The Great Clean and Purge Project – Final Recap
Well, we’re here. We’re finished.
OK, maybe we’re not ever going to be finished. It’s not like we’re going to do a huge Clean and Purge and then just…not.
But this long-awaited and much-need effort has reached its end. From this point forward we are on the maintenance program. And there is good reason for it – all of it. There is good reason for the deep cleaning, for the purging, and for the fresh start.
But before we get to all of that, let’s talk about what we tackled this week…
- Removed even more bags of give-aways. It’s really amazing how many things you find in your closet that you just don’t need – even after the initial purge! I guess this part was mostly me. I went back over some things with a more critical eye and tried to be very practical about whether they would or would not see the light of day on my body. They won’t. So they went. And once again, it feels really good to know that they will be appreciated by someone who needs them rather than have things sitting around unused.
- Cleaned out and re-organized organized the downstairs storage closet. This is where we keep outdoor coats, holiday decorations, exercise equipment (yeah, believe it or not, I have some of that…), and – until today – a whole bunch of junk we just didn’t know what to do with. We now have a very organized closet.
- Cleaned out and re-organized the front entryway. We have a terrific deacon’s bench in the downstairs entryway. Under the seat we store hats and scarves and gloves. It got a purge just like everything else in the place. And we re-located the coat rack and the shoe rack to give the area a more logical flow.
- Sorted through the last of the packed up boxes from the floor project and either put things in new and proper places or out in the garage for sale or donation.
- Went through a box of two years’ worth of Zilla’s school papers. The particularly special and favorite items or projects were put aside for saving and putting in a scrapbook; most of it was really just ready for the trash pile.
- Sorted through and purged all of the files in the office. We just have one more step here and that is to re-file and more logically organize the actual files and sub-files in the office drawers. We want all of our paperwork accessible within seconds, not buried somewhere because we’re behind on our filing. The big bonus to this part of the project is that we are doing pretty well processing paperwork that comes into the house – the physical stuff, at least – into trash, action, or filing locations. I am still working on purging my e-mail and making more sense of that. But I digress.
- Collected all of the piles of photos that we found here and there through this process and put them in one place. What we ended up with was a really big photo project for another time. For example, we have things in envelopes and boxes that have never been properly added to albums or framed. The Fab Hub and I both inherited envelopes of photos from our Moms after our respective sets of Grandparents died and such things were distributed to family members. We need to spend some time sorting, organizing, labeling, and incorporating things into our own collection over time, perhaps. At any rate, it’s not for today. For now, at least all photos are in one cabinet with the already-finished albums and we know where to find them.
So why all the cleaning and purging?
It’s not just about having a clean house. It has a lot to do with the fact that for the last several years our life has felt a bit out of control. The reasons have been good ones, without a doubt – buying a home, going to graduate school, having a Kidzilla, being diagnosed with things like ADHD and Rheumatoid Arthritis, experiencing major family events like births, deaths, marriages, moves, working full time and then some, learning every day how to parent Kidzilla, dealing with the stress of job loss and unemployment…and so much more.
I can take any of several tangents here and get into the specifics of how each of these things adds to the feeling that life is moving by faster than we can process it and there’s nowhere to grab hold and jump on the train. Or even if we do manage to jump on, it feels like we’re being carried away and not making any of the decisions about where we end up. But none of those details is really the point – at least not here, not at this moment. All of it just adds up to Life. Life comes at all of us fast and furious and we have to figure out how to either dodge the flying crap or face it head on and do something about it.
We decided we were tired of Life being in charge of us; we want to be in charge of our Life. We decided we were tired of reacting to Life; we want Life to react to us. We decided it was time to take back control of our Life and make choices and decisions that will empower and enable each of us – and all of us together – to be stronger, happier, and more at peace.
A lot of things are changing for us right now. Some changes have already happened; some are yet to come. As each day passes, another small piece of the puzzle falls into place and reveals just a bit more of the picture. Taking care of our physical surroundings – the cleaning, the purging, the organizing – is our preparation for battle, so to speak. This is our way of getting ready for what is about to unfold before us.
This is our fresh start. This is our New Life.
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Good for you! That feeling of life being in charge really is draining. I am so impressed by you and your husband, making a choice and doing the hard work to make the change. Can’t wait to see what comes next!
Neither can we, Christine! We are hoping and praying that it will be something awesome!
You three have put in a lot of hard work, and I know you’re feeling good about it. As you should! I am truly impressed.
I so get what you wrote about needing to take charge. I find when things feel out of control in my life, I find an area where I can exert more control. Sometimes that’s good and sometimes that’s not. But I think you’ve done it well.
