Landlords on my case about my cleanliness!

[Crocker Jarmen]

Originally Posted by Alan Smithee

Bottom line is I'm human, I've had a human existence here and they should be human in dealing with me.

I sympathize with the loss of your cat. My own, while not too old, is showing signs of severe ill health and I find myself thinking back to the many terrible apartments we shared over the years and the effects they probably had on her health. I too will be quite devastated when she goes.

Landlords deal in form letters and formalities. They aren't going to deal with you as a human, they don't care about your life story or past history in the building, that only makes their job more difficult.

OT: the Friday the 13th cover in your picture, are those laser discs or the old CED Video Discs?

[maxfisher]

Really trying to not sound like a dick, but yeah, clean and organize your place. I think you lack some perspective because you've lived there for so long. Over time, you've built up a huge collection of what appears to be primarily movies, and it looks like you've just kind of haphazardly added shelves as needed. To you, it's been a slow change and it just feels like home. To anyone else, it looks like an episode of hoarders, resembling a poorly kept storage unit more than a living space. Surely you'll only watch a small fraction of those movies in the remaining year you plan to live there. Get some boxes and put 75% of that stuff in the storage you say you rent. Tidy the rest. Problem solved. And when you move in a year, pick a place with a large room that you can dedicate to neatly organizing all your shit. Or buy instead of rent and just leave it lying all over the place.

[Goat3001]

I think they have a point here. While you may not be, that picture screams 'hoarder'. If your place was more cluttered when they saw it, it's reasonable for them to assume that your place is a fire/pest hazard.

Take some time to clean the place. If you have the means, hire someone to do it.

[stingermck]

Originally Posted by maxfisher

Really trying to not sound like a dick, but yeah, clean and organize your place. I think you lack some perspective because you've lived there for so long. Over time, you've built up a huge collection of what appears to be primarily movies, and it looks like you've just kind of haphazardly added shelves as needed. To you, it's been a slow change and it just feels like home. To anyone else, it looks like an episode of hoarders, resembling a poorly kept storage unit more than a living space. Surely you'll only watch a small fraction of those movies in the remaining year you plan to live there. Get some boxes and put 75% of that stuff in the storage you say you rent. Tidy the rest. Problem solved. And when you move in a year, pick a place with a large room that you can dedicate to neatly organizing all your shit. Or buy instead of rent and just leave it lying all over the place.

Originally Posted by Goat3001

I think they have a point here. While you may not be, that picture screams 'hoarder'. If your place was more cluttered when they saw it, it's reasonable for them to assume that your place is a fire/pest hazard.

Take some time to clean the place. If you have the means, hire someone to do it.

All this. My first thought when I looked at the pic was Ugh.

[E. Honda]

Originally Posted by Alan Smithee

OK, not saying I'm proud of this but here it is:

The key is consolidation and weeding out duplicates. If you have a movie on DVD or Blu-ray, and also on Laserdisc, get rid of the Laserdisc. It's just taking up space. And single disc DVDs, in regular keep cases with covers and inserts, take up a tremendous amount of space. My front room used to look a lot like yours. Now I am doing this:

[IMG]http://************.com/IMG_3643.JPG[/IMG]

You can get the six-disc Blu-ray cases on eBay for less than a dollar. The row of blue cases on my shelf here hold almost 100 DVDs. The amount of space you can reclaim quickly is mind boggling. It's easy to keep track of where your discs are too, as you put the DVD into the cases, enter the title name into an Excel spreadsheet, and assign each case a number when full. When you want a particular title, it's a simple quick search to find the case it's in.

[stingermck]

Originally Posted by E. Honda

The key is consolidation and weeding out duplicates. If you have a movie on DVD or Blu-ray, and also on Laserdisc, get rid of the Laserdisc. It's just taking up space. And single disc DVDs, in regular keep cases with covers and inserts, take up a tremendous amount of space. My front room used to look a lot like yours. Now I am doing this:

You can get the six-disc Blu-ray cases on eBay for less than a dollar. The row of blue cases on my shelf here hold almost 100 DVDs. The amount of space you can reclaim quickly is mind boggling. It's easy to keep track of where your discs are too, as you put the DVD into the cases, enter the title name into an Excel spreadsheet, and assign each case a number when full. When you want a particular title, it's a simple quick search to find the case it's in.

