hanging rod?
Today it occurred to me that if I had taken the 3 spools of thread up to the thread holder any time in the week that they’ve been sitting on the kitchen counter, not only would I not have had to pick them up to wipe the counter each day, but no one would have knocked one off, sent it across the room and around the tool box sitting there (what? don’t pretend there has never been a toolbox sitting in your kitchen floor) and off into the scary place under the fridge.
The comments on this post are almost as funny and reassuring as the post itself. Keep up the good work.
liz says
Again, great I’m not the only one. This week, I finally put away my suitcase from my last holiday. It had been lying flat on the bedroom floor for about seven weeks, with the last few things still in it. All I had to do was empty it (OK, I have a little ‘heap’ to be sorted), take a smaller case out of its space about 4′ away, put the small case into the big case, and replace them into the allocated space. Seven weeks!
Joy says
Oh! Shoot! Ya mean I was supposed to put my bag away…not dump stuff into it out of a basket I wanted to use, and shove it to the side…for now…yeah, did that today! One more thing to sort when I get back. Love this blog, and the books. We are Decluttering at the speed of Life!