Thank you. 🙂 It definitely feels good, Sarah! And it is a lot about that sense of feeling in control. We’re hoping it’s the precursor to great things to come!
I’ve been following this with a huge sense of admiration and guilt. We need to organize things really, really bad and I haven’t had the will or the energy to do it. You guys are an inspiration!
Oh, Kitch, no guilt! All it does is make you feel horrible about the whole thing – I know it all too well! After a period of feeling frustrated and unmotivated about it, we just decided it was sort of a now or never thing. Having the floor project as a jump starter was helpful, make no mistake. But once we got rolling, it was amazing how easy it was to be motivated to keep going. And it feels really good on the other side. Very empowering.
Taking charge of Life. I’m all for it!
Go you!!
And go FabHub, Kidzilla and Cats!
The Fab Hub and Zilla really have been awesome. I suppose I should give the Rotten Cats some credit…I mean after all, they were instrumental in the decision to get the floors done what with their puking and hairballs and all. And they’ve done a great job of slipping and sliding all over the wood floors which we find hugely entertaining. 😀 In all seriousness, though, this has been a huge stressor for them – their entire environment has changed and they’ve been pretty decent about it overall with minimal strife, really.
Oh Lisa- what an incredible accomplishment for you and your family. I am so impressed with all the HARD work you have invested in cleaning out and organizing your home- and your life! We all WE ALL- need to do this. And then – it’s an ongoing maintenance as you said. I have a basket of two years worth of stuff I saved from the kids lives- and haven’t touched it. I have framed family portraits that have been sitting on our bedroom floor for almost a year…
Just a few I need to begin to tackle!
I wonder what battle lies ahead for you, my friend. How can I pray for you? How can I encourage you? What I do know… is that you are equipped, whether you ‘feel’ prepared or not. God has a way of doing that, even when we aren’t aware.
Promise.
Thanks, Chris. I think we’re pretty impressed with ourselves, to be honest. I can’t tell you how many readers have said the same, too, about needing to do some cleaning and organizing. So many of us have things lurking in the corners that need to be addressed. Have to say I’m kind of glad to know you have a basket of two years’ stuff in a basket and a pile of photos stacked on the floor. I feel more normal!
Just keep on praying, Chris. That’s the best thing any of us can do, really. Pray for a job to come through for the Hub, for all of us to be patient and hang in there until it does. I have often felt over these two years that I am ill-equipped to deal with all of this, but when I sit and really think about it, I know it’s exactly as you said – God’s there all the way. I have some favorite verses and such that I keep right where I can see them so they remind me that He is there carrying us when it’s too tough to do alone, that we need not worry about tomorrow, and that the current hard times are nothing compared to whatever good times lie ahead. All true. Never leaned on my Bible or prayer quite so much as through all of this, but it is a great help.
Very inspiring! I need to do a clean and purge around here very soon. Those school papers will get me every time. I know there is a tub that dates back to my teenager’s preschool years lurking somewhere in our basement. I bet it feels so good to have that all sorted out. Best wishes for your fresh start!
The school papers are hard, I think. Part of me wants to toss paper right away. And another part wants to keep every little thing Kidzilla makes. Now that we’ve purged and decided what to keep, I guess the next step is to get the keepers into scrapbooks or something!
Great job, that’s a lot of stuff. Way to take charge of everything. I’m going through a purge of stuff around here too. My wife and I have been going through boxes of things just to see what we can get rid of. It’s not so much to clean, but rather to just give up some of the inessential things we no longer need. I’m a bit of a minimalist so I’d rather do with less stuff than just keep it around for no reason. So far we’ve made a couple of trips to donations and sold a large chunk of other things. It feels so good to clear things up.
It definitely does. We were kind of amazed at the amount of stuff we had in closets, drawers, boxes that were just sitting here unused. Stripping back to only that which we really want to have or use was great. Could we do even more? Probably. But we’re in a good spot for now. If we just keep this mindset of making wise choices about what we bring into the home, we’ll be in great shape.
You are getting a standing ovation from me! You organized so much stuff in what really amounts to a short amount of time. And what’s more – your perspective is right on the money. You are so right to control what you can in a healthy way. I think that helps us accept the fact we can’t control it all!
Thanks, May. I guess it was a pretty concentrated effort – feels like it took forever, but really it added up to a total of several long days of hard work. We just spread it out over time. It is a great feeling and I can see in the weeks since we finished that we are maintaining control on things and feeling much more peaceful.
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