SPCG @home

It’s two in the morning but here I am writing because I just realized that it’s going to be a very exciting week for SPCG! What’s happening?

The parents are headed out of town! (Emphasis being on the fact that MUM is going out of town.) In case you haven’t read here before, in short, my mother is a hoarder and has real issues with dealing with paperwork and in her spending habits. I won’t go into too much detail about it today – as there is so much research and background that I can share, but that’d take too long. And today’s post is on the plan for the week ahead!

Every year, my parents make a few trips out of town – and these are very important to the running of my household as they are what Y (my very capable househelper and partner in springcleaning) and I use as windows of perfect opportunity to get the house back into some sort of order without getting into too much trouble.

The sequence is always the same – the parents announce that they are headed out of town, Y & I already have an understanding whenever that happens, it’s the mark of a fresh round of cleaning, and when they finally fly, Y & I get to work. Considering I have a mother who is VERY efficient at spending and hoarding, the task is almost insurmountable, but bit-by-bit, trip-by-trip, round-by-round, we have been clearing the mess.

Tasks involved go through the sequence of:

1.  Identify areas to be springcleaned
2. Delegation of tasks/areas
3. Determination of dates which specific areas are to be tackled
4. Daily intensive tackling of tasks, review and planning at end of each day
5. Schedule of items to be donated away before the mother gets back

And the interesting part of all of this - the mother never really notices all the things that we have donated away.... for several years now. I'm a firm believer that if things are not serving you (be it a random lamp tucked in some corner, or four unused clocks, or the ten other spatulas you have that are not being used) then it is a waste of space and resources.

So many areas are running through my head right now. Thing is, that we only have a week this time and it's a pretty full week for me, so I have to prioritize and be very specific about it.

Here are the areas which I've already planned to tackle

1. Common area
• Large chest of drawers (stuffed full of family administrative things. It's a very dangerous  zone as when paperwork goes missing or is missed, the family suffers financial attack - such as fines - and even legal action if not looked into promptly.)
2. Mum's Room
• Mum's desk (which has turned into a clutter zone of random papers stuff everywhere. More admin stuff here.)
• Shelves (stuffed full of all sorts of things)
3. Y's room (which the mother often uses as "spare space" for more shopping. :()
4. Kitchen
• Drawers (where we have a ton of unused kitchen equipment)
• Top of Kitchen shelves (where there is another ton of equipment we don't use)

I cannot describe how excited I am about the cleaning (that I am fighting against the weariness of my body now to be able to even type this), but I am. I very much am. 

Can't wait to plan the schedule, but it looks like I've listed everything by order of priority. I'm most likely going to be doing a lot of paperwork and filing this week by the looks of it whilst Y will be more involved in the sorting of physical items and determining their fate with us, the bin, or the Salvation Army. Still, I'm excited. All change requires effort and sacrifice, and this will be for the better!

Will post the before photos in due course.

Can't wait for the afters!