Or, we’ve got to get rid of all this crap

And man, do we. Jodie and I moved into our home in 2006. We’ve done some renovation, and are gradually unpacking the rest of our stuff. The garage, of course, has to this point lived a relatively obscure, cluttered existence, full of lumber scraps, tools (neatly organized though), an old crapped-out freezer the seller left behind, and a few piles and collections of crap to get rid of.

With an “anytime now” ETA on my Patrol, however, this stuff has got to go. So over the last couple of weeks, Jodie and I have been organizing and separating, putting things away and getting ready to take things away. As I type this, in fact, Jodie is finishing up her last violin lesson of the night — and then we’re taking a carload of stuff to Goodwill.

Tips for cleaning out your garage

The garage is now ready for the Ural. If you’re looking at clearing out your garage (or rest of the house, or storage unit, or whatever), here are some tips:

• Friends. Say no more. When Jodie and I moved in together, we moved from our own apartments, so we wound up with a lot of duplicate stuff. We checked with friends to see if they were looking for anything, and got rid of a few items that way (such as a coffee table from my old apartment).
• Consider donating your stuff, instead of having a yard sale. We thought about having a yard sale, but ultimately we decided to donate most of our stuff to Goodwill and to a local organization called ShelterCare. The reasons are simple: far, far less work involved, and, while cash in the hand now is nice, your donations usually have more value as tax deductions come tax time. For more info, see Free Money Finance: Give Smart and Give Smart: Money Matters - Yahoo! Finance.
• Sell it on Craigslist. The newspaper classifieds can be useful too, but if you want to move items fast, Craigslist is one of today’s best ways to go. This is not a route we’ve tried yet, but there are some items we may put up for sale on there. I’m keeping Lifehacker’s Hack Attack: A Seller’s Guide to Craigslist in my back pocket as a to-do list and reference for anything we try to sell on Craigslist.
• Recycle, Freecycle and Freebox. Eugene’s Bring Recycling is a great place to donate and recycle unwanted items – and to pick up, for cheap, items that may be handy around the house and the garage. Freecycle is a cross between Craigslist and recycling, in that it’s a network of people swapping items, for free, via the web. You can also try the very Eugene tactic of freeboxing. Take everything you don’t want, and put it in a box at the curb. A sign saying “FREE” helps, but is not required. Your former stuff will be off to new homes in as little as 10 minutes.

The real reason to clean out the garage

Naturally, all of this boils down to 2 things:

• Clearing out space in my garage to park my Patrol
• Clearing out space in my garage to make room for inevitable bike accessories, tools, and parts that mysteriously strew themselves about the place… and for me to have a clear path when frustrated after a padawan’s evening of wrenching

But at least I’m ready. Now to get out those JC Whitney and Aerostitch catalogs…