I took it a step further. Got the 24 Disc Poly Cases. I grouped a bunch of my movies together by Actor/Actress. See the stack beside Buffy and Angel? That's almost 200 movies:

[E. Honda]

Originally Posted by stingermck

I took it a step further. Got the 24 Disc Poly Cases. I grouped a bunch of my movies together by Actor/Actress. See the stack beside Buffy and Angel? That's almost 200 movies:

Wowsers! I hadn't seen those cases before. I like the way you think. I'm going to get me a mess of those.

[IMG]http://www.************.com/money.jpg[/IMG]

[majorjoe23]

The shelving to the left of your door ( when you're inside facing the door) looks like a nightmare ready to collapse.

I'd suggest clearing out the old mishmash of shelves and heading to Ikea (if there's one near) and getting some matching shelves and lining your walls with them.

Or as someone else said, put it all in storage until you're ready to move.

[covenant]

Originally Posted by Alan Smithee

OK, not saying I'm proud of this but here it is:

Errol Childress?

[Shannon Nutt]

I think I have a lot of DVDs/Blu-rays until someone posts a photo like this...makes me feel better.

I'd love to get some storage cases and reduce the space needed, but I'm kind of attached to the boxes they come in (and I need those if I ever decide to upgrade to the newest version and want to sell the old one).

Back to the OP - from that letter you got, it sounds like not only do they think the apartment is dirty (nothing a good few hours of tidying and a sweeper won't fix), but that you're basically storing all those movies there...they probably don't realize you're a collector and think you're running a business out of your apartment.

[Troy Stiffler]

Dude. Get to Ikea ASAP. Spend a few hours building furniture and a few hours cleaning up. Problem solved.

[stingermck]

Originally Posted by Shannon Nutt

(and I need those if I ever decide to upgrade to the newest version and want to sell the old one).

I keep all my artwork and cases in the closet just for this.

[Groucho]

Here's my suggestion:

Get a decent-sized storage unit on a six-month lease. Move as much as you can into it. At the end of the six months, anything you didn't feel the need to go back for can be sold.

[Goat3001]

If the OP's next response tells us that he can't put any of that in storage and that he 'needs' everything that is there then we might be in for a classic thread.

[Brian Shannon]

What is it like living in a storage unit?

In all seriousness it looks dirty, cluttered and basically like you do not care. Everyone has 24 hours in a day, not having "time" is not an excuse to not clean up. Looks like some of the hoarder houses that are shown on tv shows. When you describe having the floor clear enough to walk, ie., "I didn't have junk in the middle of the floor he needed to step over", there is the first indication of why you are getting a letter.

[DirkUSA]

Originally Posted by Alan Smithee

OK, not saying I'm proud of this but here it is:

You need to get organized and clean your place up. Who knows what is growing or living behind all your stuff. I can understand the landlord/management.

[dvdjunkie32]

I applaud landlords who get on renter's case about keeping their place clean. I'm a pretty neat person, but last month, my apartment got infested with roaches. They were living in the walls. I saw them even climb in and out of electrical outlets. Absolute nightmare. I believe one of my neighbors who leaves trash and cigarette butts outside attracted them and infested the building. I didn't realize it was a problem until I started seeing them inside my damn stove climbing on top of the internal LED clock. The first spraying made them scatter all over my apartment even into my closets where I had a lot of cardboard boxes. That's when I learned that they love cardboard.

These fuckers can get into everything and squeeze their body thinner than paper. I had some boxes sealed with clear mailing tape and a couple of them had squeezed underneath. Roaches would love the OP's apartment. Hundreds of places to hide and eat cardboard. He may have them and not know it. I've been throwing out every trace of cardboard and moving all my movies to plastic sealed totes and then into a storage building. Get rid of that clutter asap and then do a walkthrough with the landlord.

[benedict]

Originally Posted by Alan Smithee

[...]After my warning last year, I took a number of measures to better keep my apartment in order- one of those was to rent a storage unit where I now keep many of my excess items. [...]

Originally Posted by maxfisher

Really trying to not sound like a dick, but yeah, [...] Get some boxes and put 75% of that stuff in the storage you say you rent. Tidy the rest. Problem solved. [...]

Originally Posted by majorjoe23

The shelving to the left of your door ( when you're inside facing the door) looks like a nightmare ready to collapse.

I'd suggest clearing out the old mishmash of shelves and heading to Ikea (if there's one near) and getting some matching shelves and lining your walls with them.

Or as someone else said, put it all in storage until you're ready to move.

Originally Posted by Groucho

Here's my suggestion:

Get a decent-sized storage unit on a six-month lease. Move as much as you can into it. At the end of the six months, anything you didn't feel the need to go back for can be sold.

