Hasta La Ideas

My basement project hit a bump in the road on Wednesday when I made the mistake of touching one of my old teaching files. I pulled the file out of its Rubbermaid bin, thumbed through the pieces of paper, and felt a nostalgic tug at my heart strings.

I can’t throw this away! I must keep it! I worked hard to make this stuff!

I told my husband I had changed my mind and I wasn’t going to let the six bins of teaching paperwork go. He laughed, and then realized I was serious.

PJ: You don’t need it.
Me: Yes I do!
PJ: Why do you need it? Have you looked at it a single time in the past four years?
Me: I looked at it today!
PJ: That doesn’t count.
Me: Sure it does.
PJ: Maybe you could scan the files?
Me: That will take a lot of time. It’s easier just to put this stuff back into the basement.
PJ: Wasn’t your goal to clear the clutter from the basement, not pull the clutter out and then put it back?
Me: I guess this is what I get for marrying a guy who pays attention to what I say.
PJ: Yes, dear.

Except for a couple hours this morning pulling out the washer and dryer, sweeping the floor where they had been, and doing a general cleanup in the laundry area of the basement, I’ve been sorting, scanning, and recycling a couple hundred pounds of paperwork. Truth be told, I’m missing the basement. Organizing tools and unearthing strange cleaning supplies is infinitely more fun than digitizing old papers.

Here’s how I’m tackling the paperwork portion of this project:

• Sort. I didn’t do a very good job of editing these files before I put them into storage. So, many of these papers are going straight into the recycling bin instead of being prepped for scanning.
• Scan. I’m using our ScanSnap, which has a multi-page document feeder and optical character recognition (OCR). After the pages are turned into searchable PDFs, I’m recycling or shredding the pages.
• File. As the final step in the process, I’m using DEVONthink to manage all of the digital files on my computer. Since the OCR process identifies the words in the documents, I’m primarily relying on the Google Desktop search function to find anything I might one day need.

Part of me thinks that digitizing these old papers is a complete waste of time. However, the sentimental part of me won’t let me get rid of the files any other way. I don’t know if I’m going to scan all six boxes of files, seeing as the activity is already starting to grate on my nerves. I’ve committed to sorting through everything, though, so I’ll at least know what I’m tossing. I don’t want to make the mistake again of blindly throwing away a box of items only to learn later that it included my social security card and passport — I’ve made that mistake, and replacing them was a nightmare.

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Other posts in this series:

• Project Basement: Day 1
• Project Basement: Day 2

Going through the mess in my basement to unearth its contents ended up being a relatively painless task. As predicted, there are a number of boxes filled with my old teaching supplies, some chemical cleaners and bug sprays that are past their prime, and a multitude of cobwebs.

I didn’t find anything shocking in my first day of work, but I was confused as to how some things ended up in the basement. I discovered a set of dishes that I thought I’d given away before our last move. I learned the kickstand on my bike is longer than it should be, which is why my bike tips over whenever you pass by it to get to the tool bench. And, I realized that we have more screwdrivers and socket wrenches than we need (three complete sets).

Items like the dishes and tools can be donated to charity, sold, or Freecycled. However, I was unsure of what to do with a number of items I found on our shelving. Once I left the basement and made my way to the computer, I quickly discovered what to do with many of the items:

• Paint. I will need to sort these into two groups — good and bad. Good paints are those that match colors currently on our walls and that could still be used. Bad paints are those that don’t match anything in the house and/or those that were improperly sealed and are dried out. I will continue to store the good paints and write notes on their lids with a permanent marker (Living Room, North Wall). The bad paint, however, will need to be taken to my county hazardous waste facility. The latex paint isn’t necessarily hazardous to the environment, but our local facility still recommends bringing it in to them. To learn the location of your local hazardous waste facility, go to your city or county’s website and do a search for “hazardous waste disposal.”
• Caulk. We have three partially used tubes of caulk, and none of it looks like it could be used again. Since I don’t remember when or where this caulk was purchased, I also need to take it to the hazardous waste facility.
• Bug spray. I discovered that we have ant, roach, wasp, hornet, slug, and snail sprays. All of it has passed its expiration date, and all of it is poisonous. So, like the paint and caulk, this stuff will need to be taken to the hazardous waste facility.
• Weed spray. I’m pretty sure this bottle was here when we moved into the house. I’ll be taking it to the hazardous waste facility, too.
• Grout and tile cleaner. These cleaners were still good, and we have to use them from time-to-time if one of our cats gets sick on the kitchen or bathroom floors. (Yuck!) I have a metal box that I purchased from The Container Store many years ago that I’m going to label “Powerful Cleaners,” place on a high shelf, and fill with these cleaners and similar cleaning products. I want to keep these poisons out of the reach of my son, and so I want to make them as inaccessible as possible.
• Joint compound. This is still good and we use it to patch nail holes, so I’m keeping it. However, it is poisonous if consumed, which means that it will also be going on a high shelf for storage. If we don’t use all of it, our county also recommends taking it to the hazardous waste facility for proper disposal.
• Thorocoat. We’re required by our home owner’s association to cover all exposed concrete on our house with this product. It’s still usable, but since we repainted last year, we don’t currently have a need for it. I’m going to send an e-mail out to our neighborhood discussion group to see if anyone wants to buy it from us for their home.
• Wood glue. I discovered five bottles of dried-out wood glue on our tool bench. The wood glue is water based, so it can be disposed of in our regular trash. If it were solvent based, it would have needed to go to the hazardous waste facility.

