REALITY strikes......

During last week's extended session (we lasted three hours instead of the planned four hours), JZ and I cleared out boxes and boxes of things that he had 'stored' in his living room.  His two sofas and the floor was covered in boxes that contained videotapes, CDs, books, clothes, kitchen items and the like.  We decided together that we would store the boxes of things that he wanted to keep in the spare room for now.  We worked really hard and were able to move all of the boxes from the floor and one sofa.  We also cleaned off JZ's coffee table....to uncover a beautiful wood coffee table with an elaborate tile top!!  JZ says that his end table near the other sofa is a matching piece....gorgeous.

JZ decided to discard several more boxes of videotapes.  This is a direct result of his therapist working with him to recognize that these things are not his 'friends' but rather simply clutter that is no longer useful to anybody.  JZ seemed truly pleased that we were able to discard 10-12 huge boxes in the community dumpster.  JZ seems to have turned a corner regarding his need to hang on to things.....

Though we were both exhausted, we both had great big smiles on our faces when we parted ways last week.  A great sense of accomplishment!!

Now, for today's session:  JZ and I had agreed to meet for a two-hour session today to continue the cleansing of the living room and dining room area.  When I arrived, JZ informed me that we needed to move some stuff around in the spare room so that a workman could get to the windows in that room on Friday.  We moved things around enough to allow room for the workman to fix the windows and put up new blinds.

REALITY:  JZ and I discussed at length the fact that we simply will have to DISCARD items in order to make this cleanup effort work.  JZ has so many canned goods and food items that we cannot fit everything into his kitchen cabinets and/or his extra storage cabinet in the kitchen.  We found yet two more huge boxes today filled with canned items.  No matter how much we re-organize things, there just is not enough room for all of his stuff.  JZ agreed.

Next week:  Identify and remove all items that JZ is comfortable with removing, including excess canned goods and foodstuffs.  JZ will donate these to a local homeless shelter.