Cleaning The Garage!

Nearly 4-1/2 years ago we moved from a 1350 sq ft 9-room house in Lansing, MI to a 967 sq ft 6-room house here in Houghton Lake. And because we had a very short time in which to get packed and moved (2 days), things didn't get packed in an organized manner. Also, when I move I use the opportunity to get rid of lots of stuff - not having to pack and move and unpack it is impetus enough! But with the help of our church friends in Lansing it all gt done, the truck got loaded and everything made it here.

We put as much as we could into the house, and the rest went into the garage. Where it has stayed ever since. We have, over the first couple of years, sorted through and gotten rid of about 75% of our excess in the house but of course we've replaced most of it with more "stuff". The "stuff" in the garage, however, has been moved in and out quite a few times when one of us has needed something essential that we couldn't find in the house. Everything would get hauled out into the driveway, dozens of boxes and garbarge bags and loose items, then piled back in. Over and over again. We could have had the garage cleaned out long ago, had all of that effort been forth into doing so!

My husband is having hernia surgery in a couple of weeks. I work Mon-Fri., and he works most Saturdays, but this Saturday - an absolutely GORGEOUS, colorful day here in northern Michigan, we were both off. And a friend of ours offered to come and help us. So today was the day.

I had 3 goals: Get at least 50% of what was in there, out. To the trash, to charity, wherever - just out. Secondly, every box had to be SORTED. No opening boxes and setting them aside to go right back in. Third, no more cardboard. If it didn't fit into one of the dozen-or-so plastic bins I had, then it had to go. We also have cabinets, but each item had to have a home in a bin or cabinet. All cardboard boxes and plastic bags would be gone by the time we finished. And of course, "When in doubt, throw it out!"

So this morning we hauled everything out to the driveway - up and down the entire length of it -and put it in general areas: Christmas stuff, tools, fishing equipment, clothing, decorative articles, photos, pet supplies, etc. Then we took one area at a time and sorted through it. When all the areas were sorted, we assigned them a new spot in the now-cleanly-swept garage.

And it is finished. In the spring we will build shelves all along the side wall, where the bins can be neatly put. Along the back wall will be a large table, attached to the wall like a workbench, with cabinets underneath. The other side wall houses our chest freezer and spare dryer. (Our dryer has been teasing us with the threat of death for a couple of years now but when it started squealing and groaning we got another one, sure it would be needed within weeks or even days...) The workbench in back will be used for everything from wrapping gifts to rebuilding computers.

And that leaves a large area in the middle and the front. We will stretch screening over a frame to fit our garage door, and it will be a nice living area in the summer, with a table and chairs for cards or eating.

My former shop, which occupies the back half of the garage, still has a stove and a microwave in it, and I plan to put a small fridge in there also. It will also house our Yamaha keyboards, and have seating area for relaxing. Hubby and I each have a desktop computer back there also (we use our laptops most of the time), and we can use those with our keyboards for recording, or with our internet stick for streaming entertainment. Because the shop is insulated, heated, and air-conditioned, we will use it year-round, and in fact plan to have it set up within the next few weeks. Moving our keyboards and bookcase full of music back there will also open up one of the 4 living spaces we have up in the house and offer more space for, well, for living.

By the time we are done, we will have almost as much living space - at least in the warmer weather - here as we did in Lansing. And much more organized storage. And who knows, maybe by next fall we can winterize and remodel the entire garage for year round living too! Stranger things have happened!

But meanwhile...today the biggest and toughest part of the whole process got done. I can barely move (maybe once the vicodin and flexaril kick in...) but it was SO worth it!