I've been making progress on the cleaning that my apartment has needed for way longer than I care to admit. And I'm actually SEEING that progress. Sure, I've got numerous garbage bags filled with stuff that I will be taking to the dump the weekend after this upcoming one, but the bags are still better than the stuff laying all over the floor. I can move bags if I need to instead of having to try to kick things out of my way and hoping that nothing hazardous is in the pile I'm trying to shift.

I've requested the first week of May off so that I do a deep clean and get things moved around to my liking. Not to mention that I plan on painting the bedrooms finally, starting with the one my daughter will be vacating. I may not be able to take the entire week off, but I figure that even one extra day off will be better than nothing at all.

As of right now, I'm hoping to have gotten everything bagged up for the dump run at the end of the month. The plan right now is to pick up the carga van in the morning of the big day, do the dump run, and then get back to load my kid's things into the van so we can get her all moved before taking the van back to the rental place.

I already know that it is going to be an expensive day, and I will likely have my kid transfer me half the cost of the van rental that morning. I can't really expect them to pay the whole cost if I'm also using it to clear out a bunch of garbage out of the apartment, right?

I also figure that if for some reason I don't get all the garbage out, that I will work on getting more bagged up for the end of May and rent a truck or van for one of my days off.

Part of my method for being able to bag up so much already is not bothering to hold onto anything I don't really need. It started when I decided to clean out one of the drawers in my kitchen - it is where I put things like my knives, as well as my veggie peeler, measuring cups and spoons, and other assorted small kitchen gadgets. I had doubles of more than a few things, so they got tossed into a bag of the kid's things, and the stuff that wasn't fit to give away or donate was tossed.

And then I did the same thing with the kitchen floor. Honestly, it was starting to look like I should have been expecting a film crew from Extreme Hoarders to show up on my doorstep. Mental health can really take a toll on one's living situation, let me tell you. I still have at least one large garbage bag worth of stuff to pick up off the floor, but considering that I'd bagged up about five large bags before getting to this point, it's huge.

My goal for now is to get all the garbage picked up, bagged, and ready to be hauled downstairs next week. If I start doing it earlier in the week to make it easier for the kid and I to load into the van, I will let the landlord know what's going on. I may end up just stacking it around the side of the house and cover it with a tarp for now, and pray that no critters get into it.

My daughter is taking next Friday off work so that she can pack her room and bag up the stuff she plans on throwing out. She has also been told that she will be helping me load the van with the garbage and then going to the dump with me to help offload the stuff. Then we will likely grab a bite on the way back to the house and then get all her stuff loaded into the van so we can get her moved.

After I return the truck, everything will depend on what I feel up to when I get home. I may end up dealing with all my own clothes, or scrubbing the walls in the empty bedroom to prepare for fixing holes and painting. Either way, the prep for painting does need to be done so that I can paint the room before I take it back over as my own bedroom.

So far, I think I will have my home mostly reclaimed from the depression monster by the end of next weekend. I have also requested the following week off so work on getting everything set up the way I want it. 

I also plan on renting or purchasing a carpet cleaner as some point as well because I know my carpets will need it....I've lived in that apartment for close to 11 years so it's definitely time by now. I have visions of mud puddles all over my carpets from the mix of years of dust and the water from the carpet cleaning machine - I have seen this sort of thing years ago prior to my parents opting to replace the carpets in their old house and it was gross. Not only was it years of dust and dust mites, but there was also the addition of several years of smoking...it was a greasy, muddy mess, and it was so bad that they had to rip out all the carpet and the underlay before they could replace everything. I'm hoping that my carpets will turn out to be quite that bad...

I know that it will be a learning experience as I get accustomed to living on my own for the first time ever. And I'm not sure how my cat will handle being an only cat either...she's already needy as fuck so I can see it getting worse. Good thing I love the kittle shit <3