The next step in the process (unfortunately) requires me to get my hands dirty and make a giant mess. I’ll be pulling everything out of the basement so that I can clean the cobwebs, dust, and mess that currently sits beneath the clutter. I’ll discuss this process in tomorrow’s Project Basement post.

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Other posts in this series:

• Project Basement: Day 1

Reader Shalin tipped us off to a fun photo set on CNN.com featuring “Amazingly tiny home offices from closets.” Image six is my favorite:

From the CNN.com description of this office:

Mark Halliday of Franklin, Massachusetts, says he finished this office in one day at a cost of around $45. “We needed an office, but it didn’t make sense to use an entire room for it,” he said. He and his wife used hanging shelves and leftover paint from another project to create the work area.

I’m a big fan of the closet office, especially when living in a small space. For additional inspiration, check out the five closet offices we’ve featured in the past as Workspace of the Week features:

• Closet office
• Hidden in a closet
• Multi-functioning clothing and office closet
• More closet workspaces

(Image via CNN.com via Mark Halliday.)

Reader Jim submitted the following to Ask Unclutterer:

My wife uses her mini van as an office for her process serving business, and a shuttle bus for taking our children to and from various events plus all the household shopping. Her process serving business involves carrying multiple files that need served and ones that have been served. She also uses duct tape to post papers on doors, flashlight, mace, and a gps. She uses a plastic grocery bag over one of the arm rests for a garbage bag and she carries all the coupons in her van since she never knows when she will need one. All of these items are kept in between the front seats, door pockets and overhead visors. Needless to say the van can get cluttered quite quickly. This drives me crazy when we use her van for family trips. What suggestions or gadgets have you come across for organizing a vehicle? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

The same rules you use to keep your home uncluttered should apply to your car. Specifically, I’m thinking of the Unclutterer motto: “A place for everything and everything in its place.” The reason the car is becoming cluttered is because none of your wife’s items have a “place” in the car.

I recommend that you and your wife look into getting an automotive mobile office. There are many different options, so find the one that works best for her specific needs. I like the AutoDesk Standard Efficiency model because of the additional storage space behind the laptop surface:

The prices might initially seem a little steep (most are between $100 and $200), but when you compare them to the costs of traditional office furniture, they’re incredibly less expensive. And, it is her office. Just because she works in a car doesn’t mean she has to sacrifice all of the benefits of a conventional office.

A coupon organizer would be a great solution for her coupon collection and could be stored in the auto desk unit. And, a large litter bag would also be a nice addition to keep trash under control.

As far as posting papers around the car, you might consider using sticky tape to adhere a cork or metal strip to the front of the glove box. Then, either with thumb tacks or magnets she could hang the papers there instead of using duct tape throughout the car.

Thank you, Jim, for submitting your question for our Ask Unclutterer column.

Do you have a question relating to organizing, cleaning, home and office projects, productivity, or any problems you think the Unclutterer team could help you solve? To submit your questions to Ask Unclutterer, go to our contact page and type your question in the content field. Please list the subject of your e-mail as “Ask Unclutterer.” If you feel comfortable sharing images of the spaces that trouble you, let us know about them. The more information we have about your specific issue, the better.

Yesterday, Lifehacker linked to the wonderful Instructables series “Build a Peg Board Tool Cart Then Brag About It.” It’s an extremely organized creation, and, best of all, the creator of the tool cart said he made the entire unit for less than $50:

It is a sturdy design that would be a fantastic tool organization system in any garage or workroom. You can watch the tool cart in action on YouTube:

(Images from Instructables)