Summer 2021 - Cleaning the Garage… Not me, my parents...!

The one thing I asked of my parents when they came home this summer was for them to clean out the garage… it has been a disaster for YEARS and I wanted to be able to walk around and find things.  My mom had gone through the house and cleaned out a bunch of things the summer before and this year it was time to go through the garage… when our friend Cory was over on the weekend doing little projects with me, he would joke that I needed to take away their keys and hide them until the finished the garage. 

I knew that once they got started that it would get finished… that is how my mother rolls… and both my parents are perfectionists so I knew that it would be done well.  I helped out a little bit… very little… when I was home the first few weeks… One day after filling up the truck, my Dad and I took an entire load to the goodwill to donate and they ended up taking most of the items which we were surprised about… we still have some things to donate but now that I know how easy it is I can do that this fall.  Before Matthew and I headed out of town for a month, we loaded up the truck full of things for the dump and Matthew and I made a trip out to the Enumclaw dump station.  I then cleaned out the truck so we could pack it up for our vacation.  

Before Pictures of the Garage... 

In Process Pictures... 

Laying down carpet and vacuuming 

Only things Goodwill wouldn't take... 

Dump trip... filled it completely full..!

Ready for our trip... but they kept working. 

While we were out of town my parents continued working on the garage… they continued to get of things using the garbage can and recycling bins… and sent pictures of their progress along the way.  They spent hours cleaning the garage and I am so grateful for all that they did.  For the first time in years, we can actually park a car in the garage again… and find tools when we need them.  Matthew and I still have a few things to go through on our side of the garage, but it is so much better than it was before the summer.  

Pictures while we were travelling... 

Creating his work area.. 

Resting at his new work bench... 

Going through the tool cabinets

The finished product... 

When we were in Spokane, I got a text from my Mom that they had finished with the garage and she was working on another surprise for me.  Of course, she wouldn’t tell me what the surprise was because that would ruin the surprise… hehe!  It was fun to come home and see the garage in person and all they had done.  The extra surprise was that she had stained the table and chairs where I like to do my Bible study and put up the new patio umbrella since the old one had holes all over.  It was absolutely perfect for having my quiet time outside… 

Absolutely beautiful... 

The last project they did before packing up to head out of town was organize the deep freezer.  The plan was for my Dad to teach me how to chip away the ice that builds up along the wall but him and I spent the afternoon cleaning out the ice, throwing away food that was old, and organizing everything so we knew where to find things.  The finished product was amazing… I don’t ever remember it looking so organized

Deep freezer all organized....

 

My parents did a lot of work, and I am very grateful… my Mom even gave me permission to continue to go through cupboards and cabinets and get rid of things which I will slowly do throughout the year.  I love organizing and decluttering… especially when you can see the finished product.  Little by little the house we are renting is becoming more our home and maybe one day we will actually own it 😊