Six bags.

Six bags of garbage just from my kitchen alone.

Holy shit.

I never realized how much stuff I had on the kitchen floor until this morning. But, it's all cleared now, and I was able to wash the floor for the first time in well over a year, if not longer. It will need another couple of washes before it's completely clean, but for now it's just so much better.

So, because I couldn't get time off from work on Saturday for my landlord to come over we had to reschedule. To today. I don't know when he's planning on coming over, but I will be messaging him around noon-ish to let him know that I have an appointment this afternoon that I'd forgotten about and can't reschedule, but that we can reschedule his inspection if it's okay as I really don't want somebody in my home if I'm not here. If he wants me to text him when I get back, that's fine with me. He won't be impressed with the pile of garbage bags I have to get rid of, but I will assure him that the bags will get taken out of my home over the next week or so, between garbage days and taking some bags to work to throw into the dumpster there. And on garbage days I will spread my bags out between the neighbours too.

If my landlord is willing to reschedule until next week, that will give me the chance to clean my bedroom. Well, to get rid of the accumulation of crap I've got in there. Surprisingly, while doing all the cleaning and organizing of the rest of my home, I haven't dumped any of the crap into my bedroom. Usually, that's how I handle cleaning my place - throwing it randomly into a bin, box, or room that I can shove away, hide, or close the door. Yeah, it's not *really* cleaning, I know, but that's how I maintained the fiction of my home not being a fucking disaster zone.

I've got another bin of stuff to donate, bin included. I've found all the gaming consoles my daughter didn't take with her. And I've found pretty much all of my random craft stuff...the craft stuff has been stuffed into bins and drawers for now, but I know that I will be able to sort through it when I'm not under such a time crunch. And I have a feeling that a good portion of it will be going into a bin/bag for donation as well.

Mainly, other than my bedroom, I'm left with several full garbage bags of crap that will sit in my apartment until I can toss them on the curb. Thankfully, none of it is *wet* garbage that can rot and smell the place up. It's a lot of broken bits or otherwise damaged things, styrofoam forms that once held electronic equipment (my city has no option to recycle this stuff as part of the curbside recycling program, sadly), glass jars and bottles (again, the city has no option to recycle this stuff), and empty packaging (not cardboard though - the city actually picks this up on recycling day). Some of it is stuff that the cat(s) peed on and the smell has become ingrained so that no amount of washing or scrubbing will get rid of it.

No, I'm not happy about just how much stuff I've accumulated over the past several years. I've actually got THREE bathtub tray thingies - I only recall buying two of them, and I knew that I'd bought one because the first one went missing somewhere in the pile I'd created one of the last times I tried to clean my home. But the third one? Not a fucking clue. But I don't have a replacement bathtub plug anywhere, it seems.

I know when I get the chance to clear out my bedroom that I'm going to find things I've bought and lost, as that seems to have become a theme for me somehow. I know I'll find a couple pairs of long socks I bought around Christmas time, and some pants I haven't been able to locate in months. I may also find the head for my steam floor cleaner. And maybe some more hangers. Of course, there will be the inevitable straight up trash that will fill at least one bag, probably two.

In the past, I've used contractor-size garbage bags. The strong, huge ones that hold at least twice what a standard XL binbag will hold. But I figured that would be overkill, and I'm not sure that the city accepts those anymore. Plus, I had a tendency to fill them to the point that I could hardly pick them up, which is not conducive toward getting rid of them in a timely manner.

Once everything is cleared out, I fully intend to start using the clear bags that the city has been trying to enforce for the past several year or so now. And recycle anything and everything that I can. Maybe I can talk a friend into driving me to one of the depots here that accepts all glass, and not just beer and liquor bottles. My fingers are crossed, but for now I'll just toss glass into the garbage.

My body is trying to tell me that I need to go have a nap as I've been up since stupid o'clock this morning, on top of the fact that I've been going pretty much non-stop since I woke up. Not to mention that I've been doing a lot of the stuff at work as I've been doing at home. My body is exhausted. And if my place is not showroom ready, such is life - it's lived in and still looks a million times better than it has in the recent path.