holy crap!

no, this isn't a scene from hoarders.  this is our 700 sf condo that we never quite really moved out of in 2006.  it's filled with crap everywhere (these photos actually make it look cleaner than it really is), 95% belonging to the hubby...dvds, electronics, r/c car stuff, toys, clothes, games, etc, etc.

what you don't see is the MOUNDS of gecko crap and carcasses that fill up the space now.    those little irritating lizards have taken over the place.  i'll spare you from graphic photos but let's just stay that i wanted to barf and i wore gloves before i touched anything when we entered the unit today.  

cleaning this unit has been on my mind for years and it's hard to believe that we're finally doing it!  there are soooooo many things about moving that sucks donkey balls but it always forces us to de-clutter, clean and organize.  we're temporarily downsizing from 4000 sf of living space to 1500 sf and instead of paying ridiculous prices for storage, we will be using the condo to store our non-essential items.  

we spent about 4 hours at the unit today going through some of the crap that's in it...90% of the stuff will be dumped or donated.  if we haven't needed the stuff in it for the last 5 years, we definitely don't need it now.  we dumped one car load today and donated another.  we're planning to go back this weekend to continue the cleaning mission until we get to a point where we can rip out the carpet, plug all the openings into the unit, and call the professional cleaners to clean the unit.  it's gonna be quite a feat but it will feel so good when it's finally done.