What I really need to do is to look at each room and at least one day a week, allocate a half day to cleaning up the worst one. These certainly aren’t the only “gotta do” items in my life. Lately I’ve been very good at exercising (walking) and writing, for instance.
This won’t get the projects done, but it should handle the routine stuff. When everything is no worse than a B, I can emerge from my metaphorical shelter and live happily ever after in my real one!
Note – The day after writing this article, I opened the door to one of my kitchen cabinets and out fell an unopened bottle of steak sauce. I spent the next hour cleaning up the sauce and broken glass which was all over the kitchen floor. What a mess. Yeah, way too much clutter.
Yeah, I own a house in the San Francisco Bay area. I just missed the anniversary of the date I purchased it, Nov. 1, 1981, and I hope it isn't too upset with me. Perhaps having a section of my website dedicated to this fine bit of paradise will make it feel better. Probably not as much as if I cleaned it up real nice, but it's a start.
Shin the Homeowner
To the Shelters, Men!
“To the shelters, men!” was something my dad used to say when a local sports team was losing and the loss was turning into a rout. I always assumed it had its origins in war, likely WWII, and referred to a retreat into local bomb shelters for safety, but I tried to search for it on the internet and found nothing to match it. But never mind, I’m going to use it to refer to my house at this point. Not just because it literally is my shelter, but because, notwithstanding the recent bathroom remodel, it’s looking pretty shabby.
I’ve been pretty much aware of the need to keep my house and environs orderly, and right now it isn’t. If I go room by room (using my broad definition of “room”) my grades would be as follows:
Living room: B Bedroom: C
Computer room: B- Business room: C-
Kitchen: B Laundry room: D
Bathroom: A- Hall: C
Garage: B- Car: C
Yard: C- Computer: C-
Porch: B
Some are downgraded due to unfinished projects. The yard needs re-doing, something economical, fire-safe, ecologically sound, easily maintained and reasonably attractive. But for now, it needs serious weeding. The laundry room needs serious re-organizing, especially the power cords and batteries. The hall needs repainting. I should have had the guy who did my bathroom do it at the same time. I overlooked one bathroom fix in the big remodel, replacing the door’s towel bar. The same guy who painted the bathroom could do that when he paints the hall! The car needs an estimate on three dings it’s already picked up. Oh, and I need a new computer.
The rest is all just overdue routine maintenance and cleaning. The scary one is my business room. Unfiled documents are piling up and I’ll soon need to retrieve everything I need for tax season. I was so proud of myself when I actually got it up to an “A” not long ago. It needs some love.
The other scary one is my computer. Though it needs replacing, I could get by for another year or two with the current one, but it needs organizing and paring back of old and useless things that have it cluttered up. Again, tax season is coming up and I need lots of stuff stored on my computer.
Last Update: February 4, 2026
The John Shinnick Web Site
Too much stuff. Not seen here is the steak sauce, either in the cabinet or on the floor. I had to clean it up. What a mess!
This section includes the house, the yard, the garage, the car and environs.
