The back of our basement was an absolute disgusting mess. The dog had been using it as her litterbox (yeah, I know dogs don't use litterboxes, but you get the idea) over and over...and over again. There were boxes, a desk, a table, and other misc. stuff around, so we never seemed to get it cleaned up well. It was hard to stay back there long enough to even get the worst of it cleaned up as the stench was positively nauseating. It permeated the entire basement, but going to the back was hard to do without literally heaving and wretching.
I give our whole family kudos a couple weeks ago for tolerating it enough to start throwing out a lot of "stuff." (A dump truck's worth, if you remember.) Some of my extended family was there, and we tried to make light of the situation and the odor, but I think we all could have benefited from gas masks! But getting that load of stuff gone was key to my husband's next move that he made yesterday.
He cleared the entire area, cleaned up the floor as best he could, then painted the floor with Kilz. That stuff is fantastic! And it worked. Our basement smells normal. After he finished, I was able to go back and sort through most of the boxes that were back there and put the keeper stuff in plastic totes. We are in the process of putting most everything into plastic totes. Basements tend to be damp anyway, but our one corner has some serious water issues that we need to work on, but in the meantime, those plastic totes will keep things safe. I can also see through most of them, so I know what's inside.
I'm rattling...I really am going somewhere with this...
My daughter had to go downstairs to get something out of our extra freezer, and she was practically writing cheers all the way down and back up again about how wonderful it was that the basement smelled normal...she could walk back to the back without worrying about dog pooh...and she could breathe deeply the whole way. It was almost comical how big a deal she was making of it! But I was so glad because my hubby is one who needs almost constant affirmation. I hope he was listening and absorbing the whole thing. He really does deserve some props for taking on that project. Honestly in all the de-squaloring we do, this may be the one single thing that makes the biggest difference. It may be a toss-up between that and the vinyl bathroom floor. That bathroom floor got rid of the worst of the smell upstairs, got rid of that gross carpet, and helped motivate me to keep that bathroom clean and let the clean grow from there. The basement floor got rid of the smell downstairs (which was actually much worse than upstairs) and feels like it will be a motivation to organize and grow the clean downstairs. And I can use my craft corner now!! (Well, that area needs some serious work with organization, but it's do-able, and I love making gifts, so with the holiday season fast approaching, I've got some great motivation.) So, if you see my hubby in the near future, please give him a big hug and tell him his wife thinks he's pretty terrific.
Thoughts for my next areas to work on: the kitchen is the most used room in the house, so the more I work on it, the more functional it becomes, so I'm going to keep working at that. The microwave area isn't too bad, but it does need a good scrubbing and then it will be easier to maintain. Much like the microwave, the stove is not bad, but it's not great either. My problem is that I'm dreading tearing apart the door so I can get to the nasty stuff under the handle. Oh yeah, it's nasty, and I've tried everything under the sun to get to it. It's just going to have to be torn apart. I've looked at it, and I think it's do-able, but it's not gonna be fun. And the last thing (I think) in the kitchen is the cupboards. Most aren't too bad, but they could all use a good spring cleaning and sorting, and a couple of them are kind of icky. I think that covers the kitchen.
I think the next big area I will try to get done in the next couple days is the living room. It's a fairly easy one to clean and maintain as we don't spend a lot of time in there. It's also where the front door enters into, so it's nice to have it cleaned up for a decent first impression.
I could continue...but I won't. I'll overwhelm myself. But it's exciting to be able to grow something! I have such a black thumb...but now I can tell myself I can't grow plants, but I can grow clean...!!! Hahahahaha...
Now, to find some extra energy...anyone have any to spare? :)
No comments:
Post a Comment