So far in this series of posts, I’ve tried to stay away from the “death” part of Swedish death cleaning (döstädning).
But when you get to something as serious as cleaning the 2nd garage, that’s no longer possible. At least not for me.
That’s because I have to spend a lot of time answering this question:
Am I ever going to do that again?
For me, right now, this is the central question of döstädning.
Realistically, am I ever going to do _____________ again? Where ____________ might be a sport, hobby, art, craft, home repair/maintenance, or whatnot.
E.g., while looking at my table saw, I have to ask, am I ever going to build a piece of wooden furniture again? If not, then the table saw is just an ugly dust collector, taking up space.
Sometimes I can give an innocuous “no” to that question. Nah, I don’t need that any more. Maybe I’ve lost interest, it’s no longer appealing, it was a phase I was going through, its a tool for tasks that are no longer necessary. Whatever.
But sometimes the answer is some variation of “Nope, I’m too old to do that any more.”
Those “no”s suck, no matter how you slice it.
I need to try to respond to that central question as truthfully as possible, if I am to clean the 2nd garage most effectively. But those answers tinge decluttering with not just finding items I no longer need, but in addition admitting to activities that I can (or will likely) never do again.
And the preponderance of that, at the minimum, moves this 2nd garage clean-up from straight-up de-cluttering toward döstädning. Even when that sucks.
The 2nd garage.
Arguably the worst home-buying mistake I ever made was buying a house with a second, detached garage.
I theory, this meant we could use the attached garage for the cars. And the 2nd, detached garage could be … something nice. Workshop? Musical rehearsal space?
In practice, the 2nd garage has devolved into a storage space for junk and noxious items (e.g., gasoline). And a place where tools go to be forgotten. Currently, we use it for absolutely nothing other than storing things.
Most of the junk in this space is mine. Largely, at this point, cut-offs and remainders from prior home repair or “making” projects. Or current-but-stalled projects. Plus a corner devoted to gardening.
But about a third of the junk is “other people’s junk.” And that’s just about the worst kind that there is, because I can’t just freely dispose of it.
Did I mention that the floor of the 2nd garage has a filthy floor, and that the garage is mouse-infested? Which just adds to the fun. But at least gives me a legit use for my more-than-lifetime supply of 3M vented N95s.
But it’s just like any other cluttered room.
The 2nd garage is filthier. Lots filthier.
And yet, aside from a change of venue and the size/cleanliness of the items being handled, the process of clearing the second garage is just like dealing with any other cluttered room.
- Put like with like (and put stuff away).
- Determine all the ways stuff can leave the garage, and begin generating piles to match those ways (trash, recycle, special recycle, etc.)
- Do a garbage collection, neaten what’s left.
- Finalize choices and implement as ruthlessly as you are able.
The biggest physical difference I’ve noted so far is that “scrap metal” is a big disposal route, for the 2nd garage. This, after I was sure I got rid of all the stuff that was scrap metal, not two years ago.
The biggest psychological issue is being forced to admit that the collection of valuable scraps I’ve kept from prior projects, is not some potentially cost-saving source of materials I will someday need. Mostly, it’s a collection of junk, pure and simple.
As many de-cluttering books suggest, if you are overwhelmed by the full task, pick some small area and focus on that first. Today I took care of the corner holding the gardening supplies. Next up is the corner that holds all the scrap lumber.
Beyond that, I’m just grinding my way through it, an item at a time.
Today’s AI challenge: Which picture is real?
I realize I should have taken pictures before I started cleaning up my garage. I goofed, but let me now turn that into today’s AI challenge.
One of the nine pictures below is my actual garage, as it stands, this afternoon. The other eight are from AI, either freepik or gencraft.
Which one is the actual garage?
Scroll down for the answer, when ready.
The one in the middle is real.
The other eight are … the product of AI. I’m not sure I can use the term “imaginary” to describe them, as I associate the word “imagination” with the human mind.
Perhaps these days that’s species-ist of me. In any case, the ones around the edge are not real. The one in the middle, unfortunately, is.
