Day Four of Summer Vacation: Got junk?

Well, I feel like I’ve got a hangover.  I look like I’ve got a hangover.  And it’s only Day Four of summer vacation.  And for the record…I don’t have a hangover.  I’m just plum exhausted from this big task the boys and I have taken on.

I have already been overworking the boys and myself.  Way too much.  And this is summer vacation!  I think I need to call in the calvary.

Let’s go back to Monday.  This is when I told the boys that we were going to “Tackle the basement”.  So, Hubby called the dumpster company and lined up a dumpster, gave me the information on who to talk to, and after a quick phone call, I had the dumpster scheduled for delivery on Tuesday morning.

Since it wasn’t coming until the next day, I thought we’d get started on this job that I’ve put off for about eight months.  Because cleaning a basement has never sounded like much fun and I was always coming up with an excuse.  But no more excuses.  So, immediately, the boys and I got to work on the basement.  Hoarders. No. More.  I was in the “pitch it or give it away” mode.

It was difficult to have my enthusiasm for a clean and organized basement rub off onto our two boys.  I was on the brink of being tempted to back out of this job, as well.  I did NOT need two little ones encouraging this Flight Mode.  I needed some positive reinforcement from them for myself to stay in Fight Mode.  And tackle this basement.

After 20 seconds of trying to enthusiastically explain that they were going to take trip after trip upstairs and set the junk in a neat pile in the garage, I realized that they weren’t buying this ‘great idea’.  So, I added some extrinsic motivation.  Judge me all you want, but don’t tell me you go to work “just because you love your job”.  No.  We all go to work because of that beautiful thing called a paycheck.  So, I told Nate and Maxim that each trip of garbage/old junk taken upstairs was worth 25 cents.  Yes.  I was pulling out the stops here.  Hey.  Money talks.  Because with smiles on their faces, they immediately started taking old crates of files, broken toys, and old cardboard boxes upstairs and putting it out in the garage.

I was even fancy and had an elaborate record-keeping system set up on my laptop to track how many trips each person made.  Or maybe not.  But this system or whatever you call it worked just the same…

My fancy tracking system

My fancy tracking system

I started with tally marks for Nate.  Then, it got too confusing with how much money he was actually making so I put the tally marks into groups of four…because the only thing that mattered to him was, “How many dollars have I made so far?”  Maxim, just being a preschool grad, wanted his format to be in numbers.  “Mom, how many quarters do I have now?” was all Max cared about.

We spent the better portion of the day bringing up stuff to be pitched or stuff to be given away.  I was feeling accomplished and this was day one of summer vacation.  The boys felt rich.  And Hubby was worried.  (His exact comment to this brilliant idea of mine was, “This basement cleaning is going to cost us $100,000.”)  He may tend to exaggerate a little.

When the day was done, Nate had made $9.50 and Maxim had made $4.75.  (I had to explain to Max that the reason Nate made more was because Max chose to stop working and play with his toys for awhile.)  (Hey.  Call me mean, but this is real life, folks.  You don’t work.  You don’t get paid.)

On Tuesday morning, ABC Disposal called to announce that they’d be at our house in about ten minutes.  This was at 7:45 in the morning.  So, I hurried out of bed and threw on clothes so the dumpster deliverer wouldn’t think that I had just woken up.  (For the record, I am a late nighter…I work on writing and blogging after the kids are in bed.  Often, I am still up at 12:30 or so, typing away.  When one does his/her math, that would be about seven hours of sleep that I’m getting.  So, now you can cut me some slack for sleeping in until 7:45, right? 🙂  I knew you’d understand.)

7:57 a.m. or something like that…and the dumpster arrived.  And, oh. my. word.  I took a picture and sent it to Hubby.  This was his response.

IMG_2001

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I love his reply.  Overboard?  Um…slightly.  But I can appreciate his eagerness for a clean basement.

I’m sure the neighbors were thinking,”What in the world are the Pattersons doing?  That thing is bigger than their house.”  (For the record, it does take up one complete side of our driveway…)

So, with a crew of a Nate, Maxim, and a few willing neighbor boys, we started chucking junk into the dumpster.  At one point, they were all getting so into it, that I had to yell, “NO!  Not our lawn chairs!  We still use those!”

And, this is what it looked like after Round One.

Junk.  Round One.

Junk. Round One.

I had no idea a dumpster would be so entertaining.  Just look at the crowd it produced later on in the day.

I had to make a rule...No dumpster diving.

I had to make a rule…No dumpster diving.

After throwing things away, we loaded up the car and took bags to a great organization in Cedar Rapids…the Young Parents Network.  They gladly accept donations of children’s toys, clothes, shoes, and books.  Then, we took bags of adult clothing and household goods to Goodwill.

So, that’s how we’ve been spending summer vacation.  I know.  I am sure you are all jealous of the amount of fun we are having.

My only fear is this.  My stamina is diminishing.  I’ve said before how I tend to go all 276% on something and then.  I lose interest.  I become lazy.  I. Just. Don’t. Wanna. Do. It. Anymore.

That’s how I’m feeling about our basement.  We’ve got more stuff to sort through.  More stuff that needs pitched.  (And, well…let’s just say that we have a dumpster that is not even one-seventh full.  Clearly, we have room in that dumpster for a TON more stuff that needs to be pitched.)

So, I’m going to need some motivation and prayers to get me through these next few days of cleaning.  Or else they’ll want to start filming new episodes of Sanford and Son right from within our very own basement.

 

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