My mess and welcome to it
This afternoon, after pruning the butterfly bush for the winter -- don't worry, it'll grow back next year since it's a perennial -- I spent a couple of hours in my garage, cleaning it up. Needless to say, it didn't get done, but at least I got started.
My garage is a one-car garage, detached from the condo. It's become my primary storage unit. Since I don't have a basement, it's where I store the stuff I want to get out of the house but don't want to throw out, or will come in handy someday.
Is it something I'm proud enough to show off to the neighbors? Not really. If I'm inside, the door is open, and I catch 'em looking, I'll say, "Hi, how ya doin?" Most people will avert their eyes. I often kid around that I applied for federal disaster area funding, but got turned down because it didn't affect enough people.
So what's in this garage of mine? Clutter. Lots and lots of clutter. Some of it's good stuff -- camping equipment, stuff for the car, firewood, summer toys and outdoor games, a set of golf clubs, the empty boxes for my computer and stereo components, the rest of the toilet paper and paper towels that I bought at Sam's Club. But a good chunk of it is stuff I'll probably never use. I hang on to these things because I think they can be reused, and feel guilty just throwing the stuff out in the trash. Yes, I realize the landfills are going to fill up with me or without me.
Here's an example: Cardboard boxes. I still have some cardboard U-Haul moving boxes from the time I moved here 5 years ago. They've been collapsed and stowed in one of the corners of the garage. Yes, I can throw them out, but when I move again, I'd have to buy boxes to replace the ones I threw out. It seems like such a waste of money (and boxes) to use a box once, throw it out, and buy another one to replace it.
Thankfully, the county dump accepts corrugated cardboard for recycling, so instead of throwing the boxes in the trash, I take them to the dump.
Yesterday, I helped one of my neighbors empty out her garage of the cardboard boxes she had been saving. She pulled out the boxes from the garage, I cut them flat with my box cutter, and loaded them in my car to take to the dump. I couldn't fit them all in, so some of them got put in my garage for the next trip.
This afternoon, I flattened the rest of the boxes, and prepared them for recycling by loading them into another cardboard box. A few of them had foam packing peanuts in them, so I scooped those out and put them in a trash bag. I'll take that bag to the nearest UPS Store for reuse.
What's next on the garage cleanup agenda? Newspapers, paper grocery sacks, plastic grocery sacks, plastic food containers (yogurt cups, butter and cottage cheese tubs, etc.), and glass jars. I'd recycle the plastic food tubs, but they're made of #5 plastic -- polypropylene -- and my trash hauler doesn't accept that type of plastic for recycling. I'd love to give them to an elementary school for craft projects.
Then comes the paper clutter -- the files and stuff I should look through, get rid of most of it, and scan the things I want to save. I have a spare dining room table and chairs in there, along with a papasan chair and loveseat/sofa, and a bookcase I trash-picked (or "vulched" as I call it) from one of my neighbors who was throwing it out. A couple of years ago, the same neighbor threw out a perfectly good floor fan, only because it was dusty. I vulched it, cleaned it up, and it works great.
My garage is a one-car garage, detached from the condo. It's become my primary storage unit. Since I don't have a basement, it's where I store the stuff I want to get out of the house but don't want to throw out, or will come in handy someday.
Is it something I'm proud enough to show off to the neighbors? Not really. If I'm inside, the door is open, and I catch 'em looking, I'll say, "Hi, how ya doin?" Most people will avert their eyes. I often kid around that I applied for federal disaster area funding, but got turned down because it didn't affect enough people.
So what's in this garage of mine? Clutter. Lots and lots of clutter. Some of it's good stuff -- camping equipment, stuff for the car, firewood, summer toys and outdoor games, a set of golf clubs, the empty boxes for my computer and stereo components, the rest of the toilet paper and paper towels that I bought at Sam's Club. But a good chunk of it is stuff I'll probably never use. I hang on to these things because I think they can be reused, and feel guilty just throwing the stuff out in the trash. Yes, I realize the landfills are going to fill up with me or without me.
Here's an example: Cardboard boxes. I still have some cardboard U-Haul moving boxes from the time I moved here 5 years ago. They've been collapsed and stowed in one of the corners of the garage. Yes, I can throw them out, but when I move again, I'd have to buy boxes to replace the ones I threw out. It seems like such a waste of money (and boxes) to use a box once, throw it out, and buy another one to replace it.
Thankfully, the county dump accepts corrugated cardboard for recycling, so instead of throwing the boxes in the trash, I take them to the dump.
Yesterday, I helped one of my neighbors empty out her garage of the cardboard boxes she had been saving. She pulled out the boxes from the garage, I cut them flat with my box cutter, and loaded them in my car to take to the dump. I couldn't fit them all in, so some of them got put in my garage for the next trip.
This afternoon, I flattened the rest of the boxes, and prepared them for recycling by loading them into another cardboard box. A few of them had foam packing peanuts in them, so I scooped those out and put them in a trash bag. I'll take that bag to the nearest UPS Store for reuse.
What's next on the garage cleanup agenda? Newspapers, paper grocery sacks, plastic grocery sacks, plastic food containers (yogurt cups, butter and cottage cheese tubs, etc.), and glass jars. I'd recycle the plastic food tubs, but they're made of #5 plastic -- polypropylene -- and my trash hauler doesn't accept that type of plastic for recycling. I'd love to give them to an elementary school for craft projects.
Then comes the paper clutter -- the files and stuff I should look through, get rid of most of it, and scan the things I want to save. I have a spare dining room table and chairs in there, along with a papasan chair and loveseat/sofa, and a bookcase I trash-picked (or "vulched" as I call it) from one of my neighbors who was throwing it out. A couple of years ago, the same neighbor threw out a perfectly good floor fan, only because it was dusty. I vulched it, cleaned it up, and it works great.
no subject
We'll compare notes!
I've currently got in it my tools, a newly completed Viking bed frame, a full set of kitchen cabinets that I have to mount on the walls to use for shelving (free!), a motorcycle that needs a little repair (free!), our riding lawnmower (6+ acres of land), a puppet stage (yes, I'm still playing with dolls) three filing cabinets (from my parents) plus boxes of stuff from my parents which I've got to go through. I'm hoping for warmer weather later this week.