The Great Clean and Purge Project – Week One Recap
As my regular friends and readers know, we are in the middle of a great big long-awaited and much-needed cleaning and purging project.
It needs to happen no matter what because every so often, you just need to do a thing like that. This particular inception of The Great Clean and Purge is happening at our home right now because of The Floors.
About two and a half years ago, the Hub and I decided that we hate our floors. Wall to wall carpet – which, once upon a time was the thing to have in an apartment or home – plus three Rotten Cats and one Kidzilla and the two of us equals a big, huge, allergen-filled mess. I guess it all started with my allergist’s recommendation to remove the carpets and install hard-surface flooring. “Yeah, right,” I scoffed. “Like we can just do that with no fore thought and preparation.” But then with a little planning and research and the generosity of relatives contributing toward the cause over time, we’re doing it.
This week, we are getting rid of the carpet and the wood floors are moving in!
Before that happens, though, we have to pack up our breakable belongings and get the rooms ready for the floor crew. They’ll move the furniture around, but we have to take off the books and toys and all the rest so that can happen. It’s a big job. Huge. OK, let’s be honest and just say it out loud: it’s overwhelming, it’s disruptive, and it’s stressing out all of us like I can’t even begin to describe. It’s a beast.
But we’re doing it because it’s time. And taking the opportunity to do some cleaning out and deep-cleaning in the process just made sense. Oh, yes, and there is the one little detail that I didn’t mention yet – the floor guy got his dates wrong and he’s coming a day earlier than we planned, so we have like no time left to finish this monster job. But finish we must, because 48 hours from now, those men will be here slapping floor boards into place and slinging our furniture around.
So this is what my house looks like right now…
![20140623_101602[1]](http://www.themeaningofme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/20140623_1016021-e1403535915822.jpg)
![20140623_101405[1]](http://www.themeaningofme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/20140623_1014051.jpg)
No, we did not empty the box of Mondavi wine to get to the box…but that may have been a good idea. The Rotten Cats were initially intrigued by the arrival of the boxes. If there is an empty box available, the Rotten Cats are all over it. But after a few days of box accumulation, even they have had enough. Now they just sit and stare at the tower of boxes and look like they’re thinking “What the…”
So. Here’s what we accomplished last week:
- Cleaned out a huge pile of clothing to pass along or donate from our bedroom closet and drawers.
- Packed up the breakables and such from our room.
- Cleaned up and re-organized Zilla’s bedroom and playroom.
- Packed up a bunch of Zilla’s “baby toys” to pass along or donate to younger children.
- Cleaned out Zilla’s closet and drawers and collected a pile of clothing to pass along or donate.
Note: In the process of handling Zilla’s closet and drawers, I had her try on all the summer clothing to see what will fit and what needs to be passed on. Let me just pause here to say that I now understand why my Mom did not seem to enjoy these days with us girls as kids. Now I know; now I understand. And I suppose what’s appropriate to say to my Mom here is…I’m sorry for being a whiny pill through the process every year at clothing try-on time.
This week, we need to pack up the living/dining room and the office the Hub and I share. This is no easy task…more on that in part two.
Needless to say, I haven’t done a whole lot of major cooking in the last week. We’ve relied on leftovers and took the opportunity to do a “Clean Out the Kitchen Week.” I do have a couple of recipes coming, but not today – the Hub is already packing without me so I need to jump back in.
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Every once in a while it feels GOOD to purge and rearrange. But yes, it is a hell of a job. May you keep your sanity and not pack one of the cats in a box by accident.
As for the clothes fitting session: I need to apologize to my mom as well…
Haha – the clothing try-on day is hellish. This whole week is turning out to be pretty hellish, but it will be worth it.
My Cassidy STILL whines at trying clothes on!! It’s a constant battle!! And she’s 11. Good grief!
SO excited for you and your new hard wood floors coming!!! And just think how WONDERFUL it will be to have your entire home all cleaned out too!
Great job my friend! Keep it up! I’m sure you are exhausted!!
Truth is, I still whine about trying on clothes. So, I guess it is just universal.
The floors are pretty exciting – we are way exhausted and we’re only halfway there, but we’re also pretty thrilled with the results already!
DO I HAVE TO TRY THEM ON? WHHHHYYYYYYY? ARE WE ALMOST DONE? WHY THESE SHORTS? NO, THEY’RE NOT TOO SHORT! BUT I LOVE THIS SHIRT! ARE WE ALMOST DONE? BUT I DON’T WAAAAAANT TO!
I feel your pain, sister.
LOL – Yes, exactly like that! 🙂 This is not a fun game.
Both of my kids are being huge pills about purging their closets of clothes they have either outgrown or don’t like. Why? Why? They would have so much more room in their closets!
By the way, I spent an hour today scrubbing my hardwood staircase with a bucket of lemon Pine-sol. They were disgusting.
I was thrilled to see how much room we had after purging the closets! Honestly, all week I’ve been scratching my head saying “why don’t we do this more often?”
The staircases are the only places in this house that will remain carpeted – something about the steps aren’t constructed properly to install hardwood safely. OK, whatever. Still pretty filthy, though, so they’ll need a super-steam-clean and perhaps a re-carpeting as the next project.
I purged the farmhouse from top to bottom! It sets you free and I love the feeling. Now, I purged all the barns at farm and each is clean, organized and we carted away tons of stuff not needed. It makes everything so much easier!!
That’s the part I’m enjoying the most – hauling out the tons of stuff we have not been using and don’t need. Makes me wonder why we had it here in the first place!
You make me want to get motivated to purge. Tucker’s high chair is sitting in the corner of the kitchen. He hasn’t used it in, um, 2+ years? Yeah…
Yeah, that’s kind of where we were – toys Zilla hadn’t played with in forever, books the Hub and I couldn’t remember why we bought. It was time. And summer is a great time to do it since school is out for me and Zilla. And while I’d much rather the Hub found a position by now, he is still job hunting so he’s home, too. So we’re all digging in.
I try to do a big purge once a year. It feels great! I’m glad that you had that opportunity, although it was under the time pressure that makes it much less fun.
We did kind of a half-purge last summer – nothing like this one, though. I think the floors really prompted the level of thoroughness. Well, at least on the back end. We were definitely under pressure and had to throw everything into boxes fast, but as we unpack, we’re getting rid of so much stuff!
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