And second, I knew I wasn't going to have the foggiest idea what a lot of it was or how to clean it out or organize it.
So, first things first, I managed my expectations. I was not going to sort screws, organize bolts or make decisions on tools. But that which I knew, I would deal with.
So here goes.
As I dug I, I realized I had entered the corner of "Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda." Brian is great, really truly, great. And he is creative, and has great ideas and even greater intentions. But the guy also works about 70-80 hours a week and is an active dad and Cub Scout leader. Time isn't something he has a lot of. Ideas, yes. Time, no.
And so this had become the resting idea for ideas and plans that were "nice to" but not "need to" ideas.
Yes, there is a floor here, but you might have never known it.
I started by honing in on this shelf. Which didn't look too intimidating.
It got even better when I found an entire bucket with one thing of rope and one copper coil-ish thing in it. Hmmm. Falling into the "I have no idea" category, but at least I'll put it with other like-I-don't-knows.
And hey, whattya know, one entire bucket of drawers was completely empty. This was going to be easy!
I pulled all that stuff out, purged and straightened and moved on.
And then I had to admit something about myself. Something I have seen time and time again during this process.
Sometimes, the combination of my thriftiness and environmental consciousness gets the best of me. Our fish died almost two years ago. And these are cheap plastic fish bowls. I think they cost about 2.99. But I didn't want to throw them away in case we got fish again. And I couldn't recycle them given their plastic makeup. So instead they took up 1/3 of a shelf. Now they are gone. Sorry landfills, but you are welcome possible future fish, no reused apartments for you.
Another Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda? Well, evidently, we did. But I have no idea why in the world we were keeping this empty bottle of Balvenie Scotch. Sure, it was good. And was sipped and enjoyed on many a night. But what are we really going to do? Pull it back out and look at the bottle and reminisce? Put a candle in it? Fill it back up with cheap scotch and do a taste test when we have friends over we aren't sure are quite good enough for the "real deal?" Probably not.
However, these were probably my favorites. I am a klutz. I mean a horrible, ridiculous, bad, amazing klutz. I fall. I trip. I spill. And I break stuff. Often. Like our dishes. That they don't make anymore.
I am not sure how much was Brian really thinking he'd do a project and how much was him just trying to make me feel better, but he told me to keep them because maybe someday he'd make a mosaic trivet or something out of them.
I actually don't think I have broken a dish in about two years. But I am sure I will break more. So I let these go.
And then I came across this. And about had a heart attack. Nope, it's not a furry creature. But it was Brian's thought, once that he'd reuse some decorative grass seeds to grow some more. Pretty sure there will be more grass in the spring. Tossed.
And I could go on. But you get the idea. Long story short, I ended up with several bags that looked like this. Yes, paint sticks, and Tiffany bags, and extra bits of railings.
But I ended up with a storage room that looks like this.
See, I promised you there was a floor!
All told, I got rid of:
15 pounds recycling
12 pounds trash
10 pounds of things I donated
A total of: 37 pounds
For a grand total of 292 pounds!
I linked this post up with MommyCommunity where we celebrate our recent successes. Link up your recent accomplishment, too!
