Keeping it Clean

Yesterday, I had this blog post in my head. At that time, I was thinking of titling it snowbirds. This morning…keeping it real or keeping it clean feels right. For some reason…I am feeling clean vs real…even though both are equally true.

I think the purpose of this post is to share a part of me…my personality.

Sometime in the last week, I got a text from an uncle of mine. We rarely speak. The last time I saw my aunt and uncle was at Dad’s funeral. I think we have spoken briefly maybe one other time since then. If I remember correctly, he sent me a text for my birthday last year. When he sent the text this time, he introduced himself to me. Ya know…told me who he was.

I told him…I appreciated the fact he introduced himself because I had accidentally deleted all my contacts. 😂 Since the deletion, I have a total of a whopping 15 contacts now. I find the whole situation rather amusing. Very entertaining to me. This is what the post is about…my purging tendencies.

Snowbirds

My aunt and uncle are snowbirds. Ya know…those who migrate to the south for the winter. Yep…those people. Love that. Getting to enjoy the retirement years. A few years ago, they took a summer and drove to Alaska if I remember correctly. They like to go and do and see…just like Dad and I. Runs in the family, I guess. Grandma loved to travel too. It is in our genes I suppose.

While they were enjoying the heat in Florida…I was sitting in the cold in Northern Michigan. Still cold. Vanessa informed me this morning it is supposed to snow today she thought.

To show evidence of my chilly predicament to them…I took a selfie and sent it. While I was talking to them, I was in a sweater covered up with a blanket. They informed me they were on the balcony enjoying the sun. ☀️😂 The featured image is the selfie I sent my aunt and uncle. The picture of them below is the photo they sent me of them in Florida on their 50th wedding anniversary.

Clean Up

I feel led to share the story of my desire to keep it clean…keep my world clean.

My iPad kept telling me I was out of storage and couldn’t do the backup.

One pertinent piece of information here is that for oodles of years, I have been a Windows and Samsung user. Father made me switch over to Apple…a whole new operating system. I wasn’t happy about that. After years of using those systems…man…I was a pro at it. I knew how they functioned. To switch all devices to Apple…was painful. It was like going back to preschool. Apple hides stuff from you. What is up with that? 🤦‍♀️

I have been rather resistant to learning a new system here. It has made me rather grumpy at times. Just keeping it real here.

Finally, I decided to tackle the iPad storage issue. Had to locate my iCloud and try and figure out what the problem was.

When I purge…I PURGE. This is my nature. It is who I am.

When I owned my own home, each spring and fall…I would do a deep clean. This meant doing an extreme cleaning of every single room in the house. I deconstructed the room and put it back together again. Everything was wiped down. Cracks, crevices, windows, walls, doors, trim, etc. Every cabinet, every drawer, every closet…all emptied and sorted through. Things were thrown away or given away that had lost value. Clothes that no longer fit or were not worn…gone.

I like to purge and pitch trash, garbage, and unused things.

Consequences

Each year, I would enlist my kids in this cleaning. I couldn’t do it without them. I always said to my kids…we are a team here. We are going to function as a team in this house. You live here…you make messes…you have to help me clean them up. I can’t do it alone…shouldn’t do it alone.

For those two weeks, we all converged into each room together to clean and purge. They got to choose which clothes and toys stayed and/or left…except for Mr. Mitchell Man’s pillow. That was an exception. It was disgusting. He will still tell you today he is salty I threw away his favorite pillow. Have to keep it real there about that. He will bust me otherwise. 😂

A fond memory I have of those purges was AFTER the purge. I would be missing something and say to the kids…do you remember where I put…such and such. Every single time, Donovan would throw his hands up in the air and say…I don’t know Mom. You probably pitched it when you were doing the deep clean. Said with attitude. 😂 Made me laugh every time. Still does today. I frustrate him…in a good way. 😜

He hated doing those deep cleans…but what is hysterical to me…he is just like me. He does the same thing. Currently, Donovan is selling everything to do the camper life. I chuckle at watching that man do his deep cleaning purges as an adult. He is clueless he learned that from me. Funny how they fail to see the connections.

As a consequence of doing a deep computer clean and purge…I lost all my contacts. 🤣

Ignorance

Sometimes my ignorance…makes me look like an idiot. You would think this would trigger me emotionally…but instead…it makes me laugh.

Here is the deal. I wasn’t going to pay for more Cloud storage. Not doing it. I am BROKE. SO…I decided to start deleting stuff. In my mind…it was all about the iPad…not all three devices connected. Like I said above…I am still learning this system.

I don’t store any info on my iPad. It is a shallow device for me. When I purchased it…I told my geek…I am not using it for any storage, so I want one with minimal storage. It costs more which is an unnecessary expense for me. No need to waste money on something I won’t use.

When I started deleting, I thought it was pertaining to the iPad only…so I did a DEEP purge of the backup stuff. This included my contacts.

Much to my amazement…this deleted my contacts on my other devices.

Messed all my text messages up…no names and photos…just numbers.

The only contacts I had were the few text messages on my phone with my kids.

Lifestyle

I have always pitched things of no to little value. It is easy for me to throw trash away. Take out the garbage. It brings me joy. I don’t hold onto that which has no value to me. That is foolish to do. This is my lifestyle. Part of my personality…across the board.

My emails…stay clean. I throw away the old to have room for the new. At different times, I have heard or seen people who have thousands of emails stored on their computers. NOT me. I only save that which is necessary in the appropriate folders…pitch the rest.

Same with pictures. Not keeping photos of people who were toxic and brought pain into my life. Delete…pitch…burn.

Old notes from the past…gone. On this blog, I have posted about burning years’ worth of teachings Father has given me over the last 30 years.

I like to keep it clean. See?

I don’t hoard…anything. Minimalism. Clean. Organized. Orderly. Freedom.

It makes me happy.

Hoarding

Too many people on this planet hoard. They hoard relationships…toxic people in their lives because they are afraid of letting go of them. Hoard material things. Hoard memorabilia. People hoard lies and deception…too scared to look, see, and accept the truth. Too many are afraid to let go of the past…a toxic, painful, baggage-laden past. NOT ME. I happily flush that shit down the toilet…right where it should go.

My grandfather always said…more room on the outside than on the inside…good riddance. I love that mentality. So true. No need to store shit. Dump it. Literally. Say goodbye to the old…HELLO to the new.

That is what I have done…that is what I do.

Keeping my world clean and organized. It is a refreshing way to live.

It is mathematical…place value. Everything in this world has a place…and everything/one…has a value. Being organized is putting the appropriate things in the appropriate places according to their value. A wonderful way to live for me. Makes my life run so much smoother.

There ya go…now ya know how this ole gal likes to run a clean house…across the board in every single area of my life.

Have a MARVY day! Planning on it myself.