Definitions of 'Tidy'

I brought a friend in to look at the kitchen this past weekend and he, who had seen it before, just looked around and said 'Whoa!' I told him that I needed to toss a few more boxes into recycling and move a couple more things, but he was all 'This looks amazing!'. Sure, there's a box of VHS tapes to get rid of in a corner and a bin of stuff that I just am not dealing with at the moment that needs to be move to the attic, but otherwise, I feel like it looks really good.

But will it be good enough for the crazy landlady? What is tidy enough yet still reasonably 'lived in'?

I remember the few times I would clean my room and show my mom/sisters, either when we were at home or through pictures and their responses were 'That's a great start!'. I would just deflate because I spent time and energy getting it to where I felt it was 'tidy' and here they were saying that it wasn't good enough.

So now I'm looking at my kitchen and bedroom, which I think look fantastic (I need to move some bags of clothes/trash) and the thought creeps into my head: What if it's not good enough?

I guess, when it comes down to it, if the Landlady wants me out, she wants me out, even though she said that if the place was clean, she'd renew the lease for another year. I guess if she ends up lying, I have legals folks on my side but it would still mean I'd have to move. Then, was all of this worth it? I'll still have to pack up everything, move everything, and unpack. Again. But I won't know if it's 'good enough' until she comes to inspect. It's like I'm putting so much into her crazy hands and I don't want her to have that much power.

It also means I'm hesitant to send pictures to my family about how nice my place looks now. Because they haven't seen me work for two weeks on two rooms. They haven't seen me folding clothes and trying to figure out the best way to make things fit. They haven't seen me come home and actually put things away instead of the easier route of tossing them onto another surface to deal with later. I just don't want to hear 'That's a good start'.

I've been timing myself when I get home to see just how long it takes for me to do things that I used to put off. For example, even if I don't want to clean the litter boxes when I get home, it truly takes only a minute and a half to do so. It takes me about 30 seconds to fold/hang/put away the clothes I wore that day. So that's 2 minutes I've spent putting things where they belong. I think I can handle that.

I'm still trying to decide what to do with the clothes I want to donate. Maybe I'm blowing this up bigger than I need to. It's not that much right now -- I still have jackets to go through, but most of them are in really good condition and I may donate some of the winter coats to the coat drives this winter (they're all hanging in a closet). The vintage ones I may try to sell online or consign. So I think the Clothes category is almost finished as well as my bedroom.

Next will probably be the 'Dining'/Music room since it's probably going to be fairly easy. I do have a lot of boxes that I started to pack, but I think they're going to stay there. The Landlady knew I started to pack and if she doesn't like boxes on vacuumed carpets...well...whatever. Some other boxes do need to be gone through and items dealt with. The Living Room and Guest Room may be the hardest since they have the most 'Random' stuff. But I think it I'm methodical about going through things and picking and choosing what stays, I should have some success.

I just hope that it's all more than just 'A Good Start'.