Cleaning Out Almost 20 Years of Accumulation

Jordan -- My "Clean Queen" Girl

Part of the problem with many projects is that there is the project before the project. That which must be done before you can begin seriously planning a project, because you need to figure out what you have to work with, what needs to be upgraded or improved, and what simply can’t be salvaged and has to go.

In this case, that meant doing an archaeological dig through the debris and belongings of a family who has occupied the same house for the better part of two decades. This is never an easy undertaking, as anyone who’s ever had to clean out the house of a deceased parent can testify.

It’s harder when the occupants are still alive, in the space, and sometimes have strong opinions as to the salvage-ability (or not) of items.

In this case, we had Jordan to oversee clean out and she worked it like a champ. Having inherited little of the emotional attachment of her mother to “stuff”, but the negotiating skills necessary to encourage others to justify and consider their true need to keep an item, she oversaw the arduous task of going through every drawer, closet and cubby in the rooms affected to allow us to “begin at the beginning”.

It was an exhausting task for all involved, often more emotionally than physically draining. In the long run, though, the local thrift stores made out to the good as bags of clothing, furniture and other items went out of the house and into their donation bins.

At the same time, those things that we think we must keep forever – 3rd grade art projects, cub scout plaster hand molds that say “Happy Mothers Day” and an accumulation of old bank statements, tax returns and other documents went off to the landfill.

Eventually, the bones of the house started to emerge again.