Where does it go?

The entire day stretched ahead of me when I woke up yesterday. Nothing that needed to be done for this morning but still lots of stuff to do.

I spent the morning on the computer getting my QUILTsocial blog posts ready. I edited tons of pictures and loaded them. I'll start adding text later today. I know that I should have done some of the writing yesterday, but wasn't in me.

Before I left on the road trip, I was excited about calling the junk pick up people. Hmm - I guess I should get to the garage and see just what is there.

Remember  - you're not allowed to judge me! My mother is a hoarder and I have hoarding tendencies. I'm trying to do something about it. That's the key here.

Not long after we moved in, we had a company come in and built some shelves to help keep things organized and all of those shelves/hangers are working like a charm. But what to do with all the other stuff?

I confess that I'm a box collector. These have come in very handy for shipping quilts, but I don't think I need this many. What to do? And how to sort?

A HUGE pile of empty boxes

Yes - I know I wasn't responsible when I opened the garage door and winged every box we got (well most boxes) into the garage. It didn't take long to fill the recycling cart. Yes - I know the junk people will take and sort this. But I'm perfectly capable and have the time right now to do it myself and save a wee bit of cash.

I filled the back of my car with flattened cardboard boxes and I'm off to the recycling depot this morning. The depot is a wee detour to Monday sewing so it's not a big deal.

I'll probably have enough stuff (cardboard and styrofoam) for a couple of additional trips. That'll then give us the room needed to sort the keep from the do not keep.

More stuff

We have a big shelf high in our garage and it's pretty clear except for my real estate signs that I use for the bottom of bags. If you ever need some, I've got loads and I know I won't use it all.

Shelf for storing lesser-used items

Once I get rid of the boxes, it really won't take long to finish cleaning the garage. There is stuff, but not really that much when it comes down to it. I'm guessing a couple more hours and everything will be ready for the pickup.

More stuff in the garage

It doesn't help that there are four bicycles in the garage! I regularly use three of the four so we can't downsize those.  Might have to get another ceiling rack to store those for the winter. I have a rack that will hold two of them. I doubt that we can get two cars in that garage anyway although my car is tiny. It's those darn recycling bins that take up a lot of room.

The biggest question with some of this stuff is "where does it go?"  In the recycling or the garbage. Thankfully our regional municipality has a website. You plug in what item you have and you'll get an answer as to where it goes. I love it!!!!  Check out the list of items that are recyclable in your neighborhood. It's surprising!!!

I also have a few things that I know are saleable. Where to sell them? I decided to bite the bullet last night and get my act together as I have other items to sell. These are my summer tires from my old car. They wouldn't take them with the car so I got to bring them home from where the dealer had stored them.

Tires for sale

I took pictures and posted them on Facebook Marketplace. It was super easy and took seconds. I've received so many messages about the tires. I hate to say they are sold until they are actually out of the garage. I have someone coming later today. That was darn quick. Let's hope the rest of the stuff I have to sell will go as quick.

One thing at a time. I'm just ecstatic that I'm moving forward on this. I've got days booked to deal with the mess in the dining room. Hopefully, the experiences in the shed and the garage will help to make it easier to deal with the paper. It's the darn paper. I've got to let it go. And I'm ready.

Once the car was full, there was no sense in continuing on. So I closed the garage doors and decided to have a spell in the gazebo. It was a tad chilly! I spent some time contemplating life with the fish. Holy - there is a LOT of fish and soon, it's going to be time to rig up that net over the pond to attempt to keep the leaves out. So far, the leaves haven't started to fall yet.

A lot of fish!

I know with all the mess and all the stuff, you might think that I don't know where stuff is. Oh yes - I know where stuff is even with the multiple shuffling around. Last night, I was preparing a couple of proposals for magazine quilts. I needed a specific box of material. Where the heck is that box? I could picture the box in my head - I knew what shape and color it was. But where is it? Within a couple of minutes, I had located that box in that messy corner of Studio B.

It might look chaotic to the neatniks of the world, but I've got a good handle on almost everything I own. There's only ONE thing that I just can't find. Several years ago, I started a hexie project. I put all the small hexagons into a plastic container that was supposed to hold photographs. There were about 5 or 6 of those smaller containers and they all fit into one larger one. It's clear plastic. I can't locate that box. I've looked several times and nothing. I hope it didn't get thrown out - no that would never happen at my house!!!! I'll find it - the question is when????

There's only one thing in that garage that I'm not sure what to do with. There's a LONG and very heavy box right in the middle of the floor. It's the box that the rails for the long arm came in. It's very well built to prevent any damage (bending) to those rails. Anyone have a long arm with that box?? What did you do with it??? It's just over 14 feet long and very, very heavy.

On that note, I'm out of here!!!  Hey - if you have issues with your garage, NOW is the time to get it cleaned up. Winter is coming and who wants to be out there in the cold. The temperature here is just perfect for that kind of job. I've got to remember to move a few things like those chairs to the garage for the garbage pickup.

It's amazing how easy it to get access to things when you have everything stored properly. I'm a Virgo - I should know better!!!!

Have a great day!!!!


Ciao!