Spring Cleaning?

Ever walk into a house and feel like you're walking into an episode of Hoarders?  Okay, it wasn't that bad, but it paints a pretty good picture.  We've picked up Dungeons and Dragons again, which is so amazing.  The only bad thing is, three of us live here, and one (or two, depending on if Caleb wants to play, too) live about ten or fifteen minutes away.  (Not to mention the fact that I'm neglecting school work to play.  Everything's been turned in on time, don't worry.)  Because I have a judgmental, nosy mother that I live with and Zach is part of a family of six that all lives at home, we'd rather not do it at either of our houses.  That leaves either the long drive or the episode of Hoarders.  (I am intentionally not using the person's name because if he happens to stumble across this and read it, I don't want him to feel embarrassed or anything.  I feel kind of bad enough as it is...)

Now, I would be lying if I said my room was always spotless -- or even that I could always find a clear path on the floor to walk on (hey, it's only one room out of the house)  -- but there comes a point where you just look around and say, "I have to clean all this up."

Heath had recently had a conversation with him about the state of his house, and while Zach and I haven't said anything to him, we've decided on a plan of action to clean it up.  After all, if it is going to be our central hub for D&D, we all need to feel comfortable in it; I feel like I can't think creatively sometimes in clutter, which is a large portion of what D&D is.  His fiance is trying to lose weight for their wedding, but I don't see this living environment to be conducive to a healthy lifestyle.  (Not that I'm one to be lecturing about this, since I'm on a diet myself...)

Let me paint a more realistic picture for you rather than the over-dramatic Hoarders image you may now have in your head.  (I apologize for the vast over-use of the word 'stuff' but I have no idea where to even begin what to call it.)  The living room has a couch to your immediate left upon entering; to the right is a hallway.  All but what seemed like one cushion on the couch was unusable because of stuff.  There are Magic:  The Gathering cards all over the floor, along with miscellaneous change, empty soda cans, and Qtips of questionable origin.  We discovered a hole in the floor where a vent used to be (which was previously hidden by more stuff).  The remaining seating in the room is pushed to a side along with storage boxes, overflowing with stuff and a coffee table that had to be sat on its end to ensure a walkway.  Half the hallway seems to be taken up by...stuff...reducing your walkway to the bathroom.  There are two bedrooms off of the hallway, both piled.  There is a large pile on the bed and on the floor of the only bedroom I looked into.  I picked up a stack of two plates with what was possibly food at some point on it -- it was still there, I'm just not sure it was food anymore.  It turns out that it was actually two plates that had been fused together over time. On down the hall is the bathroom.  Sorry, bro, but your bathroom smells like so much pee; I held it until I got home.  From the other side of the living room is the kitchen, master bedroom and master bath.  I haven't ventured more than a few feet into the kitchen, but it seems just as piled up.  There are plates all over the counter and towels (and miscellaneous other stuff) on the floor to leave only one clear path to the bedroom.  This is a brief, but I think, accurate description.  And again, I'm sorry if you read any of this and it offends you (you know who you are).

Yesterday, while waiting on Heath, Zach started picking up Magic cards to "look" at them.  He formed them into a pile as he gathered change from the floor into a large jar lid.  Before long, the floor was pretty much clean and he went on to the bookshelf.  While he did that, I grabbed a garbage bag and started picking up cans.  I am not exaggerating when I say that the large garbage bag was full when I got all the cans I could see from the living room.  We filled about three garbage bags (not counting can bag) and took them to the side of the road.  His desk and the entire couch is usable now.

Zach and I (unsure on Heath's status in this) are planning to sneak over when he's not home and deep clean.  I've even formulated a small divide-and-conquer plan.  You see, you start with the bathrooms and clean out the bath tubs.  Once they are clean, you fill it with water and dish soap to let dishes soak while you do the rest of the house... Oh, it'll be like a whole new trailer by the time we're done with it.  Like Zach said, "It'll have that fresh, Pine Sol sent in no time."  But there again, he's also the one that said "If he lets it get this bad again, I'm going to burn it down."  Silly boy.