It’s déjà vu, y’all.
(And yes, I had to google how to spell déjà vu and then copy/paste it to get the marks correct.)
Remember a while back when I revealed the scary underbelly of my living room couch? And then remember when I had to let washing machine delivery men into the house just hours after I returned from a trip?
Well, my age-old Slob Reasoning got me again. I cleaned out the laundry room. I cleaned the living room and the kitchen part of the kitchen they’d see from the laundry room.
I even walked from the front door to the laundry room, trying to be super-observant and catch anything they might see while making the delivery.
They arrived. They walked (without tripping over anything thankyouverymuch) to the laundry room, and then they asked, “Where would you like us to move the old washer and dryer?”
Oh. I’d forgotten about that. My garage was a mess, but it’s a garage, so I feel even a normal person could justify that on a random Tuesday.
I led the way to the garage, and one of them remarked, “We’ll have to move this couch out of the way.”
Ummmm, what??!? The couch? The couch blocking the path between the door into the gameroom and the door out of the gameroom (and into the garage).
Not blocking the path for people walking, but totally blocking the path for people pushing large appliances through the room.
Blech.
Oof.
Ugh.
I shy-laughed and told them to give me a minute to see what was under the couch.
I totally acted like it was no big deal.
As soon as their backs were turned, I grabbed a trash bag and bee-lined to the gameroom to start through the process that prevents me from being overwhelmed when I see something like this:
Seriously, y’all.
Note: I’m talking about keeping myself from being overwhelmed. I still feel overwhelmed, but the actual definition of overwhelm (thanks to google) is “defeat completely.”
I am not defeated. I may feel that way when I first see (or notice) an overwhelming mess, but am not actually overwhelmed unless I let it defeat me.
I didn’t have time to hem or haw. I needed to work through that mess fast.
Pre-blog, I would have scooped everything into a box to stick in the garage and forget about for a few years. That would have seemed like the only option since I was in a hurry. Feeling overwhelmed added to being in a hurry makes solutions like that (which aren’t really solutions, just justifiable procrastination) make sense.
But now I know that my steps work, and that I can get through them almost as quickly as I can scoop, and that I’ll never ever again have to deal with this crstuff if I go ahead and go through the steps now.
Step One:
Trash. Deal with the easiest of the easy stuff. Honestly, when there is a big pile of stuff I haven’t seen in who-knows-how-long, I’m much more willing to call things trash that I might otherwise consider treasure.
Step Two:
Do the easy stuff. Take things that have a real, already-established home somewhere else . . . to that home. Right now. Generally, if I find one thing that needs to go to the kitchen, I glance around to see if anything else needs to go to the kitchen, too.
Step Three:
Repeat steps one and two on anything I’ve missed, and stick everything else in the Donate Box.
Step Four:
Clean. I’m sorry to say that you can’t actually clean when there’s clutter everywhere.
Yay for motivation! Boo for not being able to predict every scenario ever.
Wondering about the stuff in the photo that didn’t bother me (but probably should have)? That’s my Return Spot. A place where we put things that need to go back to people. And now that I look, I see a couch cushion there, too. And a (probably empty) shoebox on the window sill. And some other stuff. Honestly, I’m pretty sure that stuff was invisible to me (until the moment I saw it in this photo) since the opened door would shove it out of the way while the delivery men moved the appliances to the garage.
Oh. And the jacket hanging off the back of the couch.
And the tap floor. (Which has a totally logical explanation here.)
Whatever. This isn’t a post about how to be perfect. It’s how to not be defeated. And honestly, a big part of not being defeated (for people like me) is not worrying about being perfect.
--Nony
I knew I recognized that tap floor! You know, I’ve often wondered if you still had it around. I can’t tell you how often I’ve thought “I should get a tap floor and learn to tap dance like Nony!”
and may I say “thank you!” for reminding me once again that I’m not the only one who gets caught in situations like having to move the couch and reveal it’s dark side 🙂
That is probably how under my couch looks.
I have been dwelling on your explanation about being overwhelmed over the past few days. I’m writing it in my journal now, so I can keep referring back to it. Nice work, Nony.
Yea – I had to move my couch recently…and the love seat and bed and every piece of furniture in three rooms….and empty all the cabinets in the master bath….I feel your pain. The rest of my house is in chaos and will be for at least another month. Still trying to make headway!
A possible hint. We have a floor runner/long skinny rug with a longer pile in front of our couch. Makes the wood floors more cozy under the feet, but more importantly (and the point here) it helps to greatly reduce what manages to find it’s way under the couch. I assume because carpet is less slippery than hard floor things “catch” instead of going under. But truly, I am impressed you properly decluttered instead of doing a box shove in this situation!
Seriously, Dana, I’m very impressed at how you handled that. I——(crap! I just dropped a spoonful of cheese dip on my shirt..ugh….okay, I’ll better.) …I am super proud of you.
I am blown away by your description of overwhelm. I have always let the FEELING of being overwhelmed make me think I WAS overwhelmed. It’s a feeling I need to work through, not a brick wall. Thank you!
You are amazing!
I’ve stapled a pool noodle to the couch base to try and reduce the kids toy loss… Appreciate the steps you’re adding to my repertoire for when I feel ‘overwhelmed’