Subtitled: Picking up a disorderly living space through areal topology, using vectors learned in high-school physics, and a little game- theory (to fun it up).
Areal Topology — a hokey term for tying multiple rooms together
Why, Mr. Bill, do you invite us to your silly moments? Our time is valuable, my friend; in other words, what’s in it for us?
Nothing, of course. You simply remind me of nastyish overlords I’ve met, demons exorcised and ilk like that.
Get over yourself and get on with it, so that we might get out of here.
There’s a mathedness to my madness though. Chunks and bits of physics too. I’ve written much computer code in my life and times. Not a single iota do I kid you: I enjoy sporting my code-monkey T-shirt.
There’s a right way and a wrong way of doing things, Bill.
No. There isn’t. Control freaks vex the frack out of me. They really do. Out damned control freaks!
We’re already gone.
At the end of this lesson you should be able to pick up the clutter — with confidence, self-reliance and vigor.
I’ve heard that it takes 9 and a half days to slip into a good habit. Rome wasn’t sacked in a day. How many sacks did it take to hold all that plunder?
Stage stuff. To borrow a programming term, set up some working storage areas large enough to fill two armloads.
Scan a room. Do you see things that do not belong, such as a dirty fork on a coffee table. Create staging areas as you maneuver the mess. Stage bathroom items, stage bedroom items. All the room is a stage.
Advice: freak thee not out! Don’t spend hours sorting, stacking and reflecting on woeful banes and sisyphusian rock-rolls. Mere seconds suffice to load two arms. Beware and Be Aware: there is a time penalty for breaking dishes. You can count on a plate dropping its gooey contents, such as non-dairy okra dip, upon the very rug that ties your room together.
Place your gathered kitchen articles on the kitchen counter, in the sink, or into the garbage. A hint: dog-lapped plates are not cleaned plates. No they are not.
Another hint for the newbie: never leave a room empty-handed. Perhaps you have found a toothbrush in the kitchen. Might there be other bathroom-bound articles in your midst?
Advanced students will process items discovered in passing. Kick objects to the general area of destination — or kick things backward with your heel.
Are you in the bathroom? Books read are books to shelve, to repurpose, to gift or to donate. By the bye, bathrooms make great cleaning areas. While you ponder a crossword clue and the squares on a grid, pick up tissues that end up everywhere, all day long even.
PSA: defunding the EPA is a criminally insane act.
Perhaps you kicked a pair of socks to the door jamb earlier on. You might be carrying items of clothing draped on your arm that are destined for the laundry. Bring those clothes together with open arms and deposit them in the appropriate receptacle.
An aside: I once brought along a book to read at the laundromat. Having started a washing cycle, I found my book bobbing about with the suds.
Let’s say that a sleeping moggie prevented you from making the bed. Make the bed, you big lazy, then toss more dirty laundry into hamper. Find books on the night-table that belong someplace: such as a donation box, a fund-raiser tote or on the sofa.
PSA: clothes you never wear are wearable at critical care areas, such as battered-women shelters. Beware of hoarding for hoarding’s sake. Random acts of kindness reward everyone in a civil society, such as the society we are currently not living in. Old towels are needed at animal-rescue facilities. Do not allow the stuff you own to own you, palindromically speaking.
Sort your library by standing on the shoulders of a giant. Here is a bookmark I give to the dear reader(s) who has (have) patiently plowed through the words above. How to sort your library.
PSA: Refrain from eating Meatables®
Thanks for reading.
Post Script: 24 vacuum tube varieties for audio applications. Handle with caution should you discover any of these while decluttering 🙂
Post Script 2: Vacuum Tubes and High Fashion:
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