Cleaning up stuff...woo
Things are still moving forward on the cleaning of my apartment. Slowly, but still moving, which is the main thing.
On Wednesday I managed to get six garbage bags full of stuff to toss out and, with the kid's help, got them out onto the curb for garbage pick-up Thursday. That included a lot of random crap I've stuffed into bins in an attempt to 'clean' when I've had company coming over. As I went, I further organized art and craft stuff, and even cleaned out the plastic storage drawers of all the sewing stuff that had been randomly stuffed into them. Now the storage drawers are going to be re-purposed into kitchen storage for my baking tins, plastic food containers and lids, kitchen linens, and the various baggies, tin foil, plastic wrap, and parchment paper I use on a regular basis. I haven't gotten to this point yet though because I basically took Thursday off from organizing/cleaning.
Thursday I did go down to the nearest dollar store to pick up some random food items, twist mop thing, window squeegee, floor cleaner, and some more small bins with lids (I now have 18 of these small bins, and they are a blessing when it comes to organizing my smaller items). No art supplies this time because I think I have enough for now. Once I got everything put away I basically sat on my ass for the rest of the day, had a nap, and cooked supper for the kid and I. Oh, and I applied for the CERB when I woke up in the morning...here's hoping I don't get disqualified for it, which would be just my luck lately.
Today (Friday), I slept later than I planned, but once I woke up a bit I got back at the cleaning and organizing. I went through my rather huge collection of footwear and opted to throw out a few pairs that I don't/can't wear for various reasons, put aside a few to clean the salt off of and polish, and have the keepers all in a pile on a scratched to shit chair for the time being. I do have to clean the landing outside of my door so that I can better organize where the shoes will be on the shoe rack I've got out there...and also find a home for my luggage set that is currently in the way of said rack.
I pulled out my washer and dryer set to sweep and clean in behind them...what a project that turned out to be! It started with me clearing the tops of both units and scrubbing them down, and then I turned to sweeping and washing the floor on the other side of the dryer where the cat box lives. As I was sweeping the scattered litter the edge of the broom went under the dryer and pulled out the edge of some paper. So, I got down on my hands and knees to see if I could get out the paper. I got the paper and along came a few other bits of paper and plastic. And an old disposable chopstick. I used the chopstick to see if there was anything else I could get out from under the dryer. Well, that turned into me moving the dryer to the side and away from the wall. Ewww. More crap than I would have expected. I figured since I'd already started that I may as well do the same to the washer. I found a package of ramen noodles that I hadn't even realized had fallen in behind the washer...and oh so many plastic bags, random socks, and balls of cat fur. Gross. Just fucking gross. So, I scrubbed the exposed floor, and moved each unit back into place as I finished the area immediately surrounding them.
I know when I go to do a thorough wash of the kitchen floor that I will be needing to move them again, but for now they're good. I still need to move the stove out and do the same to the floor behind and underneath it, but I think I'm done for the time being. I do still have stuff on the floor that needs to be put into a garbage bag but I'll be getting the kid's assistance with that. The big stuff they can deal with and I'll sweep up all the smaller items. Once that is done I'll pull out the stove, deal with the floor there, and then do a basic wash of the floor for now in preparation for a good scrub of the floor tomorrow...or later tonight if I feel up to it.
I need to look up ways to get salt residue off of leather before I attempt to polish up the footwear that I want to salvage in some way. I know a pair of the boots needs a replacement buckle because I popped it ages ago and couldn't find it, which means an Amazon search for four replacement buckles so nothing looks odd (the boots have two buckles each).
I'm so excited that my kitchen is almost completely organized and clean for the first time in entirely too long! Once I get the pile of stuff on the floor bagged up I'll be able to walk through the kitchen without worrying about what I might be stepping on. Yes, I know it sounds bad, and it was, but thankfully I wasn't at the point where I'd have to worry about being on the Hoarders TV show.
I know I'll be tempted to get to repainting the kitchen cupboards once I get the room entirely clean, but I want to put off all my painting jobs until the entire place is cleaned and organized. I have several painting projects to pound out, and I know that if I start one painting project that I'll want to do them all...which is pretty much impossible right now due to the sheer amount of stuff I need to do to each room to get anywhere near being able to safely paint. I'll end up killing all progress I've made so far and nothing more will get done because I'll be too frustrated that I can't paint all the things! Instead I'll just give the cupboards a good scrub and wait to paint them.
