One of my long-term clients jokes that I know where all the bodies are buried. I assure you, there are no dead bodies at her house, but there may be a corpse or two. According to Webster a corpse can be defined as “the remains of something discarded or defunct.”
Most of these corpses are stored in the garage. Some are well-hidden above the rafters, in garage cabinets or cardboard boxes.
Others are hiding in plain sight. Over time you don’t realize you’re stepping over or around them to get to your car. Sometimes, decay goes unnoticed as well.
Spring is corpse-hunting season. You don’t want to be searching your garage in the summer heat. Schedule a date and use these Timely Tips to unearth and disperse your corpses.
Timely Tips to deal with garage corpses
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CARDBOARD BOXES
If you want to collect dust and bugs, keep them. If not, let them go.
Recycle Empties
Those big empty TV boxes and stack of Amazon boxes you thought you “might need someday” are taking up space you can easily reclaim.
Break them down and put them in recycle.
Empty boxes are easy to come by when "someday" arrives.
Sort Deferred Decisions
Sort the boxes of stuff that came out of the house “to be dealt with later.”
Most will qualify as corpses, defunct and ready to be discarded or donated.
If there’s something of value and use to you, resurrect it to a new home in a garage bin or closet in the house, depending on where or how frequently it’s used.
Out with the Old
Boxes of old papers and tax documents are also a haven for bugs and dust.
Click here for Suze Orman's PAPER RETENTION GUIDE, then fearlessly determine what is ready for shred and recycle.
Transfer paper archives that must be kept to clearly labeled plastic file boxes.
Photo by Jack Douglass on Unsplash
PAINT CANS
Inspect each can. If it’s bulging, the lid’s puffed up, or it has a rubbery film on top of the paint, it’s probably bad.
For disposal information go to Earth911.
Store usable paint in a left-over paint container.
Label the container with the color, date, and where the paint was used.
Store at room temperature (indoors).
Photo by Zoshua Colah on Unsplash
EXERCISE & SPORTS EQUIPMENT
Set aside things you're currently using.
What's left? Bikes the kids grew out of. Exercise equipment that never passed the good intention stage. Cleats, bats, and gloves that are gathering dust. These might be corpses to you but a treasure to another.
Pass them along to family/friends or to a charitable thrift store.
CAMPING GEAR
Have you transitioned from camping to an RV, Airbnb, or bought a little cabin in the woods?
Revive your camping gear and pass it along to someone who will make new memories with it.
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
TOOLS & YARD SUPPLIES
Do you put off projects because you can’t find the tools you need or there's no space to work?
Corpses stifle productivity, cluttering your work and supply areas.
Let go of the old power and hand tools you replaced long ago.
Let go of duplicates.
Keep items you're currently using.
wise words
Corpse hunting opens up space and adds value to your treasures. --Brenda McElroy