Lisa started an unoffical Cure Flickr photo group!
Quote of the week from P2:
"Clutter is like Herpes.
It never *entirely* goes away."
Our question: How, then, is it transmitted? ;-)
Sorry to skip last week, Cure People! Here we go.
And a note to those readers who feel it's a lot of work. I never intended for people to take on EVERYTHING in the Cure at once. I felt that the best approach is to read the whole book but choose either the Deep Treatment or the One Room Workout alone. Each of these are plenty of work. Even the Deep Treatment alone is a lot of work (depending on how bad your clutter herpes is). Our best advice when starting out is to bite off only a *bit* more than you can chew and then chew like mad. Next Cure starts October 1.
I feel completely off the Cure wagon there at the end when it overlapped with a trip to Zambia. Maxwell, I wanted to thank you for hosting the Cure and for writing such a wonderful book.
I've been inspired to actually hang photos in my house and to invest in a coffee table. Plus I might start making my bed. We'll see.
I'm still getting fresh flowers every week.
My upstairs neighbor's demolition knocked me off the wagon.
It caused my kitchen light fixure to fall and shatter on my floor only to be discovered by walking in there barefoot.
I did leave them a note and fully expected to find a letter of apology when I got home from work that night. There wasn't one, but someone had taken the time to urinate on my front door.
I spent the next day (Saturday)in bed depressed about where I lived until about 4:00 pm when I pulled out my AT book and started reading.
I finished decluttering my bedroom last weekend, mapped out my new living/dining room layout on paper this week, and I'm removing my carpet and putting in tile this weekend (DIY).
I just need my Mom to come by with her truck to haul away my out box.
Pb, that stinks about your upstairs neighbor -- what a jerk. It sounds like you've rebounded beautifully, though.
Well, I'm on Week 2 for the fifth week in a row, which might mean that I've failed already, but I sort of started with the understanding that my cure would be more like a three or four month cure.
There's just so much to be done...
Marm - I think that's what Maxwell meant when he said readers felt it was a lot of work. It really is, but you have to remember it took you years to accumulate all your belongings. 3 or 4 months to clean it all out isn't unreasonable.
I've been working on this since the day the book came out. My Mom has hauled away 3 or 4 truck loads of stuff to Goodwill for me with one more going tomorrow.
Usually, when one room gets cleaned, it results in the total destruction of another room. (I shove everything out of the room I'm cleaning, therefore, it's clean).
Knowing this about myself, I've sort of had to modify the 8 week cure to work with my style and behavior. I'm starting at the edges; bedroom, bathroom, kitchen/dining room and making sure those rooms are completely organized and clutter free. Everything I don't know what to do with at that exact moment goes in the living room.
The catch is that once I get down to the living room, everything has to go in one of three places; Put away in it's permanent location, Goodwill, or trash. No exceptions and no piles moving to other rooms.
As for my upstairs neighbor... He's just lucky I have to sit down to pee.
I feel I should have documented the progress on the Leviathan, as I call my outbox. It's now week minus two (or three) and counting, and I still don't feel I'm on the backstretch, even if I can tell that a lot of progress has been made.
Flowers remain a bete noir. Despite plenty of local outlets (many suggested by some of you out there in ATLand), I find it easier to do a monthly order from C&C -- some white irises have just arrived.
On the other hand, I have noticed an overall increase in "functionality" (which I wished was matched by an overall increase in time management, but that's a different blog/Web site).
So: who's Fourth of July plans include Cure Catch-Up?
PB - that sucks to have such a misanthrope for a neighbor; rest assured karma will find its way around, regardless of how you pee.
Having moved to NYC full time just a few weeks ago (was commuting, no fun) I have to say that I've been de-cluttering on a scale uprecedented - wow! it feels great. We sold virutally all of our furniture, about 75% of our books (previously unthinkable) and I've made several massive donation sprees. What is so great about this is:
1) Getting rid of this much stuff is FUN - more fun I think than acquiring it. People I've met selling our stuff are happy, interesting, bizarre.