About those paint projects...there are a few that I'm planning which I know I won't be able to do all at once, unfortunately. I've already got the paint for two of them - my bedroom and the kitchen cupboards. I've had that paint since my last round of painting a few years ago, and it's been sitting patiently waiting for me to get around to it. My room has been on hold until I get in there to clean and organize it, and the cupboards...well, sort of the same deal. You can't paint around clutter, unless you want to risk getting paint on everything.
I plan on painting my bathroom at some point but I have a feeling that it's going to be a bit on the expensive side. The plastic tub surround has yellowed with age, and so has some of the plastic connector strips for the plastic wall covering, which will mean that I can't just use basic paint. I've already priced out what a gallon of the proper paint will cost if I want to do the job right (and I do). It's going to be boring and white, but it will hopefully make the room seem much bigger than it is - it's tiny. And it doesn't have a lot of storage either. I've put up a shitty wooden shelf that was made from wood re-purposed from an old entertainment stand I used to have, and it just looks bad. It does the trick though. And I also used another piece from that old entertainment stand to make and extra linen shelf, but it's hidden by a white lacy curtain. I've also got a metal above-the-toilet shelving unit to put stuff on as well. I wish the bathroom wasn't as cluttered, but I can only make due with what I have, right?
Another paint project involves my kitchen table and chairs. It's a fairly basic set made out of blonde wood, and the chair seats are upholstered with blue fabric. Two of the chairs needs to have the seat base replaced because they're breaking, but that will be easy enough once I get my hands on some plywood, and I will be changing out the upholstery to something that suits my taste better. I will be sanding all the wood to get rid of various bits of other stuff off of it all, and then repainting the works. Mostly likely everything will be painted a gloss black, and I've been toying with a fire-engine red table top. Most of my kitchen accents and accessories are red so it will fit with the theme quite well, I think.
Beyond those projects, I also want to possibly paint my desk and my bed's headboard (if I don't end up replacing it when I get a bigger mattress set. And, if I can get enough large bookcases, I want to paint all my bookcases black to match each other...I need at least two more for what I have in mind, but they will come in time, just like everything else.
Time for me to go figure out what to make for dinner, as well as what to snack on so I don't perish of starvation!
On Wednesday I managed to get six garbage bags full of stuff to toss out and, with the kid's help, got them out onto the curb for garbage pick-up Thursday. That included a lot of random crap I've stuffed into bins in an attempt to 'clean' when I've had company coming over. As I went, I further organized art and craft stuff, and even cleaned out the plastic storage drawers of all the sewing stuff that had been randomly stuffed into them. Now the storage drawers are going to be re-purposed into kitchen storage for my baking tins, plastic food containers and lids, kitchen linens, and the various baggies, tin foil, plastic wrap, and parchment paper I use on a regular basis. I haven't gotten to this point yet though because I basically took Thursday off from organizing/cleaning.
Thursday I did go down to the nearest dollar store to pick up some random food items, twist mop thing, window squeegee, floor cleaner, and some more small bins with lids (I now have 18 of these small bins, and they are a blessing when it comes to organizing my smaller items). No art supplies this time because I think I have enough for now. Once I got everything put away I basically sat on my ass for the rest of the day, had a nap, and cooked supper for the kid and I. Oh, and I applied for the CERB when I woke up in the morning...here's hoping I don't get disqualified for it, which would be just my luck lately.
Today (Friday), I slept later than I planned, but once I woke up a bit I got back at the cleaning and organizing. I went through my rather huge collection of footwear and opted to throw out a few pairs that I don't/can't wear for various reasons, put aside a few to clean the salt off of and polish, and have the keepers all in a pile on a scratched to shit chair for the time being. I do have to clean the landing outside of my door so that I can better organize where the shoes will be on the shoe rack I've got out there...and also find a home for my luggage set that is currently in the way of said rack.
