Storage Woes

So, it's only been two weeks since work began on the house. And in that two weeks, we've really been fortunate. The workmen have been amazing--helpful, neat, knowledgeable, diligent, prompt--everything you hope they'll be, but never expect to find. The budget is even moving along okay. Not exactly perfect, but certainly not alarming in any way. And the disruption has even been tolerable. Each night, the house is swept and tidy, and although there is a lot of dust, it isn't floating through the air, per se. I've been able to fulfill responsibilities outside the house, leave people working, and know that the work will proceed even if I'm not supervising.
I cannot emphasize enough how I feel like I rolled the contractor dice and came up a winner. Hardly ever happens to me, and I am really appreciative.
However.
Of course, knowing this house and its checkered history, when the carpenters demolished the existing entertainment center in the family room, they discovered that there was no parquet floor under it. Bare concrete. I went to a few flooring stores, and the carpenters contacted people in the trade, but all new parquet is made in 6" x 6" squares, not the 4" x 4" squares of my existing floor. Because the carpenters are really forward thinking and helpful, they suggested we pull up the flooring from the storage closet in the family room.
Great idea!
Yesterday, when they were ready to proceed with that step, I had to empty out the closet. In front of them. They were here, and they were chivalrous enough that they didn't want me to carry the contents by myself so they offered to help, but that just made it worse. Of course, this closet is the only closet that is not in a bedroom, so it is a catchall for all kinds of crap. The thing is, these are things I considered important enough to put away, right? And yet, there I was, in a closet.
This closet, when I'm trying to cram stuff into it, is the size of a porta potty, and when I'm taking stuff out of it (in front of other people,) defies all laws of physics and perhaps may be an endless wormhole to another corner of the universe. I was mortified.
A giant Rubbermaid tote filled with electronics including two VCRs, a surge protector, three bases for phones that have no batteries, and about 24 miles worth of wire, cord, and tubing. There was another giant Rubbermaid container with broken electronics, including 2 cameras, a cell phone, a Sonicare toothbrush, and a computer keyboard. There was a wire filing basket with gift wrapping supplies. Of course, the last time I put that crap away, I couldn't have bothered to wrap the silver curly ribbon back around the spool. I was wrestling with unruly curly ribbon and found myself handing the whole box to the carpenter. Really? A grown woman collecting curly ribbon? On purpose? It was embarrassing. Then, there were landfills worth of plastic bins, cubbies and totes. I should own stock in Rubbermaid. I have extras, but they weren't stacked neatly. And there were lids falling all over. And, then, of course were the 15 air vent filters I bought at Home Depot. They always run out of my odd size, so when I go, I have to buy the whole case, and it was crammed in there with the rest of the crap. There were some compact fluorescent light bulbs that I didn't know where to throw out (they have mercury in them!), all the CDs that we have put on the ipod, but don't want to throw out in case the hard drive gets damaged, and an entire moving box full of VHS cassettes of old TV shows, Northwestern games, movies, and concert footage.
At some point in our lives, we thought it rational to keep these things, pack them up, and move them around the country (more than once).
Why?
And, more importantly, why did I find myself wrangling spaghetti-like telephone wires in front of a total stranger? Why did I feel like we should keep my first digital camera that holds like 10 mgs of photos? Why?
That freaking closet took FOREVER to empty. Every inane thing that came out of it made me want to sink farther into the floor we were trying to salvage.
All of that stuff is currently residing in the foyer; my secret hoarding out for the world to see. I want desperately to be able to sort through it before I put some of it back. I'll get some shelves for it all, to help organize.
And some Rubbermaid totes. Surely, those will help.