Hasta La Ideas

The first floor of my house is partially unfinished. The front half of the first floor includes a beautiful foyer, half bath, and garage. The back half, however, is a concrete dungeon where tools, cleaning supplies, ancient paperwork, sports equipment, and holiday decorations are stored along with the furnace, hot water heater, and every terrifying bug native to this part of the country. A view of the back wall in the 10′ x 12′ space:

I’ve been in enough concrete basements to know that ours is far from being the most cluttered one. However, I know what is stored in many of those boxes, on those shelves, and crammed into this space, and it is time for a lot of it to go. For instance, two of those black Rubbermaid bins are holding my classroom supplies from when I was a teacher. And, I was a teacher long enough ago that I have legally gone out drinking with my former students. It’s time for these supplies to find a new home.

To motivate myself to go down into this dark and dreary space and get rid of the clutter, I’m declaring this week Project Basement. Each day, I’ll report here about my progress and how the space is being transformed. If all goes well, by Friday I will have a basement that is much less cramped and scary — and my hope is to spend less than $100 on this project. Feel welcome to unclutter your basement along with me, as I will be providing information on where to recycle, donate and/or dispose of many of the items I’m sure to uncover. If your basement is in tip-top condition, but you might have another area of your home in need of some love and attention, create your own week-long project and tell us about your progress in the comments or over on the Unclutterer Forum.

My first task today is to get into my basement and really learn what I have. Once I know what is in all of those boxes, I will be able to plan my week accordingly. Additionally, I’ll know whom I need to call about disposing some of the chemicals that are unnecessarily being stored in this space. What I’ll need:

1. Pen and a pad of paper to record my findings.
2. Gardening gloves to wear since I have an irrational fear of touching a bug or tearing through a spider web.
3. Access to the internet and telephone to research recycling, donating, and/or disposing options after I’ve discovered what is in the space.

Costs involved in this first stage: $0

Wish me luck, and good luck to you if you choose to take on a similar project!