Day 12: Heat Wave
Posted: August 20th, 2010 | Author: Dariane | Filed under: Daily Updates | 7 Comments »At the end of each day, I post a recap of what happened and what progress I made. I try to be as detailed as possible when tracking the project.
Sorry folks, this post has arrived 24 hours late. I always seem to have difficulty on Thursday nights to get the post of the day together. Anyway, here it is:
Today’s Stats:
Number of hours spent: 8
Supplies purchased: None
Amount spent: $0
Number of (13-gallon kitchen) bags trashed: 3
Number of giveaway boxes: 4
Number of (33-gallon) giveaway bags: 3
Progress:
I continued on the pathway that I started to form yesterday from the door to the garage to the door to the backyard. Yesterday the progress was not very visible; I felt like I barely made a dent if any at all. I realize now that the pictures really didn’t do it justice because it’s difficult to capture the vertical progress.
Thankfully I started today off with all the supplies I needed. I sorted through several containers, and I wound up being left with several empty boxes and empty bags. I’ve put all the bags I’ve found during this project so far into one giant bag:
It’s a bag. Of bags.
During my archeological dig, I found really old pictures of people I don’t know, random toys and strange looking items. I still keep finding things that still wrapped in plastic or in a box, completely unopened. Here’s something unopened that I found that I have no idea what to do with:
I’m sure it was a great organizing tool at its time, but today it’s completely obsolete. Trash? Donate? Keep?
Overall it was a very productive day, even though the high today was 99 degrees (F). I don’t know if it’s just me, but for some reason the garage tends to feel 5 degrees warmer than outside. But you know how latex gloves feel when you use them to wash dishes? My gloves felt like that except the dry part was on the outside.
I’ve cleared up a path from the door to the garage to the door to the backyard that is at least a foot and a half wide. Here’s an image of an area yesterday morning, yesterday afternoon, and this afternoon. Take a look:
Here’s the before-and-after picture from yesterday of a different angle of the area:
And here’s what that same area looks like at the end of today:
Finally a before-and-after image with pictures taken at the beginning and end of today:
Now that I’ve created a wide enough pathway wall the way to the side door that can open fully (yay!), I noticed that my plan to create a reverse-L shaped pathway inside the garage to get to the storage unit may not be necessary. The original plan for cleaning can be broken down by the first leg indicated by the dark blue arrow in the image below and the second leg indicated by the light blue arrow. The goal was to create a shorter route to get to the storage unit.
I’ve more or less completed the pathway for the first leg today, and I realized that since the path out the side door to the storage unit in the front is fairly short and already clear (indicated in the green below), completing the second leg of the original plan isn’t necessary.
What does this mean? Well, it means that I already have a convenient path to the storage unit and now I’m back to thinking about the best method to clear out the garage (clock, printer, or other). Thankfully I have the weekend to decide and next week I can begin the real war with the garage.
P.S. Today I found a high-quality black leather fanny pack. Hooray for wishful thinking!
I humbly suggest to use the disk organizers as art – stagger 2-3 different color floppies in a pattern and hang, preferably in a room with a computer or office type area.
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Dariane Reply:
August 27th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Or… I could use them to show of Polaroids.
I like your thinking Jay.
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Donate the disk organizer! I’m sure someone has old disks that they are keeping and they can use that to organize them. Or maybe keep them to see if you have any old disks that need to be organized? However, that may entice your parents to keep those disks and if no one in your family has a disk drive on their computer, they are of no use.
My general rule is to always give away something that is in new, like new, or very good condition, even if it is super old. Somebody, somewhere might really want/need it, even if you and the rest of the general population doesn’t. You never know – somebody in your town might have a ton of disks to organize and you just might make their day when they come across that organizer in your local Goodwill!
Awesome progress, keep it up!!
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Dariane Reply:
August 27th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
I’ve actually found a lot of disks while cleaning, but I don’t think we have any more (working) computers that have disk drives. :\
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You’re making great progress! Keep up the great work and donate the disc organizers! Once they’re gone you’ll never even remember that you found them until you happen across the picture of them in your blog when you reread things months from now.
In the picture right under the “And here’s what that same area looks like at the end of today:” caption, there’s a hanger on the floor. I had 2 or 3 light yellow hangers that looked just like that from when I was a baby. I never knew what to do with them after the girls grew big enough that their clothes would no longer fit on them. Eventually, they were all broken and thrown in the trash, so it’s a moot point now, but I felt such guilt that I didn’t protect them from the kids. The guilt, which had faded, has returned to a that small degree after seeing your picture.
I am finding the further down the dehoarding road I go the less guilt I have about not using items or finding them the perfect home.
You’re doing amazing! Keep up the great work!!
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Dariane Reply:
August 27th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
That hanger wasn’t used when I was a baby, but they were when my younger sister was. She’s a teenager now, and we still have at least 10 of them somewhere.
I apologize that the photo triggered something so personal and guilt-ridden for you.
Just recently something small unintentionally triggered an emotional breakdown for me. I hope that nothing on my site provokes something like that for you in the future. If it does, just let me know.
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[...] a comparison of what the area looked like at the end of Day 12 when I cleared a pathway to the door to the backyard and what it looked like at the end of Day 18 [...]