I pulled out my washer and dryer set to sweep and clean in behind them...what a project that turned out to be! It started with me clearing the tops of both units and scrubbing them down, and then I turned to sweeping and washing the floor on the other side of the dryer where the cat box lives. As I was sweeping the scattered litter the edge of the broom went under the dryer and pulled out the edge of some paper. So, I got down on my hands and knees to see if I could get out the paper. I got the paper and along came a few other bits of paper and plastic. And an old disposable chopstick. I used the chopstick to see if there was anything else I could get out from under the dryer. Well, that turned into me moving the dryer to the side and away from the wall. Ewww. More crap than I would have expected. I figured since I'd already started that I may as well do the same to the washer. I found a package of ramen noodles that I hadn't even realized had fallen in behind the washer...and oh so many plastic bags, random socks, and balls of cat fur. Gross. Just fucking gross. So, I scrubbed the exposed floor, and moved each unit back into place as I finished the area immediately surrounding them.
I know when I go to do a thorough wash of the kitchen floor that I will be needing to move them again, but for now they're good. I still need to move the stove out and do the same to the floor behind and underneath it, but I think I'm done for the time being. I do still have stuff on the floor that needs to be put into a garbage bag but I'll be getting the kid's assistance with that. The big stuff they can deal with and I'll sweep up all the smaller items. Once that is done I'll pull out the stove, deal with the floor there, and then do a basic wash of the floor for now in preparation for a good scrub of the floor tomorrow...or later tonight if I feel up to it.
I need to look up ways to get salt residue off of leather before I attempt to polish up the footwear that I want to salvage in some way. I know a pair of the boots needs a replacement buckle because I popped it ages ago and couldn't find it, which means an Amazon search for four replacement buckles so nothing looks odd (the boots have two buckles each).
I'm so excited that my kitchen is almost completely organized and clean for the first time in entirely too long! Once I get the pile of stuff on the floor bagged up I'll be able to walk through the kitchen without worrying about what I might be stepping on. Yes, I know it sounds bad, and it was, but thankfully I wasn't at the point where I'd have to worry about being on the Hoarders TV show.
I know I'll be tempted to get to repainting the kitchen cupboards once I get the room entirely clean, but I want to put off all my painting jobs until the entire place is cleaned and organized. I have several painting projects to pound out, and I know that if I start one painting project that I'll want to do them all...which is pretty much impossible right now due to the sheer amount of stuff I need to do to each room to get anywhere near being able to safely paint. I'll end up killing all progress I've made so far and nothing more will get done because I'll be too frustrated that I can't paint all the things! Instead I'll just give the cupboards a good scrub and wait to paint them.
About those paint projects...there are a few that I'm planning which I know I won't be able to do all at once, unfortunately. I've already got the paint for two of them - my bedroom and the kitchen cupboards. I've had that paint since my last round of painting a few years ago, and it's been sitting patiently waiting for me to get around to it. My room has been on hold until I get in there to clean and organize it, and the cupboards...well, sort of the same deal. You can't paint around clutter, unless you want to risk getting paint on everything.
I plan on painting my bathroom at some point but I have a feeling that it's going to be a bit on the expensive side. The plastic tub surround has yellowed with age, and so has some of the plastic connector strips for the plastic wall covering, which will mean that I can't just use basic paint. I've already priced out what a gallon of the proper paint will cost if I want to do the job right (and I do). It's going to be boring and white, but it will hopefully make the room seem much bigger than it is - it's tiny. And it doesn't have a lot of storage either. I've put up a shitty wooden shelf that was made from wood re-purposed from an old entertainment stand I used to have, and it just looks bad. It does the trick though. And I also used another piece from that old entertainment stand to make and extra linen shelf, but it's hidden by a white lacy curtain. I've also got a metal above-the-toilet shelving unit to put stuff on as well. I wish the bathroom wasn't as cluttered, but I can only make due with what I have, right?
Another paint project involves my kitchen table and chairs. It's a fairly basic set made out of blonde wood, and the chair seats are upholstered with blue fabric. Two of the chairs needs to have the seat base replaced because they're breaking, but that will be easy enough once I get my hands on some plywood, and I will be changing out the upholstery to something that suits my taste better. I will be sanding all the wood to get rid of various bits of other stuff off of it all, and then repainting the works. Mostly likely everything will be painted a gloss black, and I've been toying with a fire-engine red table top. Most of my kitchen accents and accessories are red so it will fit with the theme quite well, I think.
Beyond those projects, I also want to possibly paint my desk and my bed's headboard (if I don't end up replacing it when I get a bigger mattress set. And, if I can get enough large bookcases, I want to paint all my bookcases black to match each other...I need at least two more for what I have in mind, but they will come in time, just like everything else.
Time for me to go figure out what to make for dinner, as well as what to snack on so I don't perish of starvation!
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