Just One Box Away...

It is time… 

I’ve gotten my upstairs decluttered and it is great.  If I want something, I can go to exactly where said item is located and get it.  

So now it is time to go into the monster’s lair.  Yes… I am cleaning out the shed.  

Armed with a healthy and productive dose of “sick of it”, I’ve pretty much decided unless I have a plan or a place for something… it is history.  

I’ve been thinking about this whole business of having ‘stuff’.   Dealing with clutter/too much ‘stuff’ has become an industry.  Storage buildings, sheds, a ba-zillion storage containers (and stores dedicated to selling ONLY storage containers), experts at helping a person organize and/or clear out their clutter, books and magazines written about how to deal with clutter, TV shows to entertain us by looking at other people’s clutter… 

According to Becoming Minimalist: 

•The US department of energy reports that one-quarter of people with two-car garages have so much stuff in there that they can’t park a car. 

•According to the national soap and detergent association, getting rid of clutter would eliminate 40 percent of housework in the average home.

•The national association of professional organizers says we spend one year of our lives looking for lost items.

•Harris interactive reports that 23 percent of adults say they pay bills late (and incur fees) because they lose them. 

•If you rent a storage facility to store your excess belongings, you’re contributing to a $154 billion industry – bigger than the Hollywood film business!

•1 in 11 American household’s rents a self-storage space and they spend over $1000 a year in rent. 

•It costs an average of $10/square foot to store items in your home. 

Oh my goodness!  Where does it all end?  How much stuff is enough?  

I started working in the shed last Friday.  At this point, it’s a bit overwhelming. 

I have backed Little Red up to the door and anything that is in good condition is tossed into the truck bed.  Every time I go to town I will drop the truck bed contents off at the charity store… or if I fill it, I’ll make a special trip to town. 

Just outside the shed door I have a pile of “goes to the dump”.  I’ll keep chucking stuff into that pile until I have enough to fill the back of the truck… then I’ll make the drive over to the dump. 

Load… get rid of… repeat. 

My goal is by the end of April, there is nothing in that shed on the floor unless it has wheels or legs (or is a bag of concrete!).  

Whatever I decide to keep will be in a labeled tub so I can find it WHEN I need to use it or up on a pegboard for easy access.  

And I’ll enjoy May without having to be working in a junky shed!