As we all know, houses come in various shapes and sizes, some large, some small, some modern, some old-fashioned, some well-maintained, some neglected, each one different, yet each one loved for the same reason, mostly sentimental.
In that same vein, some houses may have one, two, or even three garages. Some may have a small, medium, or even a large basement. And in the category of basements, some may be finished, some unfinished, some partially finished, or even some completely finished, creating a gorgeous living space with nice carpets, built-in shelves, kitchenettes, high ceilings, and rooms for guests. So many types of houses—so many adjectives to describe them!
I was not going to describe the various houses that are out there today, but it so happened that with this beautiful weather we’ve been having, I decided it was time to go into my garage and start cleaning it out while the going is good and the weather cooperates.
I am definitely one of those people who wanted a two-car garage while I was house-shopping. If you had asked me back then why I wanted a two-car garage rather than a one-car garage or none, I would have said that I needed a place to park both cars, especially during the winter. I don’t recall thinking that I needed a place to store my snow blower, gardening tools, regular tools, and leftover building materials from the various home-improvement projects we’ve undertaken over the years as well as hoses, a refrigerator, a freezer, and a huge pile of stuff I have not sorted through since Hurricane Sandy since I haven’t had the time. But I’m certain that the pile contains valuable stuff that I simply cannot throw away.
Add to this mix loads of paint cans in case something needs to be touched up, a dry and wet vacuum cleaner, a power washer (a vital piece of equipment), an additional 10 cartons of unknown stuff (someday I’ll do an inventory), and all my Costco storage. How in the world did I think there would actually be room for two cars in this two-car garage when there’s barely enough space for all these valuable items now that I’ve decided to clean it out?
It makes you wonder how people with a one-car garage manage! Those with no garage definitely earned a special place in Gan Eden for this sacrifice!
There was a time years ago when I would start sorting through this stuff with the intention of donating it to some organization, and as I was separating things, I told myself that this thingamajig can stay here and that thingamabob can certainly be stored in the basement and I would start reorganizing the garage until it looked half-decent.
The only trouble was that when it came time to actually clean the basement, I would find all the things that I had brought down there (since they definitely belonged in the basement and not in the garage), only to realize that these things were cluttering up my beautiful basement, so I would reverse the process and take them back up to the garage!
I finally faced the fact that this was an insane way to continue and decided at the very least to clean out my basement until nothing was left that did not have a home that was either on a shelf or in a cabinet, and everything else went back up to the garage until I could make a decision regarding its final resting spot.
So now I’m trying to psych myself into a new way of thinking as I clean out my garage. I am going through things slowly, trying to decide which items are truly worthy of holding on to and deserve a coveted spot in my garage, and which things should be thrown out for the good of all.
You all do realize that if I was able to throw these things out years ago, I would have done so, and was thus forced to find a new way to force myself to part with some of this stuff. The new tactic I came up with is that I went to the curb and measured out a space from side to side and decided that the height of this space must be at least three feet.
Once I measured out this space, I committed to not leaving the garage until I found enough things to throw away. In the end, I not only filled up that space on the curb, I also made sure to put enough there to be at least three feet high before calling it a day and calling bulk pickup.
Well, it was very difficult to part with those items, but I did make headway and got that space filled and started to see more floor space in my garage that I had never seen before. I decided to call it a day, went inside, and called bulk to arrange a pickup, then I promptly forgot about it until the next day.
The next morning, I looked out my window wondering if bulk pickup had already come to haul everything away and saw to my surprise that during the night, the pile had been sorted through, divided, and was now half the size of what it was the night before and the garbage men had not even arrived. I realized that I am not alone in saving stuff, and some poor soul had come by and taken a large portion of the stuff I had thrown away. Someday I would love to see his garage! n
Anessa Cohen lives in Cedarhurst and is a Licensed Real Estate Broker (Anessa V Cohen Realty) with over 20 years of experience offering residential, commercial and management real estate services. You are invited to visit her website at WWW.AVCREALTY.COM. She can be reached at 516-569-5007 or Readers are encouraged to send any questions or comments by email to anessa@avcrealty.com.
