Phase 1, Day 4- To clean a mess, you gotta make a mess

There are three C's that are the evil to clean- cardboard, crap, and Christmas. And now matter how hard I try, while cleaning out the first C, the other two just keep growing! I have killed almost every empty box, having killed at least 20 last night, and with only the ones at the top of the steps to go. Next is cleaning out all the boxes stuffed with crap and putting them into (for now) one of the many, many storage tubs we own. It's gonna be fun *shutter*. But the end of phase one is in site. Once all the boxes are gutted, probably by tomorrow night, I will tie up the cardboard and send it off for recycling. Hooray!

Christmas, however, is another matter. I have already declared a ban on Christmas ornaments. If there is enough to assault me, there are too many. I counted 3 tubs that were only Christmas items. I am not planning to tackle that until phase 3, but...dang. Macrame Santa mocks me.

I took more pic.s, hoping to show progress. I think it is scary- looks worse, despite the fact I was expunging large quantities of stuff by the bagful. But as the title suggests, sometimes you gotta make a mess to clean a mess.

 

Look Mom, a floor!

 

Is the mound any smaller?

 

Look, I see my brother's old desk under there!

 

Find of the day: one of my favorite pieces from art school.

Boxes killed: 20

Bags of trash: 2

Finds of the Day: Art drawings, and $5.50 in one cardboard box

Phase 1, Day 3: Back for More

Still so many boxes to cut up. I discovered a lot of electronics we don't use anymore, and I found a guy who supposedly takes them for free. I'm hoping to recycle them in Phase four. Baby steps right now. Thank goodness for Dad's pocket knife for cutting up all that cardboard. Once I get them all done (I'm gonna try to finish cutting them all up tonight), I plan to tie them up and take them for recycling. To my surprise, some of the boxes were still good., nut 90% of them would have been useless for packing.

I took some photos to show the state of the basement before I get too far ahead. I'll take more when I kill all the boxes...That sounds like a great cheesey Flash game- KILL ALL BOXES!

Trash waiting to go out...

Phase 1, Day 2 : ouch, I stepped on a tack.

Welcome to my blog. Why am I doing this? Because, frankly, a basement is not for junking. It's for recreation, it's for a spare room, and it's for going to in case of a tornado. We can't do that right now.

There are many reasons for why our basement is as bad as it is; Dad's love of box-hoarding, the recent death of my grandfather and my mom "rescuing" stuff from his house, the junk my siblings and I accumulated during college years...The fact is, we are pack-rats. We save too much. We live in a material society that taught us quantity was more valuable than quality. We also don't know how to recycle. All that combined left us with a basement so full of clutter and broken flooring and walls, that I don't honestly remember the last time we used that room.

My ultimate goal is to clean out the basement, straighten up the workshop (a room built into the basement), and make it livable again. I would love to be able to have a game room down there, or (if we can have it sealed up) a spare bedroom for when my brother comes home. The space has potential...somewhere under all that stuff. I hope this experience will teach my whole family about how we can better minimize our trash and well as our "prized processions".

Day 2: progress. I wish I took a picture before I started so you could fully appreciate how bad it is down here. Yesterday I started Phase 1, Operation Kill All Boxes, which produced something I had not seen in over ten years- the rainbow carpet. I bet it was vibrant in that 70's vintage gaudy way when it was new. Now, it needs to come up...whenever I get to phase 4. Tonight, I stepped ona tack. Minor setback. Unless I get tetanus.

FIND OF THE DAY: Old Commodore 64 magazines, in perfect condition. Because...it was important to know how to cheat at Frogger.

BOXES KILLED: 19