2) We've made a pretty penny: close to $10,000, which I'm going to use as a creative sabbatical
3) I actually know where everything is - and I mean everything. tax receipts, roll of tape, pictures of my nephew, extra batteries.
We're doing this all before a 'deep treatment' - our new NYC place is a dump, but is cheap (relative of course), has good light and lots of windows.
George Nelson said that "the fundamental problems of architecture are light and air". Getting rid of clutter (don't hold back!) will only add more light, more air. Even if you feel like you've gotten rid of everything, you really haven't. We just have the stuff we really really need, and have made sure it is really good good stuff.
Good luck to everyone!
pb--that's awful!!! Just when you think everyone in the world HAS to be as reasonably minded as you are, something like this happens. I'd be mortified if I caused damage to someone else's apartment...I guess karma can take care of it, but I'd sue the bastard for replacement of my fixture!
When I had my cocktail party a few weeks back, the remnants of my outbox were transferred to my closet. They now sit there, out of the way, which is better, but also out of mind. So, I need to take some of that and move it out of the outbox and into its final resting place. But, when I think of the things I did accomplish, it makes up for that which I didn't accomplish. I think the great thing about the idea of the "cure" is that it can be an ongoing philosophy that you can turn to every once in awhile or keep as a daily reminder. It's been very helpful to me to think about as I walk in the door--and immediately deal with my mail rather than letting it pile up even for a day or 2.
Jess - I too moved into a place that was a dump, but it was what I could afford.
There was little redeeming about it, no high ceilings, wood floors or neat little nooks. They had painted it with an industrial oil based paint that would cause all other paint to bubble up regardless of primer, even other oil bases paint. I finally had to sand all the walls.
It's the largest 1 bedroom floorplan in the building at a whopping 635 square feet and over 100 of it is a lightening bolt shaped hallway.
There have been times that I've been really down on my space, but I'm finding the more I work on it, the more I'm really starting to love my home.
I'm amazed that you made so much money selling your belongings. You should document your creative sabbatical. A testament to what getting rid of stuff can achieve.
I did take some photos of my living room since designating it the place for all homeless items. I have to say it's pretty bad. I hope to have a good after photo by Tuesday night.
Both Karma and the sympathetic cyber-ears on AT have been a comfort in dealing with my upstairs neighbor. (That and the fact that I paid $125K for my condo and he paid $250K for the same floor plan :)
Wow, what a shock to see that image today!
Maxwell, thank you for mentioning the Apartment Therapy Cure (Unofficial) Flickr group. We actually had a NEW member join last week.
Unfortunately, the original ones (save 3 or 4) have not been checking in with their progress and I hope that they have not given up on the Cure.
Hopefully, they have either been too busy whipping their dream spaces into shape or they have been wildly entertaining in their newly spiffed up digs!
As for me, I'm painting that stool this weekend.
Christine,
I too shoved the remnants of my inbox into the front closet when I had people over! I hope to deal with that this weekend (yes, JonathanB, I'll be doing some Cure work this weekend!) when I will be going by a donation place (a Goodwill in Virginia). I also donated clothing to Green Door this week - thanks for the tip to whoever from DC suggested Green Door for donations.
At the end of the Cure, as part of my sprucing up, I splurged on a very light and summery duvet that I am using as is - nothing inside - for the summer, as a top sheet and light cover, which I can just throw in the wash. Everytime I look at that and at my fresh flowers, I get a lift.
I think I did a damned good job on the Cure. There's always more to do, but I at least moved through all the rooms and made very significant improvements. I feel really good about my place. I'll be ready for the next Cure in the fall and hopefully will tidy up these last bits of outbox/storage soon.
It's amazing how much paper one can discard if given encouragement. I've also cleaned and polished a number of candlesticks, wrapped them and put them away. Dumped a bunch of catalogs. Got rid of more mags. And learned that I need to label stuff (cds, dvds, boxes which I'm using for storage, etc.). A professional organizer is a gift that keeps on giving.