Originally Posted by Goat3001

If the OP's next response tells us that he can't put any of that in storage and that he 'needs' everything that is there then we might be in for a classic thread.

Originally Posted by Brian Shannon

What is it like living in a storage unit?

In all seriousness it looks dirty, cluttered and basically like you do not care. Everyone has 24 hours in a day, not having "time" is not an excuse to not clean up. Looks like some of the hoarder houses that are shown on tv shows. When you describe having the floor clear enough to walk, ie., "I didn't have junk in the middle of the floor he needed to step over", there is the first indication of why you are getting a letter.

I can't see the picture at my end but will check later tonight. Looks like you've got some reasonable advice regarding consolidation and lots of recommendations (above) to "up" the percentage of your possessions that you put in storage.

Whenever I've watched those shows about hoarders there seems to be a pattern. Something momentous happens in the subject person's life e.g. a bereavement, separation, job loss or somesuch. If they were not already collectors, they become collectors. Sometimes they start to keep hold of things that to most would have no intrinsic value. Sometimes they keep hold of things that are of some value but which they never use. It is a kind of a comfort blanket. Usually there is some element of depression involved. The redeeming point of such shows is that they letthe person talk through how their collections/hoards developed, when the obssessive element took over and whether they want to do anything about it. For the most part the screened shows involve people that do finally want a change and they are given support to do this. There will then be a weeding and an ordering process. Some things go to charity or to auction. Some are seen as superfluous and are thrown in the trash. Although often resisted at first, this looks to be cathartic and aids the overall process. The support network is important. The light at the end is the reclaimed space, a decorated living space and the opportunity to engage more fully with friends and family.

While we may mock those (unknowingly?) trapped in the mire of an overgrown collecting habit, for my own part, when I have seen such tv shows, I have been fascinated with the process and admire the overall redeeming outcome. I hope that the best of the advice in this thread outweighs the "kick in the pants" kind of reactions and that the OP with his friends can work out a productive way through this and benefit from the change in perspective that will inevitably come from it.

Good luck!

[Mrs. Danger]

Moral of the story: Clean house before calling maintenance.

[inri222]

Originally Posted by Alan Smithee

...they want to give me the boot so they can have someone else move in and pay more.

Originally Posted by Alan Smithee

The neighborhood is already pretty well "gentrified", though when I moved into this building it was kind of sleazy looking...

This is pretty much why they are looking for an excuse to evict you.

[dave-o]

Lots of good suggestions here so far. I know you said money is tight, but if you can spare a couple of hundred dollars, you could also have a professional organizer come in and help.

Personally, I think that Groucho's suggestion was the best. Store 75%of it for 6 months. Anything you didn't notice missing can be sold, thrown away, or at the very least kept in storage until you move.

You don't need this stress. Anything that helps you get through the last bit of school will be good.

[Jacoby Ellsbury]

Have you ever had a woman at your place? If so has the relationship lasted longer than 3 months?

Yay a bunch of movies I'll watch once and hold on to as they depreciate 90% in value and add clutter to my home and weigh me down.
I used to have a 1000+ DVD and a 1000+ CDs back when I joined this site. Sold or am in the process of selling every last one except for about 50 movies for my kids. Most of them lost most of their value and the ones that didn't that went OOP I was thrilled to sell for $10-60 each. Everything is digital now. Yay rent more storage units, thats some terrible advice. Get rid of the worthless crap.

[Groucho]

Originally Posted by Jacoby Ellsbury

Yay rent more storage units, thats some terrible advice. Get rid of the worthless crap.

In my experience, people sometimes have problems identifying the "worthless crap" on their own. The storage unit idea is to get the stuff out of the house for a while so it becomes obvious just how worthless it is.

[james2025a]

I can understand your frustration having to deal with an idiot landlord. Sounds like they are looking to get rid of you any way they can. Your apartment is not the worst thing i have ever seen, however i just don't understand why you can't keep it a little more organized. I see things laying around that could be placed in drawers or stored and it would be made to look better. Too many piles of things that look...not really messy....just very disorganized. If i were you i would spend a day or two tidying up a little and organizing your stuff into something that looks better. In the end it will give you a better living space.

I did a clean of my apartment this weekend and for example with clothes i look at them and ask if i have worn them in the last 6 months and what are the chances of my wearing that item in the next 12 months. If its a negative to both then it gets taken to the Salvation Army or Red Cross. My space has become more valuable to me than some of the things that occupy it.

[Mikael79]

Originally Posted by Mrs. Danger

Moral of the story: Clean house before calling maintenance.

Absolutely! That's the winning answer.