Alright, so I was trying to figure something out the other day, digging around online trying to, you know, categorize stuff. It’s harder than it looks sometimes, finding exactly what you’re looking for or even remembering why you started looking in the first place. Your brain just goes off on tangents.
It actually reminded me of this whole mess I had sorting out my garage last spring. Man, what a job that was. It had gotten completely out of hand. Just piles of junk everywhere. Couldn’t even walk in there properly.
Getting Started
So, first thing I did was just drag everything out onto the driveway. Seriously, everything. Old paint cans, tools I forgot I had, boxes from stuff I bought years ago, busted lawn chairs. The whole neighborhood probably thought I was having a yard sale, or maybe just finally lost my mind.
Then I had to actually sort through it. This took ages. I made a few piles:
- Keep
- Donate
- Trash
Sounds simple, right? But then you pick up something, like an old fishing rod with a broken tip. Keep? Nah, haven’t fished in ten years. Trash? Seems wasteful. Donate? Who wants a broken rod? Took me like fifteen minutes just on that one thing. Multiply that by a garage full of stuff… yeah, it was a long weekend.
The Real Work
Once I had my piles, getting rid of the trash and donation stuff was the easy part. Relatively speaking. Had to borrow my buddy Dave’s truck for the dump run. Cost me a case of beer, but worth it.
Then came putting the ‘Keep’ stuff back. This was where I tried to be smart about it. I went and bought some of those heavy-duty plastic shelves. Assembled those first, which was its own little adventure – instructions are never clear, are they? Always one screw left over, makes you nervous.
Organizing was key. I put the stuff I use often, like basic tools, gardening supplies, right near the front, easy to grab. Seasonal stuff, like the Christmas decorations and the snow blower (which I barely used last winter, figures), went further back and up higher. Labeled a bunch of boxes too, trying to be organized for once in my life.
Took me basically two full days, sunup to sundown. My back was killing me. But man, when I was done, standing there, looking at actual floor space? Felt pretty damn good. Almost makes me want to tackle the basement next. Almost.
