More Cleaning (It is Spring time, after all...)

I'm not sure how, but I've taken out six big black garbage bags full of stuff in the past week and yet our small apartment looks exactly the same. No wonder hoarders don't know where to start or give up several times!

Of course our apartment is kept fairly clean and organized so it's not like this stuff was lying around out in the open or anything. I re-organized and cleaned the kitchen cupboards. I donated non-perishables I no longer wanted (i.e. the box of microwave popcorn I shouldn't have around because I always tell myself I will only eat half the bag but I end up eating the entire thing because it's hard to have willpower when it comes to popcorn) to my mom and dad's kitchen pantry. I also got rid of some knives - for some reason we had accumulated a ridiculous amount of knives in all sorts of styles/varieties. I also got around to throwing out the nearly empty bags of cereal. You know when you're at the bottom of a box of cereal and there is almost enough for a bowl but there's also an inch of cereal dust so you keep it to use what's left when you open the new box... but you never go back to that little bit in the bag, you just keep using the new box. So, yeah, I had four of those nearly empty bags of various cereals thrown in the back of the cupboard. At least I have my bag clips back, I was wondering where they had gone.

I also tackled my side of the clothes closet. I'm in between sizes right now so some of my shirts look ridiculous on me while others are loose but still passable to wear. I pulled out all of the baggy stuff and some of my shorts that I know I'm never going to wear again. I got a little scared because it now looks like I have barely any clothes but when I think about it, the clothes I got rid of were just hanging there keeping the clothes I actually do wear company. I really should purchase some new articles of clothing at some point this year because I really am lacking but if I'm going to go down another clothing size or two this year, I don't want to waste the money. At least I'm lucky that I wear a lab coat all day at work so it isn't obvious that I wear the same stuff every week!

I went through my books to see if there was anything I could get rid of but I only picked out a few. We went through our books last fall and got rid of probably half a bookcase worth so there wasn't much to go through this time.

I rearranged our living room area back to how we had it last year. Julie may have a problem with that when she gets home tomorrow night but I'll fight her on it. She had the couch perpendicular to the television so nobody wanted to sit on it because of the angle. We'd end up sitting on a foot stool in front of the television or on the floor. So yeah, that was dumb even if it looked nice. Sometimes functionality has to beat style.

I think there are a few other things I can throw out or donate before Julie gets home. She's been texting me this week saying she's missing our nice clean and organized apartment and our quiet life (she's staying with people that have four year old twin girls). Oh, yeah, she's decided she doesn't want to go through with the child thing anymore and I'm sure her stay with these people has probably reinforced that decision. Her and I are at a crossroads now because of this and I'm not sure where it will be leaving us. Weeks of thinking on it has not helped me resolve anything in my mind so not sure what our next step will be.