Massive Basement Clean Up

It's happening! It's really really happening! Keith and I took the plunge and committed ourselves to cleaning out our basement once and for all! As soon as we moved in, we stored everything in the basement to deal with "later" and later began to look like "forever". But now we have a very special reason to clean it out and that's to make a space for Logan to play in.

Before:
Our basement looked like an episode of Hoarders. It was embarrassing how we let it go. Things just added up over the years.

Day 1: 

On Friday night, my baby brother Uncle Rob came down and hauled as much stuff out of the basement as he could before it got dark. It took about 2 hours and we made a small dent. It was overwhelming. The strategy was to take everything outside and start over new as though we were moving in for the first time. What we couldn't/didn't use in 2 years had to be donated, sold or trashed. We had so many cans of paint too.

Day 2: 

On Saturday, our town was having their annual town-wide yard sale and we took advantage of that . People were on a mission and we got bombarded as we were setting up. Keith wheeled and dealed. I wore Logan using the Ergo which doubled as my money bag ;) We spent about 5 hours out there.

We were very successful! We sold all the big ticket items and then some. I couldn't believe how many people bought cans of paint that were leftover from my projects. I did make 2 purchases of my own though; an over sized map of the United States that was laminated and a beautiful teal suitcase from 1960 that was in perfect condition! Here's my little guy in it. I thought I could use it as a photo prop or store Logan's keepsakes in.

After:

The morning of the yard sale, I spent 2 hours cleaning, gathering up loose change and nails or screws. I bagged up 2 bags of trash and hauled more stuff out to sell. I still can't believe how good it looks! You can actually see the floors and walls again.

Here's the Before again.

Day 3:

We always do family activities with Logan on the weekends so Sunday morning we went apple, pumpkin and veggie picking with some friends and their children. It was such a wonderful day! When we got home, I decide to spend little more time sorting everything we took out of the basement and wore Logan on my back in the Ergo. Trash is on Tuesday and Recycle is on Wednesdays which is why I was in a hurry to chip away at it. I scheduled a donation pick up by the VVA for Friday. I always find it motivating to have a set deadline.  

I sorted things into different categories:

- Donate

- Trash

- Recycle

- Scrap Metal

- Keep

Things are certainly looking a lot better outside. I couldn't be happier.

Total time spent: 10 hours