I'm not sure what inspired it, but after meeting Snafu this morning and seeing the challenge he's facing in his two closets, I decided I would meet him for lunch and lend him a hand.
I returned in the afternoon with tacos from El Faro. After we ate, I volunteered to do the dishes. One thing led to another, and while Snafu started cleaning up his living room, I cleaned the kitchen. The plan had been for us to work on his closets, not the kitchen and the living room, but this seemed like a better idea.
Initially I just cleaned the dishes, but after a few minutes I found myself sweeping, cleaning out the cabinets beneath the sink, hiding the garbage and trash containers and rearranging items on the counters.
I realized that Snafu has some of the same issues I deal with, namely keeping stuff that might be useful someday -- plastic and paper bags, containers -- but not keeping them in a single, neat, organized place. I found it therapeutic to work on my issue with his stuff.
After a productive hour I needed to go back to work. It felt good to see that I had made a positive difference in someone else's cluttered life, even if my clutter was just as bad as it had been before.
As I was leaving, Snafu thanked me for the help.
"Do me a favor. Don't tell your wife I helped you clean your house," I said.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because someday I may ask you to help me clean mine, and I intend to take full credit for it. You should do the same."
I almost forgot, I learned something else today. Snafu told me about cleaning with white distilled vinegar, a cheap and eco-conscious household cleaning alternative.
To return the favor, I told Snafu about using the microwave to sterilize sponges in the kitchen. After finding a reference on this at WebMD, I'm going to nuke my sponges more often -- every other day -- and for twice as long -- two minutes at a time.
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