The Garage

Last night my husband mentioned that he really needs to start parking in the garage.  It's getting colder and we've had to scrape the windshield the past few mornings.  It takes between 10 and 15 minutes to get the car warm enough for all the windows to be clear.  And he feels that all this cuts into his work day.  (Of course, if he would wake up on time like a nearly 30 year old man should, this might not be such a big issue....)  But I agreed with him.  He does need to be able to park in the garage so the frost and ice isn't a problem for getting going in the morning.

But this meant something would have to happen that I'd been avoiding: We must clean the garage.  <insert horror movie scream here>

Since the rain had yet to start this afternoon, I took the kids outside and had them ride bikes around the driveway while I attempted to work on the garage.  I think I mostly just shuffled stuff around.  It's the thought that counts, right?

Obviously, in terms of organizing and simplifying, the garage is the biggest problem area.  It's better than it was at the beginning of the summer in terms of how much stuff is in there, but due to going through boxes and moving stuff around, it LOOKS worse.  And all the sawdust that covers every inch of the garage from when my husband made bunk beds for the boys isn't helping.

I did purchase a bunch of storage bins so I could move holiday decorations from various cardboard boxes.  I'm all for keeping the spiders out as much as possible, plus if I ever flood the garage again through our central air system (long story), our items will be better protected in the plastic containers than they would be in cardboard.  I didn't know how much would really fit into them, but I was able to fit all Halloween decorations into one medium sized bin and all Christmas decorations into one large bin.  All in all, I did away with five big cardboard boxes (clearing two whole shelves) just from using those two bins.  Unbelievable!  I was so excited and, I'll admit it, just a tad proud of myself for saving so much garage space.  I foresee my storage bin/system addiction getting worse....

There's still a TON to do, but after clearing away five boxes and finally taking some pictures of larger items that we've been wanting to sell, I felt like I made some progress today.  And the more progress I make in the garage, the more room it gives me to toss out more stuff from the house.  Hmm?  The car?  Better stock up on ice scrapers, honey.