<p>Thumper, I long for a linen closet! We have none. There was once one but it was sacrificed in a remodel. I almost got it back in a subsequent remodel but the intended space had to be used for a heater vent. All my linens are crammed in bathroom cupboards. It has helped that I’ve weeded out old towels and washcloths!</p>
<p>I got busy with stuff and wasn’t able to load the electronics into the car for the electronic recycling day 
This bums me out. I didn’t manage to get rid of anything this weekend. I’m focused on the graduation party now. </p>
<p>I’ve considered the dumpster idea. I’d need to take that week off work though, I think. </p>
<p>@Niquii77, good luck. You can do it!!</p>
<p>Was outside gardening yesterday. H went hunting for some landscaping stakes - he was sure he had saved them from last year. He went under the deck to hunt for them and ended up cleaning under the deck. He didn’t throw out the old chairs and table there, but did get rid of an old gardening hose, a broken screen door and miscellaneous other stuff! I cleaned the garage and did manage to add several things to that garbage bin.</p>
<p>2 more boxes out of the garage, leaving 23 to go by the time the snow falls.</p>
<p>As I was clearing them out, I thought, “A shovel is a really good tool for clearing out the garage.”
Then I thought, "Actually, a steam shovel would be really great for this . . . "
I feel qualified to write the “Household Hints” column for the Onion–just transcribe reality and it will come out as travesty.</p>
<p>And hi, Niquii77, welcome! I have announced a subgroup for the “3 Bags a Day” crowd of serious pack-rats, but I’m not sure you need that!</p>
<p>I need it. Don’t think I could keep up though, unless I quit my day job!!</p>
<p>2 bags today
Think I am going to “forget” H wants to read XYZ in the future as that was said a decade ago.
Bookshelves next!</p>
<p>The “3 bags a day” is purely aspirational, swimcatsmom, and (sadly) not a matter of real accomplishment. I am making some progress, though. I can open most cabinets without having things fall out on my head.
’
However, my best house-cleaning tool would still be a blow-torch.</p>
<p>I always thought the drains in public bathrooms where they can just go hose everything down was a great idea!</p>
<p>I cleaned out the garage but started on the house–which is being moved into the garage…</p>
<p>So…my parents (in their 90’s) want to get rid of some stuff…but not really…they want me to take it. Uh, okay…they give it to my sis who doesn’t have any room (she’s a bit of a pack rat) who gives it to me…who takes it and gets rid of most of it…
I know eventually I’ll have to deal with it anyways but would enjoy the little space I acquire throwing out my own stuff!</p>
<p>Glad my H and I have seperate areas of the closet. I think he’s finally eyeing my side and getting the idea that a bit of “weeding” on his side might be a good idea. I’d be thrilled to do it for him but he won’t let me…yet. I just haven’t heralded the joyous feeling of looking for clothes in the closet and knowing they’ll fit and you actually want to wear them.</p>
<p>Thankfully, my parents did not want ME to take stuff off their hands. But if they had, I would have said NO. And I would have suggested THEY pay for a storage unit. Money talks…they would NOT have wanted to pay to store. </p>
<p>I would have said it was a fire hazard. Even my mom (pack rat extraordinaire) would not have wanted my house to burn down.</p>
<p>Speaking of our DHs – Mine has some wonderful sweaters. Brooks Brothers, Burberry, some other high-end stores. From the 1970s. That don’t fit him anymore.</p>
<p>But Oh, are they wonderful sweaters. When we moved, I suggested he get rid of them, but no – They are wonderful sweaters. so now they are taking up a huge area of prime real estate on top of his closet shelf. Cause, you know, they’re such wonderful sweaters. :-/ </p>
<p>Not to that extent, QuantMech, but only because of the lack of motivation on my part!</p>
<p>I was able to throw out two bags and I created a bag of things to give away earlier this week. It’s somewhat hard for me. I’m exhausted from this past semester, finals week, moving out, studying abroad, coming back to two classes, and oh, yeah…the small detail that my dorm room is essentially scattered about my house. I’m becoming overwhelmed. </p>
<p>I’m just going to keep chugging along. That’s all I can do to keep my sanity. Just have to remember the great feeling I’ll have when everything is organized and clean. </p>
<p>VH…your husband’s sweaters can go right next to my husband’s books. We have TEN (yep) large Rubbermaid bins stacked in our garage filled with science fiction paperback books. I quip that I could totally empty them out, and leave empty bins…DH has never opened those bins…he would never know.</p>
<p>Someday your kids will donate those wonderful (Old) sweaters to a charity thrift store like the one I volunteer at. I could write a book about what the heirs say when they drop the stuff off!</p>
<p>Another reality-based helpful hint from my forthcoming Household Hints column for The Onion:</p>
<p>Take a large banker’s box, and label it “Lost and Found.”
Soon you will find that you need to add more boxes, to sub-categorize your Lost and Found; e.g., “Lost and Found: CDs and DVDS”
Another box can usefully be labeled “Parts is Parts.”
When you are really desperate, a label such as “I give up!” is always cheery.
I recommend cardboard boxes, so that you can avoid looking at what you have stored for as long as possible, and preferably stack them vertically, with a really heavy box on top.</p>
<p>QM…anything stored in an opaque box will soon be forgotten. Get clear plastic…so you can SEE what is in the box. Otherwise, when you want a part, you will likely just go and buy a new one (one reason you likely HAVE all those parts, nails, screws, extra tools, etc). Opaque is out of sight, out of mind and will soon be totally forgotten, regardless of the label.</p>
<p>As we were driving to the park and ride this morning, Mr B was musing about cleaning the crap out of the garage. I think the snowman that I tossed in the garbage started an avalanche! 
Mr B was saying that when it came to small things, it was so much easier to go to HD and get what was needed when it was needed instead of looking if we already had it in the garage. So true. And our garage is not that bad - we still park all 3 cars in there with room to spare. I cannot even imagine what is going on inside the garages of those neighbors who always park their cars outside! </p>
<p>Sat down with D yesterday in her room - we were there for perhaps 1/2 hour (not more than 45 minutes for sure) and we had two full recycle bags and one bag of trash. She had notes from sophomore year in HS, two boxes full of brochures from all different colleges and a ton of old candy!! Her desk is sort of clean at the moment - next point of attack is the bookshelf/floor near her bed. I think I am too scared to attack the closet or the dresser :)</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the second law of thermodynamics always prevails…</p>
<p>About going to HD to buy new…when I was moving last month I had read a suggestion that when you run across something you save “because you might need it someday” toss it if replacing it would be less than $10. I hate the idea of dumping stuff to buy more later… BUT what it does is free you from 979 things of which you will replace about 12 “someday.”</p>