Saturday, January 11, 2020
Today I was a community service project! My friend, Crystal, arranged to have a few families bring their children to help me clear out my upper shed. The adults brought out the approximately 40 storage buckets and their young daughters pulled out item after item after item so I could tell the girls whether the item was a keep or a donate. I thought we would make progress quickly because most of the items in the shed had been placed there to be sold at a yard sale.
Those little girls rocked. I had five or six of them lined up, picking an item individually out of a bucket, and waiting for a keep or donate verdict from me. I started the day with an empty, double-sized storage bucket that I hoped to be the extent of my keeps. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. I finished the day with that one bucket full and five other regular-sized buckets full. At least six is a much smaller number than 40.
I knew I had a cache of some of my older daughter’s clothes that might fit my younger daughter, Mika, some dress pants that might fit my older daughter, a bucket of LEGOs, lots of kid’s books, and a small boom box that I wanted to keep tucked away somewhere in all those buckets. We worked from a few minutes after 11:00 a.m. until a few minutes after 2:00 p.m.
After the shed was cleared, I gained a couple of boys in addition to the girls for sorting help. Crystal was busy the whole time putting the donate items in trash bags and moving them outside to my patio, under my awning. Crystal had hoped each of the families would be able to take a load of bags to a donation center, but only two families were able to do so. I have a giant mountain of trash bags outside my back door, and I am okay with that. I will have more helpers coming to my house next week and some of them can take a load when they leave. The bags are protected from any rain or snow that may come, so getting them to a donation center is not time sensitive.
The last few buckets, which were toys, were the most difficult. Those were not toys sorted for a yard sale, they were toys I had taken out of my kid’s rooms when they would not clean. We tried to sort the items into like toys as we bagged them, so Barbies stayed together, army men stayed together, and etcetera. I kept the Barbie townhouse and a Fisher Price house because I thought Mika might like to use them as backdrops when she plays with her action figures. The rest of the toys are in donate bags (except the bucket of LEGOs and one bucket of nice baby and toddler toys I want to sort for a few toys to keep on hand for visitors).
We got so much done very fast today. My shed is not empty. I have an old, damaged dresser, a small table, an unadapted bassinette, a weight set, and possibly a little more left. The table and bassinette will be donated, the dresser will be destroyed and trashed, and the weight set is not mine, so I do not need to make that decision. Monday the shed will also contain stacks of empty buckets as my helper checks for broken storage buckets and lids to throw away. I am not going to donate my empty storage buckets until I finish clearing out my house. I do not expect to use them all again, but I know I will use some.
I am so grateful for all the people who answered Crystal’s call to come help a stranger get a jump start on restoring order in her life. I quit caring about my surroundings because I was so focused on how miserable I was feeling for the past four years, and I let go. I am fortunate to have people in my life who will say yes when asked to help me get out of the pit I dug for myself.
My piece of advice to you is to quit shoveling. A popular quote states, “if you put yourself in a hole, quit shoveling.” I am throwing my shovel away and reaching up to the hands extended to lift me up.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.
Today I was a community service project! My friend, Crystal, arranged to have a few families bring their children to help me clear out my upper shed. The adults brought out the approximately 40 storage buckets and their young daughters pulled out item after item after item so I could tell the girls whether the item was a keep or a donate. I thought we would make progress quickly because most of the items in the shed had been placed there to be sold at a yard sale.
Those little girls rocked. I had five or six of them lined up, picking an item individually out of a bucket, and waiting for a keep or donate verdict from me. I started the day with an empty, double-sized storage bucket that I hoped to be the extent of my keeps. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. I finished the day with that one bucket full and five other regular-sized buckets full. At least six is a much smaller number than 40.
I knew I had a cache of some of my older daughter’s clothes that might fit my younger daughter, Mika, some dress pants that might fit my older daughter, a bucket of LEGOs, lots of kid’s books, and a small boom box that I wanted to keep tucked away somewhere in all those buckets. We worked from a few minutes after 11:00 a.m. until a few minutes after 2:00 p.m.
After the shed was cleared, I gained a couple of boys in addition to the girls for sorting help. Crystal was busy the whole time putting the donate items in trash bags and moving them outside to my patio, under my awning. Crystal had hoped each of the families would be able to take a load of bags to a donation center, but only two families were able to do so. I have a giant mountain of trash bags outside my back door, and I am okay with that. I will have more helpers coming to my house next week and some of them can take a load when they leave. The bags are protected from any rain or snow that may come, so getting them to a donation center is not time sensitive.
The last few buckets, which were toys, were the most difficult. Those were not toys sorted for a yard sale, they were toys I had taken out of my kid’s rooms when they would not clean. We tried to sort the items into like toys as we bagged them, so Barbies stayed together, army men stayed together, and etcetera. I kept the Barbie townhouse and a Fisher Price house because I thought Mika might like to use them as backdrops when she plays with her action figures. The rest of the toys are in donate bags (except the bucket of LEGOs and one bucket of nice baby and toddler toys I want to sort for a few toys to keep on hand for visitors).
We got so much done very fast today. My shed is not empty. I have an old, damaged dresser, a small table, an unadapted bassinette, a weight set, and possibly a little more left. The table and bassinette will be donated, the dresser will be destroyed and trashed, and the weight set is not mine, so I do not need to make that decision. Monday the shed will also contain stacks of empty buckets as my helper checks for broken storage buckets and lids to throw away. I am not going to donate my empty storage buckets until I finish clearing out my house. I do not expect to use them all again, but I know I will use some.
I am so grateful for all the people who answered Crystal’s call to come help a stranger get a jump start on restoring order in her life. I quit caring about my surroundings because I was so focused on how miserable I was feeling for the past four years, and I let go. I am fortunate to have people in my life who will say yes when asked to help me get out of the pit I dug for myself.
My piece of advice to you is to quit shoveling. A popular quote states, “if you put yourself in a hole, quit shoveling.” I am throwing my shovel away and reaching up to the hands extended to lift me up.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.