Twoday is a Good Day

Ignore everything you have heard about the key to life, success, joy, blah, blah, blah. Unless, of course, what you have heard is the same as what I am about to tell you, then you can revel in the knowledge that you finally got some decent advice. Being an expert on nothing, I am here to tell you that the key to all things good is compromise. Yes, that concept of concession, that midway point of opposing views, that idea which lays open resolution of problems; compromise is key. Look around at all the examples Nature provides of compromise at work. Granted, right now I can't come up with a single illustrative example, but why should that distract from my viewpoint? I mean, seriously folks, do you really think any of us would be here right now if it were not for some measure of compromise? Especially those of you who are married and/or have children. Oh, you KNOW what I mean.

Prior to the initiation of this project, I engaged in an act of compromise with the Mrs. regarding the condition of the house. A place to sleep, a place to eat, and a place to sit and watch television. And toilet access. These concessions were made in order to go through the daily routine of ignoring the piles of stuff about the place. I may be a tremendous sinner, but the woman is a saint. When the pharmaceuticals finally kicked in and most of the internal demons were locked away in the special mental closets reserved for them, I began to get disgusted with my clutter and chose not to ignore it myself. I shifted things about, cleared up the primary rooms to acceptable levels, and after some mildly animated discussion, we instituted the "two day" rule. Clearly stated, this rules holds that I will place no more in a designated area than can be cleared out within two days. Mind you, she was hoping for "would not sit in one place for more than two days," but the magic of compromise brought forth the current state of affairs. I would be lying if I said that all was happy, happy, joyful bliss, especially given that I am a charter member of GRUMP (Generally Resentful Union of Mean Pessimists). Still, having the "two day" rule does satiate the desire to toss things into, or dig things out of, the trash. Not that such a thing would ever happen. Ahem.

So you see, compromise brought forth the "two day" rule, which helped to ignite the pilot light for One Room At A Time. The project, upon successful completion, will bring forth joy, which will make life more...livable. And that is key, I would say. Spread the word.

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?