Does the title say enough? Dusty, dirty, and far past time to clean it out.
Our garage is really just a metal shed with an open front, not a true garage. And it hasn't been used as a garage in about 6 years--about the time we started buying and selling furniture and such. There's some stuff that's been in there, waiting for me to get to it, for about that long too.
So yesterday we got started on it. You know, if you refurbish furniture, how it is--you see something, and your mind says, "Oh, I can do this and this and this and have that ready to sell in no time!" But it doesn't work that way. Instead, those good buys get added to the backlog and before long there's an overwhelming pile. Be warned, if you're just getting into this! At least 4 big items were sympathy buys--I bought them because I felt sorry for the seller, and they weren't expensive, so...yeah. There they stayed in my garage. Some were against-my-better-judgment buys--I knew better. And some were great buys and I just let everything else get in the way of working on them.
We made four piles: burn, donate, our neighbor who takes scrap metal to re-sell, and keep. We also burned a lot of stuff that we should never have bought. We had a full pickup load to donate, and two loads for the metal scrapper. We cleared out half of what was in the garage, and I feel much lighter and more optimistic about actually being able to get the rest done.
I had an ulterior motive too. Larry has been getting into repairing/rebuilding small engines, like for our mower and tiller. It will save us money and extend the life of our equipment, but he had no place to work. So I was determined that he would have half of the garage cleared for his projects.
And I have one absolute rule for the future: no more stuff gets stashed in the garage. If we want to sell this place in 5 years (the current plan), we need to get the buildings cleaned out and our backlog of inventory reduced substantially so buyers don't see junk instead of a potential place to live. I have not added anything to the garage in two years, so I think this rule will be easy to keep.
We are almost finished, I'm hot, dusty and dirty but satisfied. Next, the building over the root cellar. Wish me luck.
Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.
I find that a lot of stuff I buy falls into the categories you mentioned and I'm not a dealer.
ReplyDeleteCleaning out is always hard work. Best of luck with the rest of it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a team ! There are times when the volume of stuff that is in storage is just too much but when I work on it one box at a time it isn't quite so bad. Good for you both.
ReplyDeleteJoy
If the title doesn't say enough, then the idea that if you're going to sell up in 5 years then the clear out needs to start now certainly says it all. Good luck with that, Sue!
ReplyDeleteCleaning out and reorganizing is such a big job - but satisfying when done. We got a new shed this summer - the old one was in terrible shape when we bought the house - this one is new and sturdy and reorganized. It was a chore - but worth it - though we didn't have to sort out furniture and big pieces like you did, it was still a huge job.
ReplyDeleteSo where are you moving to when you sell your wonderful property??? And why?