i am paying my best friend to help me clean my apartment.
yup, you read that correctly.
20 something year old girl paying her 20 something year old friend to help her tidy up.

i would like to state for the record: i am not a slob. i am not a mess maker (kind of). i am actually an organization freak.

the problem starts here: i moved back from va in 2007. i didn't have room to put an entire apartment's worth of stuff in my childhood bedroom, so for a LONG while, i kept things in boxes, all over the place.

the story continues: i now have a LOT of space. i didn't unpack things in my apartment until mid 2008. seriously. but here is the problem. while i might have taken things out of the cardboard boxes they were hanging out in, i never really put anything away. i mean,, everything was in its own "area" but nothing really had a "home." for example, one corner of my living room was a "craft area" ANYTHING even slightly related to crafts went there....ribbon, wrapping paper, stickers, dried spanish moss. so what was lacking was organization...and i love organization.

i can't really blame myself too much: i had a really tough year in 2008. i got hit really hard with some pretty major life circumstances, and my mind frame was in la-la land for pretty much most of the year. so this accumulation of stuff didn't even phase me, it didn't even meet my radar.

so what was the problem you ask?: i'm not a hot mess anymore. i'm pretty much standing on my own two feet and loving every moment of it.

which means: i notice ALL of this massive amount of stuff i have... and i have absolutely no clue where to start.

enter holly: hol is a great cleaner. and she knows me too well. i want to simplify, simplify, simplify... but i have a tendency to keep things because i have an emotional attachment to them.

she will have none of that. she will make sure that if i keep something there is a reason. and she will force me to either toss or donate the rest.

i need that. i need a hard ass to push me to let go of all which i have accumulated.

i hope you don't think im like a hoarder who has 15, 872 packs of playing cards or all the toothbrushes i have ever used, or anything like that.

in fact, if you were to come to my house a week ago, you'd probably think my apartment was clean and quite normal.

its just that all this "stuff" whether it be physical items in my room, or my emotional attachment to them, was WEIGHING me down.

so, i took matter in my own hands. i recruited the best. she keeps telling me she will not accept any money from me, and has already threatened me to stop talking about it. but i want to make sure she understands how much i needed and appreciate her help. any suggestions?

so yeah, today, gist entry #126, i am damn thankful for miss holly and her help.