The Great Garage Clean Out Challenge

OrgJunkie and Momof6 are hosting a challenge to clean out our garages.  I decided there was no time better than this to tackle my garage!  The first part of the challenge is to post our 'before' pictures.  YIKES!  You will definitely know why I say that in a moment when you see my pictures.  My husband (Jad) and I have lived in our house for 6 years.  It has seemed to be so easy just to put things in the garage to deal with later.  Well, later seems to never come and that one box turns into 100 boxes. 

My problems with tackling my garage are:

1) I am a procrastinator

I tell myself all the time that I will get to it, but I never do.

2) I get overwhelmed when I look at it all

I see the whole garage and almost have a panic attack and then revert back to #1.

Then, I think "I can just start with one box, but which box do I start with."

Again, reverting back to #1.

3) I cannot decide if I want to have a yard sale or donate everything to charity.

I go back and forth all the time.

We are trying to get out of debt, so I think "Well, we could have a yard sale and put the money towards debt." But I know that yard sales are a lot of work and I do not like haggling.  I mean come on people it's already a steal at 50 cents and you want to offer me a quarter!! 

So that makes me think "Ok, I will just go through there real fast and load my van and take it to the charity drop off and be done with it."  Tax write off, right?

Well, my accountant husband wants to write down each item so we can itemize the deduction.

Gosh, I love that man!!  But, this makes me revert back to #1.
However, if I decide to give everything to charity and write each item down, I will definitely use
The Family CEO's idea!

4) I seem to be in the mood to want to work on the garage at the wrong times.

I seem to want to work on the garage in the mornings when it is time to get ready for work or when it is time to go to bed.  What??

Ok.  So, enough about why I have not organized my garage.

I HAVE DECIDED TO TACKLE IT ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!

Are you ready for the before pictures?

Ok...here you go...

BAM!!

Did you just say OMG?  Yeah, I thought so.  Scary huh?

And when this door is open for any reason anyone that drives by can see this mess!

That void you see there on the left is where the push mower goes.

Jad was mowing the grass when I was taking these pictures.

Boxes upon boxes upon boxes!

Why yes, that is a kitchen cabinet in the right hand corner with the empty Folgers coffee can on top of it.

There IS a somewhat good explanation (IMO) for the kitchen cabinets in my garage.

We had a kitchen fire a few years ago, 3 to be exact.  I told the crew that redid the kitchen that I wanted to keep the cabinets and countertops because I thought they would be good in the garage for storage and a worktop when I clean it up.  Did you catch that?  3 YEARS AGO!!!

Well, we shall see when this garage gets clean won't we....

May I introduce to you my son Tanman.  He ran into the picture right when I took it.  =)

Wow, the more I talk about these pictures the more ridiculous this is getting.

I mean really how long would it take me to load that office chair into my van and take it to charity. 

Oh yeah, revert back to #3 and then #1.

This is a picture of stuff smack dab in the middle of the garage.

You can tell because of the garage pully thing in the top right hand corner of the picture.

Ok. This is the perfect storage area.  I cannot wait to see this when the garage is complete!!

The back of the fireplace is to the left of this, so it left an area for shelves.

I am opening myself up to you all with this project, so I will go ahead and admit that those paint cans in the upper right hand corner.....

yep, you guessed it!  They have been there since we bought the house...

6 YEARS AGO!!!

Time to go....time to go...

As you can read in the picture, this is looking at the garage from the door coming out of my house.

What you probably cannot read is the saying that says, "Been wanting to put this entertainment center on Craigslist but I can't get it out to take pictures." 

This is a nice entertainment center and I hate to just chunk it or give it to charity.

But then........

there is a #5 I could add to the list above...

Jad and I are uncomfortable for strangers to come to our house to buy stuff.

UGH!!!!  Stop the madness!!!

Do you see all those arrows pointing to items that say "Money Maker?"

Yeah, those are all baby items (except the TV) that could be bringing us money to go towards our debt.

All I have to do is clean them up (wipe them down) and take them to the closest consignment shop.

Cha-ching!!

Once again.....ridiculous!!  This is Christmas wrapping paper and decorations.

Where I stood to take this picture, I am right under the attic ladder.

All I have to do is pull that ladder down, pick this stuff up, carry it up that ladder and put it on the attic floor.

I know, I know.

Also, that wedding gift on top of the fridge...

I mean really???

It has been sitting in that same spot for 6 years.

I do not want it.

I have never opened it.

I have thought about re-gifting it.

As you can see, it is STILL sitting there.

NOT ANYMORE!!  IT IS OUTTA HERE!!

(in my dun-nuh-nuh-nuh superhero voice)

More "Money Maker" baby items!!

Whew! As you can see, I have my challenge cut out for me!! 

Well, there you have it folks.

My "before" pictures of my garage.

Honestly, I am really embarrassed.

So a big THANK YOU to OrgJunkie and Momof6 for putting this challenge together!!

Laura from OrgJunkie will be guiding us throughout this challenge using her P.R.O.C.E.S.S. steps.

She will use these steps to teach us and help us apply them to our garage clean out during the month of May.  Each Friday during May, you can head over to Laura's site to get the lesson plan for the week.  Then you can head over to Momof6's site to see how she applied Laura's advice to her garage project.  On the next 3 Fridays (5/11, 5/18 and 5/25) we all have a chance to show off our progress with each week's link-up and pick up future assignments as to what we need to do to de-clutter, clean-out, clean-up, purge, and organize!

So, join in and link up your Great Garage Clean-Out!!

 

JMD

I am linking up to

OrgJunkie and Momof6