Spring cleaning

The wife and I (mostly) took today off from work to do a little spring cleaning. And not a moment too soon since Summer officially started at 4:59 this evening.

Part of it is leftover energy from the Linden Home Makeover. I came home and looked at our home with a fresh set of eyes and a new perspective. It is amazing the difference you can make with only a bit of talent but a lot of work. I've been trying to head out into the backyard as soon as I get home to work on the yard. We've maxed out our yard waste containers, so it was time to head indoors.

We have never parked a car in our garage, and even after today it still isn't possible. Along with our own clutter, we have quite a bit of stuff inherited from my father-in-law. We did make great strides today, at least opening up some walkways around the stuff. There are still some large pieces of furniture, a washer and dryer, dining room table and chairs (Linden 311 leftovers) and some bikes - motorized or not. Next step is a garage sale/Craigslist firesale to get rid of the larger pieces.

While the wife focused on the garage, I spent some time in the shed. It was as bad or worse than the garage. It was tough to take more than a step or two without tripping over several things. Tools piled on top of camping equipment, spilling over onto yard tools, burying the sports equipment. About all there was was a path to pull the lawnmower in and out. Now everything is much better organized and it doesn't feel so claustrophobic.

We really just scraped off the top layer of everything today. There is plenty more to do in the yards, and we've barely begun to thin out our stuff. Like others, there are boxes we haven't opened in the last couple of moves. Even so we filled the back of my truck with trash and recycling.

I have plenty of projects in mind, but for now we need to concentrate on the cheaper fixes. There's certainly plenty to keep us busy.