June 27, 2017

Greetings My Friend, My life has been lived with hoarders or neat freaks. I have helped my share of hoarders through the years clean out piles and piles of stuff and because of it I have preferred to live an orderly life "a place for everything and everything in its place." For a longtime I also lived with a major neat freak, my cleaning style was never good enough and more than once I was shown how to properly wipe a wall, sweep a floor. When I married Junior I was once more living with someone who has tendencies to hoard although he is the first hoarder I ever met that moved his piles so he could mop the floor then move his piles back to the original place. We managed to live in harmony for a long time, his office was his place to keep as he wished, I could close the door and it worked. He was agreeable to keep it contained until he retired, that is when I met his out of control hoarding. He curb side shopped which was he loved to find things that people put on the curb and bring it home. I quickly discovered the generous heart he has when I watched him wash bags of clothes, stuffed toys and other finds so he could donate them to charity. Most of those things were in good condition and could be used for those in need and even those not in need. Junior has been working very hard at giving things we no longer use to charity thrift stores and I am proud of that too. With all of the renovating Junior has been doing though he does not believe in cleaning up at the end of the day, to him it makes no sense to put things away and get them out again the next day so he leaves things where they lay. He also has a problem of filling empty spaces with stuff and our porch has gotten out of control. In the house he has his desk space where he clutters and he leaves things lay around when he working in the house although I have learned how to organize behind him. He is good with my need to have order, not spotless but order in the house. He is a gem with helping me keep the house clean as well. He loves doing laundry, sweeping and mopping the floors and feeding the fur children and keeping the litter boxes clean. I am grateful for his help especially these days where I can't do what I have been able to do. For several years now I could not find a way to clear the porch off and recently I came up with a plan. His problem is open spaces need to be filled with stuff so he lays things down until the area is heaping with things and he can't find anything in that mess when he wants something. In fact he can't remember where he laid it down and a plan began to form in my mind. I found boxes to fill the entire space which means when he lays something down it will go in a box. Once those boxes are removed I will put another empty box in that place and an idea is forming I could buy some of those plastic bins label them and then he has to put things that match the label in that box. It may never get that organized but again it may. At this point in my life I would never trade Junior for anything in this world. He is kind and compassionate, firm when he needs to be and I love him for this. His over cluttering is wearing at times but once I find a way to make it manageable he goes along with the program. When things are too neat he gets very uncomfortable, it has taken me a lifetime to understand this trait in some people so I strive to be orderly without going overboard. We have become a good team as we learn to give each other room for their comfort level. God has taught each of us to meet in the middle and I am grateful because Junior is such a good person. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet