Doing the Math - Week Three

Flexibility is a good thing at times. Actually, I would have to say that flexibility is a good thing in general. This project lends itself to using a flexible approach. To illustrate, I submit the following.

Let's say I have twelve rooms. OK, I guess I have said it (not counting porches, garage, and storage), but stay with me on this. Twelves rooms matches twelve months very nicely, so it would be simple to say I will tackle one room a month, which then would lead to the conclusion that the project ought to come to a nice tidy end after a year. Simple to say, yet not so simple to achieve. Why? Again, an illustration. Take one room of moderate clutter that measures twelve foot by ten foot. Within a square foot of floor space sits ten items, leaving the possibility of 1200 items on the floor alone. Adjust for vertical clutter of say, four feet tall, and there exists the possibility of 4800 items within the room. Account for a marginal walking path and tweak the number for easier mental math, and it is quite possible that one room could contain a potential 3000 items. Using a standard month of thirty days, this means that one hundred items could be handled per day and require a decision. If only one is determined to be sold, ninety-nine items are left. Take one down, pass it around, and they fill up space in another area, making the math even harder. Additionally, this also means that it could potentially take 3000 days to clear out just one room. 3000 days or 8.219178082 years. Per room. So much for mental math. Ignore the three rooms that have the "2 day" rule (that discussion is for another day), and I am left with 9 rooms, which equates out to somewhere in the neighborhood of 73.97260274 years.

Obviously listing an average of one item per day needs to be re-evaluated. I think I will make it an average of two items per day. That's being flexible, right?