Herban Sprawl

19 November 2009

This one’s for you, Mom. I’m cleaning my room, as directed.

There are some people who cannot stand the slightest amount of disorder. I am not one of those. However, I do get to the point when I cannot stand the build-up of papers and project materials and go into what used to be a reliable monthly cleaning frenzy. (So nicknamed by my long-suffering spouse.) Hormones not being what they used to be, I get the cleaning urge less often and as a result the mess is even worse and engenders a lot of resentment.

We have had a spate of inclement weather so I have sequestered myself in the basement, first tackling the storeroom and now my office. To be fair, my office is a multi-purpose room. It functions as an art studio, writer’s study, cat bedroom and could be a spare guest sleeping area, if necessary. Cramming all the attendant flotsam and jetsam into this small space is challenging to begin with, and arranging it so that it functions well is monumental.

Yesterday I put away a lot of art-related things, which also meant I needed to invent some new storage. The shelves dedicated to art stuff are already overloaded, so there will need to be some additional weeding. The good news is that I have this fabulous label machine that Big Kitty gave me for Christmas last year, and I have been one labeling fool. I have only to look at the label to see where things are stashed.

Then I got into some things that I brought down from my former headquarters, which is now Big Kitty’s territory. The recycled paper box filled quickly and what was left is in piles, awaiting file folders. That, too, was easy. The place honestly looks worse than it did when I started, but that’s because I have disrupted formerly organized areas in order to reorganize.

Today I tackled my desk. I have a bone to pick with computer desk designers. We still need drawers! No matter what anyone thinks, we still have need of a place to stash the stapler, hole puncher, staple claws and paper clips. We also need a place to put the legal pads, sticky notes and rubber bands. I found a plastic drawer thing that fits into the space under the slider where I put my laptop. What a great find that was!

The problem to be solved was the matter of two printers. I use my laser printer for most things, and the color scanner/printer only when I need to. I’m kind of cheap when it comes to printer ink, but at least I use it enough that the inks don’t dry out. Anyway, neither one was in the optimum location for a kinda short old broad. Today I took the entire business apart and did a massive rearrangement. It was while I was under the hood, so to speak, that I found a feline watering hole.

My level of profanity proficiency reached a new high. I knew I had been smelling something and hadn’t been able to locate it. However, undaunted, I finished the printer task, cleaned surfaces and then retrieved the Oreck and the spray on carpet cleaner. The stench of carpet cleaner is bad, so that offered a good time to take a lunch break. When it dries and gets vacuumed, then I can douse the area with enzyme stuff. It creates a timing set-back in that I had wanted to put things back today, but that’s okay. Finding that spot was important. Dealing with it was even more critical. Little pischers!

I learned, by posting the progress of this event on my Facebook status, that I’m not the only one who hoards stuff. Being cheered on by fellow hoarders in private messages where they confide their own peccadilloes in this area has been heartwarming. I have been referring to this horrid room as my awfiss, and today I realized it was the cats’ awpiss. The punsters among them will be amused.

Those of us who engage in artsy craftsy tasks tend to collect a lot of things for doing what it is that we do. I’ve been into using recycled items for storage, such as the very large Hershey cocoa containers for the Major Sharpies. Binder clips are in a recycled clear plastic jar, and colored paper clips are in recycled Republic of Tea tins. Besides the stacking trays from Target that are great for rubber stamps, and the oddball sizes of Rubbermaid totes, there are other ways to store things. Old oatmeal cartons hold ribbon spools very, very nicely. You can put all the Halloween ribbons in one, Christmas in another and so on. It becomes a challenge to find the best way to keep something organized, and that in turn is good for one’s creativity.

Years ago I bought Big Kitty a rack for audio tapes. He never used it. Eventually, I got sick of them being all over the place and filled the thing. Then one day, I realized stamp pads are about the same size as a cassette case. The tapes got packed into a box and the rack now holds most of my stamp pads. The trouble is, I do not have the wall space it needs to mount it. So, it is on the floor and that isn’t satisfactory.

Cleaning like this is cathartic in many ways. It forces us to discard that which no longer applies. Even a packrat like me has to face facts and get rid of supplies that have become obsolete. People who sew collect lots of fabric and thread. Now you want to talk about a space eater! One of my college classmates laments his wife’s collection of sewing machines! I can relate. We have a lot of old computer equipment.

The issue boils down to being willing to get mad enough to clean it all out and try to consolidate. It also means getting creative with ways to store the small stuff so it can be used up. There is nothing worse than finding a marker in a good color that has gone dry because it was buried in a box of unrelated stuff. I’m sure other people have similar woes.

Maybe it’s an exercise in futility, but last year when I attempted this task, I made a lot of progress. This year I am not having to sort through years and years worth of clippings, but rather the junk that has just piled up in the past year. Rearranging the printers will make my work easier. None of this is so difficult, but making ourselves take it all the way to the finish line is the hard part. I’m already liking what I see and cannot wait to get it to the point where others can come down here and not need a hard hat and steel toed boots!