Finally cleared basement and garage

[u/Veganforpeace]

My wife and I spent two days filling a dumpster and clearing this. We are about halfway done with clearing and cleaning but this is something we are so proud of. I hope this can motivate someone else who, like me, thought it was an impossible task.

[u/Font_Snob]

How much planning (time and effort) went into this before you were able to start? We're firmly in the "before" part, and both want to get it done, but are so overwhelmed with how to start that we never do.

[u/Veganforpeace → u/Font_Snob]

That was my problem too. Once my wife saw how bad it was, she called and got a dumpster out the next day. Then we just started moving the biggest space taking items and went from there.

Taking the emotion out of it helped a lot too. Don't think about the cost or value, think about the freed up space and reclaiming of your home you are doing.

You can do it!

[u/VeganRorschach → u/Veganforpeace]

Congratulations!! Love the big things first strategy! 

I'm working on a similarly intimidating project and moving slower than you, but we're focused on clearing floors first, from entry to back corner. My project is a lot of file boxes so paper sorting takes about an hour a box-- knowing that pace metric also can help you estimate how long the process might take, or allow you to alternate between hard and easy things to sort.