We have a back bedroom that just gets FILLED with junk so you literally cannot even step into it. It's where my keyboard is, so I can never play my keyboard. I finally went up there for an hour and a half and just plowed through the mess. It's clean! I can get to the keyboard! I played some music!

I'm so happy. I have to remember to just work on little steps, on one room, and to get through those hurdles. I am much more content now that the room is cleaner, and I'm glad that I can start to integrate piano playing back into my life.

There is still an old dresser in that room, filled with random cables. So when Bob gets home, I will make it a new priority for us to go out and get some cheap shelves and to donate the dresser to charity. I'm sure with college season starting up that this is the perfect time for someone to get an old dresser to use.

It sounds like this was the kind of room you'd see on Hoarders....with little paths snaking between areas... hehe

Congrats on cleaning this up! What was in there?

my whole house looks like Clean House or hoarders right now. I had to empty out the kitchen, utility room, breakfast area, and living room. Stuff is all over the place. I put stuff out for amvets last week and called them and asked them to return. They will be here tomorrow. I have about 10 bags of assorted sizes for them. I'll start working on bags for next month. I need to clean house.

Ironically the music room is where we store all our "to donate" stuff until the BigBrother BigSister truck comes around. They haven't been around in 2 months so it was full of old vacuum cleaner parts, clothes we weren't going to wear any more, etc. On top of that it's where we toss the steam cleaner and the vacuum cleaner when we're not using them. So then I can't get to my back closet where I hang my dresses and such, so I just put them in a pile by the door which makes it worse.

So part of it was giving up on waiting for BBBS and just bringing that stuff downstairs to bring directly to the Salvation Army. Which then meant I could put all my clothes into the closet.

I told myself that this remodeling would help me develop new habits - it takes 21 days to create a new habit - I'll have plenty of time and reenforcement - minimalize my life style. It is unbelievable the amount of stuff we accumulate.

Habitat for Humanity filled their truck with the cabinets and counters, sink, and range. At least it didn't go into the landfill. Amvets comes around monthly and I can call and schedule an extra pick up if needed.

That's wonderful, Angie, you are helping a ton of people with your activities!

Bob is a clothes hoarder. I think he keeps hoping he'll get back to his college size and be able to wear all those old clothes. So we have boxes and boxes of his old clothes around. He has 3 closets full of clothes too. Time to do some weeding ...

Believe it or not, 'What Not To Wear' made an impact on me the first time I caught the show. The woman they showcased was a person just like me. She even had some things in her closet that were just like the stuff I was keeping around. I watched the show for a long time but then drifted away when the people they were featuring were a bit over the top but the lessons made an impression on me.

I plan to use this remodeling as a clean house opportunity. As I emptied out the closets in the kitchen and utility room I found stuff I had forgotten I had on hand. It's amazing how often that happens.

Bob should watch clean house or the hoarders. Tell him the items are dated and would help others in need.

Angie that is so great you gave your salvagable items to Habitat, rather than tossing them for the landfill. I wish everyone was more like you.

Lisa, that's great you are tackling this room. I am sure it feels like a great burden is now off your plate, to be able to use this room and not always feel like it's something you should take care of.

As for Bob, there's not much you can do if you don't want to be a nag about it. I hope he decides to donate out his clothes though. That's way too much clothing for one person - three closets! And for a dude!

He was talking recently about the downstairs coat closet and thought it was mostly my coats. I think it's mostly his coats. So I think on Monday I'll empty it out, put all the coats in the living room and we can take a look at them! Maybe there are coats in there that neither of us need

I remember we discussed exactly how many jackets you have, in some thread or other. And you had like 3, maybe 4.

So it MUST be Bob! Elementary.