Home Organization Project 38

What do you wear when you’re painting your house? What do you wear when you’re doing yard work? Where do you keep those DIY clothes? Or as we call them, “Work on the House Clothes.” Those clothes are kept in a no-nonsense cabinet in the basement – next to the tool room.

The tool room was the biggest home organization project clean out we’ve done this year. Did you miss the before and after tours? Let’s get you up to speed – here’s the before of our tool room – and – here’s the after of our tool room.

100-year-old homes like ours have basements and there’s not much storage. This cabinet was here when we bought the house 19-years ago and it’s always been in the basement.

Here’s how this clean out went down….after we finished the tool room. I suggested to my dear husband that we do the ‘work on the house clothes’ as we call them. His response was something along the lines of, “Why can’t we just be done for the day?” and “Are you mad? This wasn’t enough?”

My solution? I grabbed a comfy camp chair, handed him a cold beer, and told him to sit down, and put his feet up. Next, I cleared everything out of the cabinet while he gave me the thumbs up or thumbs down on whether to keep items or not. That’s how I roll sometimes. When I’m on a mission and he’s all done but I want to do more. Compromise. Or is it serve refreshments?

Almost everything went to Goodwill – and yes, we had a huge bag that went! That cabinet was a secret stash for everything – dress up clothes (ours – costume party? We’re set!), tie-dyed attire I made with the kids ages ago, and everything else we can’t part with – including my jeans from high school.

Emotional attachments to items are a big stumbling block for me when it comes to stuff and getting rid of it. I want to keep more than I should. It’s best to do a closet clean out with someone else who is unbiased and can say, “Really? Do you really need to keep THOSE JEANS from high school?”

Because the answer is no. I do not.

Another week, another area. I’ll be glad when we’re done because I’m losing steam! How did we accumulate all this stuff? I used to be pretty good about something new comes into the house so something else must go out. I called it ‘the river’ and you’ve got to keep it flowing. Now, I’m militant about it. I don’t want to go through this process again. Ever.

How about you? How are you feeling about all of your stuff? How do you roll when you’re ready to keep going and your partner isn’t?

52 weeks of home organization

As part of our New Year’s resolution, we’re cleaning out a different area of our house every week this year. Find all of the “weekly home organization projects” – or click the image below.