The Daily Dumpster

Gary FINALLY found a dumpster for us to use and we FINALLY were able to set aside some days to work on cleaning out the blue bedroom and the garage.

Now the blue bedroom is kinda like the family joke.  Gary and I used to sleep in the blue bedroom until Megan was born, then we moved upstairs around a month after her birth.  That room then became the guest bedroom, then the catch-all for whatever we wanted to put out of sight. Soon it became full of boxes and tubs and the door was permanently shut to keep everyone out and from seeing the mess that it was in.

We have always talked about cleaning it out.  But that is always as far as it goes.  Just talk.

At one point we even thought about moving back downstairs and using the blue bedroom for just that, a bedroom.  But I liked sleeping upstairs, and the task to clean it out was just too overwhelming.

So we didn't.

But now with the move to the new house and putting the old house on the market for sale, the time has come.  It must be emptied.

What I thought would take just a day or two has evolved into what will be a three day project.  I hope.

We have pulled out boxes and tubs.  I have stood at the end of the dumpster and gone through the tubs and boxes, bit by bit for the most part, and separated what I find into trash, keep to take home, or put into a bag for Goodwill.

Monday we filled a dumpster with trash.  The white Escape was filled with bags for Goodwill.  The gray Escape was filled with stuff to bring to the new house.

Today was a repeat of Monday.

Gary and I differ in our feelings about Goodwill. Most things that are not coming back home he would like to just pitch into the dumpster.  He doesn't want to bag up anything and take it to Goodwill near Target.  My argument is that something are just still good and may be useful to someone else.  Someone may be looking for a tablecloth and here is one that is perfect for their needs---and they can get it cheaper than if they bought it new at Target or Meijer or Kohls.  Books. Same thing. A pair of books. Picture frames.   An iron.  A hair dryer.  A wok.  Wait..the wok went into the dumpster. Strike that.  And since I am making the trips to Goodwill to deliver the bags, it shouldn't matter to him.  Right?

The things that we are bringing home are mostly going to the girls.  There are lots of pictures and things that are full of memories for them.  Each one will receive a box or two of their own things that I retrieved.  Then they can decide what they want to keep and discard the rest.  Sounds fair.  Better than me making that decision and one of them being mad at me for throwing away pictures of their 4-H projects! 

Tomorrow we return for Day #3.  I hope the blue bedroom will be finished tomorrow and we can finish the laundry room too.  The next task will be the garage.  Ugh. I don't even want to think about that one!