September 08, 2009

THE GARAGE

Have you ever been driving down the road and drive by someones house and they have their garage door standing wide open and the garage is just filled to the max with stuff?

Well let me tell you this is my garage. Eight years ago when we bought our house it was not in move in condition. AKA... we gutted the inside and left the kitchen and dinning room in tack for us to live in. Having only two rooms and lots of stuff 90% of our belongings went into the garage. As our house expanded and became more livable we moved some stuff into the house. However over the years we have also moved a lot of stuff out. This has caused that stuffed to the max effect to our garage.

I am so embarrassed every time my husband leaves the garage door standing wide open. If I had it my way it would never be opened, ever. Reality is this isn't going to happen so I decided this was the weekend we were cleaning it out. We both had a four day weekend so this was a doable task, right? WRONG....

In my mind cleaning out junk, getting rid of stuff and buying shelves to put totes on would make this a simple task. My husbands mind thinks so different than mine. First he decides he wants to build shelves. Instantly I am frustrated because if you have ever heard me say before my husband is an engineer and nothing is ever simple with him. He say's to me, I will make them simple. Again, not buying into it.

We start clearing out lots of stuff. Let me say he is the pack-rat in this family for sure. I can't tell you how much stuff he thought he needed to keep and then when he turned his back I tossed it into the trash. He says I am not sentimental. Maybe not but to be sentimental you need to enjoy it and you are never going to enjoy stuff sitting in totes in the garage.

Friday afternoon he heads off to buy wood to build the shelves. He returns a couple hours later with wood and drywall. Why does he have drywall? He wants to put drywall up before building shelves. Oh wait but all power was removed from the garage years ago for safety reasons and he decides before he can drywall he wants to run wire so he can put electricity back into our garage.

Can you see where I am going here? My simple project turned into a four day project that is only about 40% done. We got one shelving section up and it looks so nice but so much more still needs done.

I have several large items I need to get rid of and not sure what I want to do with them. I think sit them at the curb for anyone to pick up, or maybe Freecycle, or maybe Goodwill. I have to haul them to Goodwill and honestly I think the guy at Goodwill is sick of seeing me. The worst part is a lot of this stuff we now have sitting out in the drive way. So my embarrassment has extended from the open door to anyone who just drives down my road and looks at my driveway.

Does anyone want to take a guess as to when my garage project will be complete?
I am going with never! My husband worked very hard this weekend so I have to give him credit for that but why he can't ever stick with the simple plan I will never understand.

10 Comments Welcome:

Heatherlyn said...

I know it is frustrating to not have a project finished. I think you will be glad later that it was wired properly. I'd just go through and get rid of one tote each day. I'm sentimental, but if you haven't used something for a year ... it is probably time for it to go! Good luck!

Diane said...

sounds like a really big job! kudos to you guys for being motivated to even get it started - i'd put that off as long as possible!

LT said...

Oh man, that sounds totally frustrating! I'm sure freecycle over the weekend will help with the stuff. I have had people stop and think we are having a garage sale ours is so bad! I Hope for you that it doesn't take forever to get the rest done!!

Muthering Heights said...

LOL, my parent's garage is always like that...

Serendipity is Sweet said...

Oh my, I've been avoiding that same project in my attic! We need a bigger house AND a lot less stuff. I try to leave things for the DAV when they come by once a month.
My kids are much worse about parting with things than my husband is.

I hope you can come to a quick resolution.

Heather said...

That is a huge project. Yuck. But, Good for you guys, though, that you do so much on your home yourselves! Your husband sounds brave--I laughed reading this post because my dad used to always want to "run wires", etc--he is an architect and my mom is always just leaving the house when he gets a project started these days...(PS: my husband has thrown out about 3/4 of the stuff he had when we married 8 yrs ago) Sentimental? Whatever! he had t-shirts from 2nd grade!

{Kiki} said...

The house is my organized space. I attempt the garage, but hubster just ruins anything I try to accomplish. He leaves his tools and shoes everywhere. Wet towels from wiping our Goldens' paws and bodies. Just stuff. Car cleaning and other chemicals. Super annoying. Good luck with your task. Be sure to take a before and after picture. Take care.
-Kiki

Brandi said...

Oh yes, our bathroom project has been taking us forever! And I seriously mean forever! I think we started it in June. The BEGINNING of June. It's still not finished..painted, but nothing else. I feel your pain! LOL

JamericanSpice said...

LOL. I asked my dh to clear up our garage before I went nutso. He did a good job, now we can walk through it and a vehicle fits in it. I still want more things gone, but you can guess who is the packrat in this family right?

Same thing with me. NOTHING is ever simple with my husband. I see a simple fix and the next thing you know we are building a shed! OY

So I guess next year we'll be talking about how your garage went.

BPOTW said...

That's one 'project' that NEVER gets finished!

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