The Incredibly Embarrassing "Before" Video

I used to love watching organization shows on TV. A particular favorite was "Mission Organization," where a family with a problem room would go through a major make-over. I'd sit on the couch, jaw agape, thinking how cool it would be if my environment could be transformed so painlessly. Elapsed time (for me), an hour.

The problem is this. To achieve the "wow" factor when the organization has occurred, you have to see the dire situation that existed before.

So this is the entirely embarrassing "before" video. If you watch it (like you didn't already click it before reading this) you might notice that there are a few empty spaces in the box shelves. Imagine those spaces filled with boxes, plus boxes stacked five deep in the middle of the room - 38 more boxes, in fact, than you see in this video.

It's overwhelming just typing about it. I'll be at this for a bit more than an hour.

At then end of this process, I hope to have no more boxes in the rest of the living areas of the house and fewer boxes in the basement room. Many fewer boxes.

But this isn't just about getting rid of stuff. It's about freeing the space to make room for something else that I really want to have. But more on that another day.