@oldmtwoman, glad your internet connection is fixed, and that you haven’t suffered a power outage during subzero weather. I see you are also in the throes of decluttering.
I am proud to report that today I finally began dragging stuff out of my hallway closet. I was looking at it… imagining some sort of demonic light seeping out around the door frame.. and I just flung it open and dragged out a third of the contents. So now my living room floor is littered with stuff. Tomorrow I hope to drag all the rest of the stuff out.
It’s worse than decluttering which is why I kept avoiding it. I own a 100 year old apartment and the plaster walls inside this closet have lumpy bumpy paint, cracks, and holes; and the former (deranged) owner built closet shelves and shelf supports out of scrap wood and it looks terrible. So after I empty this closet out, I will need to pry out the shelves and shelf supports, then fix and paint the walls. I plan to buy a wire shelf unit from Amazon rather than hire someone to build shelves. The closet floor is wood and in bad condition and needs replacing, but I am going to just clean it and cover it up with a piece of carpet. And then, at last, I will be able to put the stuff back in the closet. Hopefully all neatly sorted into bins.
I need to stop thinking so far ahead because that just gets me discouraged. I will try to take this a little piece at a time. The goal for tomorrow is to completely empty the closet.