Hoarder's Anonymous

We are preparing for our move to the smaller apartment. I'm really excited about living there, just not about getting all our crap out of here.

So now I have a math equation for you:

If a woman has managed to fit 400 square meters of utter crap into a 130 square meter apartment, how does she then manage to pack and contain all that in an 80 square metered apartment?

The Answer:

Throw crap out! We are having a cleaning, hoarder's anonymous, purging of the home all week long. This will be the time where I will open the junk draw and actually be honest with myself. There will never be a moment where I will really wish that I had kept the finger flashlights or those broken crayons. I am not going to miss the wrinkled pizza restaurant slips nor is there an actual emotional attachment to the ticket stubs from some bad random movie.

This stuff is going into... gasp... the recycling bin.

Now don't get too scared for me. I have already sent a Tupperware, large enough to fit Mr. Rant, full of his crap to the in-law's house. As they were the ones to encourage his collecting of CDs and comic books, they can house them.

It's 80 some odd square meters of living space which means there is only about 20 left for actual stuff.

And this isn't the real challenge. The real challenge will be me keeping that little place organized and free of clutter. I'm going to be honest, I am horribly lazy when it comes to organizing crap. I just can't be bothered, and I'm even a Virgo. So stuff that in your face astrologers. I prefer living in organized chaos.

But in the best interest of my children, I am going to reform.

So here goes the first week of the rest of my life cleaning up and organizing my crap. Maybe you should be scared for me...


This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

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Adapting to Rio de Janeiro: Apartments

I saw something looking at apartments today that made my heart skip a beat. It was a linen closet.

That's the thing that I'm still bitter about living in here in Rio de Janeiro, putting in a linen closet would cost me like 3 pretty pennies.

And it only got worse. I saw all the beautiful newly done "built in" closets in this tiny tiny apartment and I wanted to move in! Hell, they had a corner cabinet in the kitchen. I think I actually came a little when I saw it.

Not shockingly, the place is going for R$670,000 ($425,774) for a 2 bedroom 80 meters sq (262 ft sq) and no parking spot! But you know what, it was 80 meters of cabinetry goodness. New closets as far as the eye could see... or about a yard. You do the math.

So what can a girl do except for dream of the new cabinetry she could have in her place. I was excited and extremely depressed at the same time. To think, my dreams now consist of fake wooden boxes nailed to the wall. Before you judge me, nailing stuff into cement walls is a bitch!

But there was real brilliance there. I need to think outside the weirdly shaped box that is my apartment. I have the hallway and could easily fit in 2 linen closets. Oh how the natives will admire me then. Not to mention what I could do with the built-in closets that came with the place. While I'm at it, I may just put in good window! OMG, I'm on a roll.

Obviously my pipe dreams come with a cost and because of that I may take up carpentry. That or grow a forest for my wood. In some way, I would need to contribute.

Until then, I will just dream of rolling doors and empty shelves to further organize the crap I have that I truly do not need. Call it adapting, call it hoarding, call it what you will but I now have a dream.