That Liberated Feeling

Jenn got us a giant dumpster for a weekend of spring cleaning. By giant, I mean 30 cubic yards. This thing was a monster. When I first saw it I thought “there is no way we are going to even come close to filling this.” I figured we needed about half that much space. But, once we got started, we could hardly stop. We started looking around the house and finding things we could live without, things we would LOVE to live without. It wasn’t long before that dumpster started to fill.

We were very strict about not putting hazmat into the dumpster. Any old paint, paint thinner, or other chemicals were set aside and taken to the hazmat people at the local transfer station (for free!). All clean cardboard and solid metal objects were also set aside (a lot of cardboard type stuff was water damaged when the basement flooded, so we just threw it away). Despite this, there is some guilt. We probably could have recycled more. But, there is this liberating feeling about getting rid of old junk. If you can pick it up, carry it to the dumpster, and throw it in, it’s gone. That’s it. Done. You are liberated.

We spent nearly the entire weekend hauling stuff from the backyard, garage, and basement into the dumpster. We were soooooo sore and tired by Monday. But, the backyard looks so much better. The garage is a garage again. The basement has much more space now too.

Jenn took a before and after picture of the dumpster. I'll try and post some more before and after pictures of the cleanup.





Free at last, free at last.