31 Days - Simplify the Garage

Simple Living requires ginormous purging! Instead of starting with a small project, I decided the garage would be worth conquering first.

Yesterday, the conquering began. Before sorting the cluttered chaos out into several different piles, I studied Home Your Ways, 10 Questions to Help You Declutter. These questions provide a good guide for whether or not an item is worth holding onto any longer. My major areas of struggle when sorting items had to do with keeping things just in case (#5) and keeping things that I plan to fix (#8)! I also keep various things because I once paid good money for the item or because someone else paid good money for it! 

The kids had 2 large rectangles drawn on the floor of the garage with sidewalk chalk. They were using them as parking spaces! I took over their parking spaces and added a few more large rectangles in order to make a few different sorting spaces. My piles included keep, sell, trash, sort (things that need more time to be sorted out) and donate! I needed to make bigger spaces, obviously.

 Before

 

 After

I began in one corner of the garage, the most over run with junk! I tried to make quick decisions about everything I touched. There were moments when I put things in the keep pile that could probably be trashed or donated. I was proud of myself, though, because I threw away jars that I have been holding onto for some random craft project that I will never do. I threw away 2 liter bottles I thought I was going to use to make jet packs for the kids.

We have accumulated quite a few plastic Easter eggs over the years! I actually have purchased some with the intent of making a cute little Easter wreath. Good intentions...Two of the kids decided to help get rid of some of them today, but their help always leads to some element of drama when one does something the other doesn't want done. I have little patience for that.

I did manage to make a trip to the recycling center with a huge pile of newspapers that have been accumulating since May 19, I checked the date on the bottom paper. I also dropped off a decent load to Goodwill. I have a book shelf listed on a local consignment site and an old changing table that I am going to take to the dump the next time it is open. Our two trash cans are full, as well, with random big items that will be leaning against the curb on Tuesday. 

A dent has been made, but there is so much left to do!I plan to dive back into the garage project today. Wish me luck!