Day 5: The PODS Delivery

At the end of each day, I post a recap of what happened today and what progress I made. I try to be as detailed as possible when tracking the project.

Today we begin the second week of the Stuff Project! I’m a survivor…

I drew this myself!

Today’s Stats:

Number of hours spent: 10
Supplies purchased: 1 PODS portable onsite storage unit (12x8x8)
Amount spent: $266.74 (for delivery, first month’s rent and taxes)
Number of (13-gallon kitchen) bags trashed: 2.5
Number of giveaway boxes: 5.5

Progress:

Today was kind of all over the place. I wasn’t quite sure how much I would be able to do today because I was expecting the delivery from PODS and I didn’t know what time they were going to show up. I started the day off working on part of my sister’s bedroom closet. I must have had a lot of energy early this morning because at the end of the first two hours I already had one full trash bag and two giveaway boxes sealed and ready to go. After that, I needed to make room for the storage delivery.

You see, my family has five cars. The two cars we use the least are parked on the driveway and the three that we use the most often are parked on the lawn. Or rather, the dirt that is our front yard. You might have already guessed that the reason we don’t use our garage is because it is filled with stuff.

Anyway, I had to move the two cars parked on the driveway to make room for the storage unit. One of the cars is in working condition while the other has a dead battery. We drove the working car into our back yard because it’s all just dirt back there, we have a gate, and we drive on our front yard anyway. The other car I had to put in neutral and push it down the driveway and onto the street. Luckily my mom and I got help from our neighbor to push the car. Still, my back isn’t happy with me.

I then had to sweep the dirt and debris that got under both of the cars while parked on the driveway. I am so glad I got those filter masks, otherwise I would be sneezy and irritated.

Before noon, PODS came to drop off the storage unit. I was so excited. They have this cool contraption on their trucks that gently places the empty unit on your driveway or wherever you ask. The driver was there and gone within 15 minutes.

So here’s a picture of the different phases of my driveway this morning:

Once the storage unit got here, I looked for a heavy duty dolly cart so I could start bringing the giveaway boxes in my sister’s room to the storage. All I found was a foldable dolly hand cart.

Lifting a single box from my sister’s room through the hallway and to the entry way was so tiresome. Not only were the boxes heavy, but it was also hard to navigate through all of the clutter in the hallway. When I got to the entryway I found it difficult to carry the box and open the door at the same time. Then I couldn’t even open the door wide enough to get the box through comfortably because of all the shoes that are behind the door. Outside I finally put the box on the dolly and wheeled it to the storage unit where I found that there was no ramp into the unit. I walked around to the backyard where there were old scraps of wood. I took one and brought it to the front to use as a ramp. The wood crackled under the boxes as I pushed it into the unit. Although it worked briefly, that piece of wood wouldn’t suffice for the other boxes.

By noon the sun was already beating down, making me sweaty, winded, and just plain tired. I decided to postpone putting boxes in the unit until tomorrow morning when the temperature is much lower and after I get a lock for the unit.

I spent the rest of the day inside cleaning up parts of the hallway. The hallway area in my house is shaped like a “T”. Today I focused on the head of the “T” which looks more like an upside down and reverse “L” because of a wall of clothes that blocks off the other side. The wall of clothes makes the garage, laundry room and guest room all inaccessible. The first area I cleaned (before and after):

Then the wall of clothes that I attacked (before and after):

As you can see, most of the giveaway boxes I filled and sealed today consisted of clothes.

Sister’s closet. Cars in the driveway. Hallway. That’s my day in a nutshell.

Extra Stuff:

Like a Good Neighbor
The neighbor I mentioned earlier who helped move the car off the driveway was also out and about when the PODS delivery came.

Neighbor: Hey that was neat how they unloaded the container, huh?
Me: Yeah it was!
Neighbor: That storage thing is such a great idea! Are you using it to clean out your garage?
Me: Yeah. The garage. We’re also cleaning out the house.
Neighbor: Well, that sure is a big container. I’m sure you’ll have more than enough room.
Me: Umm. Yeaah.