First, I should send a probe to Jupiter, to investigate the closet just like this one that has been found there...
I told my wife that today, since I’m off from work, I would clean out my closet. My rather complex, deeply messy, walk-in closet that doubles as a dressing area.
But it’s already mid-afternoon, and there are so many other things that need doing:
- I’ve been neglecting the blog this week, and need to get back up to my usual pace of posts (why is that harder to do when I’m NOT working?)
- I need to clean out the In boxes of both my blog and ADCO email addresses. Nearly a day’s work right there.
- I have several good books I asked for, and received, for Christmas.
- I have a vast number of books I’ve asked for, and received, for previous Christmases and birthdays and Father’s Days, and I really should read those, with theoretical time on my hands.
- Then there are the comfort-reading books that I’m currently re-reading (either two, or three, depending on how you count them), and shouldn’t I finish them before starting something new?
- My wife is out of the house this afternoon, and there are a couple of movies I’ve been wanting to watch but that she wouldn’t want to see.
- I could even (but I admit, this is reaching into the realm of the radical) get a jump start on my New Year’s resolution to exercise by walking around the neighborhood.
And still the closet wait. Looms, actually. It stands there exactly like the monolith in “2001,” which I tried rewatching (I had not yet seen the Blu-Ray version I received for my birthday more than a year ago) last night (no one would make a movie today that requires the viewer to wait that long for something to happen).
That describes it perfectly. It stands there, fraught with meaning, with eerie music rising in the background. If I enter it, will I go on a psychedelic, mind-blowing, existential trip through space and time like the astronaut Dave in the movie? Dare I risk it?
It’s not so much the stuff hanging in there that intimidates as it is the landfill of junk piled on the floor under those things, and the rat’s nests of junk jammed onto the shelves above…
And still it looms…
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I’d start by stopping the source of all those clear plastic bags.
If you haven’t worn it in the past 6 months it gets thrown in the Goodwill pile. That goes for everything… shirts, shoes, pants, jackets, etc…
And God divided the light from the darkness . . . the waters from the dry land . . . etc.
Creation mandate. Putting things in their proper place enhances–and even enables–us to work profitably.
Steven is right on. Keep a list and claim a deduction!
Also,you shouldn’t store clothes in plastic dry cleaner bags–it can damage them. You look like you have, for the most part, separated items by type. The next sort is often color or season. Most all of my closet is black, so it’s a lot easier. My closet is about the size of your jackets rail.
Not wanting to be biblically trite or something. Just something I like to remember; my desk needs work far worse than your closet.
Also, organizing guru Julie Morgenstern uses a SPACE system–Sort items, Purge unnecessary ones, Assign a space–a place for everything is the prerequisite for everything to be in its place, Containerize (awful word)–she says you buy containers only AFTER you have determined what you need, and stresses that measuring the space before buying containers (and obviously buying containers to fit that space) will ensure maximum utilization. It looks like your shelf needs some SPACE. The E is for Equalize–which really means that you need to spend a bit of time from time to time straightening things up, rechecking the system, etc.
Did you ever manage to plow through “Black Ocean”?
Yea, I got one book that I asked for, “Wings In Orbit”. It was a Space Shuttle themed Christmas for the household. I got the definitive Space Shuttle book, two Space Shuttle calendars: one from NASA, the other from the Orlando Sentinel (Red Huber photographer). I gave my wife Space Shuttle ornaments, she said “We need more trees”.
I’ve done some organizing of my photography folders, moving files according to category and camera (Canon A-1, two digital point & shoots, and my cell phone).
With one computer, I’ve got to replace two hard drives, replace the memory to upgrade it from 4GB to 8GB, install Windows 2008 Server, SQL Server, and Exchange Server.
Oh, those annoying Lexus commercials where someone wakes up with a Lexus wrapped in a big red bow really does happen! Car gifting does happen, if only in commercials.
My wife bought me a 2004 Chevy SSR pickup for Christmas. Okay, it’s a Hallmark Christmas ornament, but it’s the thought that counts.
Given the radio silence, that better be one neat closet. Photos, please.
I cleaned up the stuff piled on the floor, and did a very small amount of organizing on one of the four (two levels) upper shelves.
Cleaning out the floor allowed me to get rid of all the dust, wearing a face mask and using my shop vac, which also sucked up old laundry tags, a stray Q-tip here and there, an unwary plastic bag in one case, and anything else that got in its way.
I’ve done nothing with the hanging clothes, or most of the stuff on the shelves.
I did “containerize” some stuff. I had brought in from the garage one of those big plastic bins, to throw stuff into that wasn’t garbage. Then when I was done and put stuff I was keeping back, I was displeased with the amount of clutter I still had. So I stored a lot of the clutter in the plastic bin, which nicely fits under the hanging things.
What sort of clutter? Well, there was the old plastic bag that I keep shoeshine stuff in. And — get this — a bag containing all those T-shirts that didn’t get distributed to people who contributed but didn’t walk in the Walk for Life in 2010. No one has shown interest in those, and so it hasn’t seemed worthwhile trying to distribute them. I’ll probably give them away along with some of the hanging clothes when I get to them.
Give the t-shirts to Goodwill tomorrow! You’ll feel so much better!
I left mine on the State House grounds when I walked through. I’m sure it found a good home.
“Cleaning out the floor allowed me to get rid of all the dust, wearing a face mask and using my shop vac”
Did you forget to wear ear protection and safety glasses? Holy cow, I hope you weren’t on any medication that prohibits the use of heavy equipment. And you were just cleaning out a closet right…
What’s the deal with laundry tags, don’t you own a washer and dryer, and an ironing board? I guess I’m just not metropolitan enough to realize the importance of needing someone to do my laundry.
@ Steven Davis–You’ve never seen Brad in person, have you? Quite the dandy in a crisp, professionally ironed shirt and tie everywhere–I think I’ve never seen him w/o one on, even at the Breast Cancer Walk. He’s kind of like if Mr. Rogers played Don Draper–crisp shirt, tie, jacket–but often in kind of folksy materials and colors…
Kathryn – Nope, but I pictured basically what you described once I read that he wore a dusk mask while using a shop vac to clean a bedroom closet floor. Mr. Rogers’ nerdy brother, if you will.
Let me guess, the only t-shirts he wears are what the rest of us call “undershirts”. I didn’t see any blue “dungarees” anywhere in that closet either.