clean the garage

I came home early from work because it was so nice, and we rearranged, pulled out winter clothes, etc.

I don’t want to say this is completely done…there are still some boxes full of random unknowns, and I’d like to organize the cabinet I have out there a little bette.

But I think I’m close to considering this done. Most everything out there belongs out there, has a certain spot, I know it’s out there, and it’s in labeled boxes.

my husband has started going through some of the things in the garage, and we listed three things on craigslist today.

A small shelf I was having trouble parting with ended up fitting perfectly in a new space I created, and I was able to bring all the strangler books inside too.

We have had a busted dehumidifier in our garage for longer than I’m willing to admit. I doubted my husband that we could find a good place to recycle it, but we did today, about 5 miles from our house, so it’s finally out of there! We made two huge trips to goodwill this week and I think it’s really apparent out there. We are the drop spot for our CSA this summer, so we have a definite deadline to get it in better shape (to not be embarrassed in front of our new veggie eating friends).

So my dad worked for a defense contractor when I was a kid, and I was able to get a howitzer shell, empty, without a cap. I thought it was cool…I always wanted to make it into a planter. I never really did…but I always wanted to. This thing has traveled with me to many houses, because it’s so cool! But what do you do with a howitzer shell? I was telling a story at work the other day about it and realized I could make it into a plant stand a lot easier than a planter. So I found an old piece of tile in the garage and made it into a plant stand today. It’s awesome! This weekend I organized a bit more out there and cleaned out a box (finding an undeveloped roll of film I had been looking for forever, too). STill some work to be done, books and CDs, etc., but I did make some progress.

found a box of books I had been looking for…reorganized a little bit. Not quite as much “purging” as one would hope, but sometimes you need to organize to purge. I did bring in a few boxes and will go through those this evening.

We got my dad to notch out a piece of 2X4, so we were able to get this off the floor and onto a premade shelf. Opens up a lot of space. I also finally got the bird feeder out now that the ground is thawed out enough to put our post in the ground. The weather is finally getting a little nicer too, so I’m hoping we can work out there more in the next few weeks.

The ultimate goal is to walk in and see it completely organized, everything just in labeled boxes for the stuff that we keep in there (Christmas, camping, off season clothes, etc.) and not be storing random stuff in there at all.

I did one box on that was on the floor with a few things set on top of it, and then I did two other boxes plus a half size tote. So I cleared out an entire section of our shelving (that’s supposed to hold organized things MEANT for the garage, off season clothes, camping gear, Christmas decorations, etc.) and by cleaning out the half tote, I was able to put a bag of bird seed that was just sitting on the floor beckoning mice to come check it out into a secure container instead.

This Tuesday is my day off and I’m sure I’m going to tackle much more again. I’m flipping proud of myself!

we have been able to keep the car in teh garage ever since we got back from vacation. It’s amazing how clean it stays! My goal for this weekend is…two boxes.

and I’m not even lying…I think we can fit the car in the garage while we are gone!!! I was out there to pull down our summer clothes and rearranged things a little bit…there is so much progress i know I can make when it warms up a little. I don’t know that we’re going to be parking the car in there all the time (as we’d prefer to not get it dinged up since it’s so tight) but the fact that we can keep it secure while we are gone for a week is such a relief. Evne in there today, I saw so many things that I know are going to be easy to go through and get rid of… I’m going to move this up higher on my list now that the weather is getting warmer.