I have learned that I do better with less stuff.
I’m not someone who can live out of a backpack, but on the scale between hoarder and backpacker, I definitely lean towards the backpacker side.
I didn’t always live this way but moving a lot helped get me here.
But even with my minimalistic tendencies, stuff can creep up on me.
The Tight Squeeze
My wife parks her car are one side of the garage and I workout on the other side. I’m constantly nagging her to park more on “her side” so I have more room to exercise. She replies that she needs more space to get in and out of the car without having to squeeze in sideways.
So a few weeks ago I was in the garage and was struck by a brilliant realization:
If I got rid of the shelf beside her car, we’d both have more room.
I had my mission.
Solving the Problem
There were three large storage bins on the shelf. They were labelled: Dog food, framed photos and gardening tools. There’s was also a bunch of crap that had been shoved there over the past two years including pool noodles, grocery store bags, gift bags, plant stakes, extra paper towels, a cooler and spare Amazon boxes.
- I put the dog food on a closet shelf in the office.
- I relocated the framed photos to under the TV cabinet.
- I put the gardening tools away with our other gardening supplies.
Most of the miscellaneous crap found other places in the garage (that are not beside her car). I threw out the boxes and bags.
I moved the shelf outside for now. It will be going out for bulk collection later this month. A neighbor or the scrap man will undoubtedly take it.
This entire project took about an hour.
We’ve been putting up with the tight squeeze for over 2 years.
Fixing it meant thinking about the problem for a few minutes, coming up with a plan, and then taking action.
After 2 years of squeezing.
Ugh.
I’ve got a few more projects that I need to tackle. My wife has a tendency to overstuff under-the-kitchen-sink, in-the-kitchen-junk-drawer, and in-the-linen-closet until we cannot find anything there without creating an avalanche.
But I’m on it.
I’ll get these cleared out before another 2 years goes by.
If you have any “tight squeeze” areas in your home, give this fix a shot. You’ll be pleased you did.