There never seems to be a quiet moment in this house. I finally have all the clutter concentrated in one room – the study – and can sort it at my own pace. Today I noticed a damp patch on the ceiling in the kitchen, right under the study. Why did this happen? Is someone trying to hurry me up?

My husband said “We’ll need to move everything out of the corner” pointing to the old sofa that’s wedged in the corner of the study and penned in with my boxes and other pieces of furniture. Whilst the words were sinking in, I started to blow it all out of proportion in my head, anticipating a mess in other rooms again whilst we pull up the carpet and floorboards etc.

I don’t know why I immediately thought that he meant now, but half an hour later he was asleep in the lounge and I joined another work call. I tried to put it out of my mind as I was too busy with work to think about it.

Looking at it from a positive perspective

After trying to work out why this had to happen now when I’m just getting things under control in the house, I decided to try and switch my mindset and find the positives in the situation.

1. I might get the study sorted out quicker if we have to shift things around again. Maybe I’ll need to move it ALL to the garage apart from the filing cabinet. Now that’s an idea that I think I’ve said before but not done it yet.
2. The damp patch might be under the study but it’s also right next to the main bathroom so it could be coming from there. We had the new bathroom about three years ago so don’t want to start pulling tiles off the wall; however, the part underneath and next to the double sinks needs a bit of decluttering. Things have been shoved there out of the way and although I’ve been keeping the bathroom clean, I’ve been ignoring that bit. I’ve been waiting for a reason to do it.
3. I might get a new sofa and carpet in the study a bit sooner than I thought if I’m forced to empty the room.
4. We’re lucky, the water could be pouring from the ceiling.
5. We haven’t had the kitchen decorated yet as that was put on hold because of lockdown.

Fast forward to this evening…

After a really busy and full on day at work, I made dinner, did some cleaning and then tackled the area underneath the sinks in the main bathroom. I’m not going to list everything I found under the floating sink units but it included an old smoke alarm, a box of stuff from my daughter’s old room and a crystal bowl filled with random bits and bobs. The box went into my daughter’s new room and the rest went by the back door in the dining room (another clutter trap area that still needs sorting out).

I’ve measured the distance of where the damp patch is in the kitchen and did the same in the study, and it’s about 80cm going up to the wall that joins the bathroom, so I think it’s coming from there. We decided not to use that bathroom this evening (no relaxing bath for me tonight 😞). The damp patch has dried a bit.

Tomorrow morning after the school run, I’ll have around an hour before I have to start work, so I’m going to move some stuff out of the study and turn the sofa on its side. We can then pull up the carpet and have a look to see if we can see any water. Then I’ll call my friendly plumber for some help.

I’m feeling back in control again.

Until tomorrow…

Sandra