Yesterday, I shared the story of two hours spent cleaning in my master bedroom to be ready for the possibility that I’d have to open the door and let the Insurance Lady see inside.
I was happy with the results. My husband was happy. My daughter was in awe. Yay for middle-of-the-night walks to the potty made easier!!
But there were a few more details of that day I feel I should share.
First, that at 9:12 (after starting the excavation at 8 a.m. with a 10 a.m. doorbell/deadline), I realized I should at least LOOK at the rest of the house. Specifically, the part she would DEFINITELY see. Cleaning a room that MIGHT be seen only to miss something obvious in a room that would DEFinitely be seen sounds exactly like something I would do.
So I walked to the front door and looked. I wanted a realistic idea of a first impression.
I knew it was actually pretty good (which was what allowed me to work for the two pre-visit hours in the bedroom).
Some shoes, a few things on the floor. Not too bad if-I-do-say-so-myself.
Two seconds later:
(Notice the magic of closing a door, as demonstrated in yesterday’s post.)
A laundry basket on the coffee table gives the impression that I didn’t bother cleaning up for my guest. That I’m just that comfortable letting people into my home and showing them our “real life.”
And that I DO LAUNDRY.
At 9:36, I decided the house was fine, the master bedroom was in decent-enough shape, and that I should take the last 24 minutes before the scheduled doorbell to go ahead and tackle this:
It was last priority in the Master Bedroom degrossification. Mostly because it generally avoids the very first impression due to its position in the room.
But with 24 minutes left in a block of time I’d already designated for the bedroom, I figured I might as well.
I found all sorts of goodies and plowed through with my two decluttering questions.
Where would I look for the birthday card my kids gave me for my 40th birthday (almost exactly one year before this decluttering day . . . )?
In my underwear drawer, of course. So I put it there. Without even moving my feet.
When the doorbell rang a few minutes EARLY, I’d made this much progress:
--Nony
Looks good! So, the important question is…did she end up having to go into your bedroom? 🙂
Oh, I meant to say that. NO!! She didn’t. But she did go into the back yard which was a mess!!
So glad you asked, Corie! I was dying to know!! LOL
I love how real your posts are. It makes me feel so much better to see I’m not the only one who struggles with the deslobification process! (Though my mother likes to think I’m the only one)
i also love the real-ness of your posts! thanks for being as honest as you are about messiness- i need to show my husband to prove there are more of us clutter-bugs out there 🙂 yer awesome!!
Thanks for your honesty. My dresser is a wreck too and I need to desperately tackle the master bedroom!
This is a good example of using a small amount of time with a deadline to take care of some areas that are overwhelming. No you didn’t complete the process, but you made progress! I’m sure knowing there was a deadline and that you wouldn’t get finished was helpful to just get started and do what you could.
You are inspiring! My dresser looks as bad as yours did!! I think my room is worse, but at least I know I could make a huge dent in a couple hours -which I need to do today! My son is having 7 boys over for his bday and I need to make room in the master bedroom so I can haul in more stuff from the rest of the house!!!
Because of the amazingly tiny closets (and the fact that there are only four of them) in my house, my bedroom and office have become “the” place to store the things that have no home (think boxes of Christmas decorations, off-season clothes, etc…). The office isn’t as bad because I do actually work there, but the bedroom…yikes! I’d like to think I could work miracles in two hours in there like this, but there is just really nowhere to put some of that stuff. And I can’t get rid of it. :/
Thanks so much for your real life words of wisdom. And humor!!! My dresser and surrounding floors look exactly the same. It’s like you snuck in and took the picture there, lol. You may have given me the inspiration to attemp to start tackling it!!
Since I found your blog, you have inspired me so much, and my whole family has followed my example of making the little changes in habit that make such a big difference in our home. Every day is an improvement from the day before!
I’m so glad to hear that you were prepared for the insurance lady’s visit. Until recently, I was a full-time insurance claims adjuster going on inspections of homes on a daily basis. I can tell you from an adjuster’s perspective, we only notice the exceptionally disgusting messes (e.g. rotting garbage laying around) since we’re usually too busy looking for damage to photograph. The other things we notice are when we have to walk on trash, clothes, other belongings due to them covering the path … and p— that was not put away! So, if any of your readers find themselves in the position of cleaning enough for the insurance lady, pathways and inappropriate materials are definite items to focus on.
It’s kind of awesome when you have a deadline like that so it really helps you get things done quickly. As much as I hate it when someone has to come over, I’m always glad it helped me get things done that needed to be done. I have been working on my disaster of a bedroom lately. I have cleared off the floors, the giant pile of clean laundry is put away and I have cleared off two dressers and a table! Yay!! The problem is keeping them clear. I think someone needs to invent a piece of furniture that shocks you when you try to set things on it! haha! It is just too tempting to pile things on empty horizontal surfaces! Half of my bedroom looks quite tidy now, but the other half is still a crazy mess! It’s because that half of my room is my crafting space with all my craft supplies. I’m not sure how to contain it all. I always buy more containers, but somehow that never seems to help! Maybe I just have too much stuff?
p.s. Love how you put the card in your undie drawer! I am so bad about sticking all kinds of weird things there when I don’t know where to put them! haha! When I do finally clean that drawer out I am always amazed at the crazy things I find.