Clearing out the Basement

             

It is hot—over 100 degrees and dry by the late afternoon. There’s not much we can do outside, so I am tackling the basement, clearing out stuff and painting the floor. I am working my way around the space, about a quarter of it as a time. I have finished the wood piles and the food storage area so I am now into the entryway and the weird junk piles.  It’s much cooler down there.

When you move regularly, you clear out stuff every time you pack. Clothes, odd pieces of furniture that work in one apartment but not another, dishes that have served well but been preplaced but nicer models, stuff that could be repaired that you have not gotten around to it yet….moving is a chance to reevaluate the stash. When you buy a house and settle in, you have to create the opportunities for clearance or stuff will overwhelm you. That’s what I am doing this summer while repainting the floor. There are many levels of Stuff in our basement.

Practical and used regularly: Firewood (sorted into three piles—fireplace, stove, and kindling). Canning jars and rings. Flour, oats, rice in five gallon buckets. Dried beans in jars. Extra toilet paper. Drying racks. Tools and paint. Wrapping paper and holiday bags.  Lawn chairs in the winter. Rabbit, chicken, and cat food. Cat litter. This will all stay. I may purge some of the holiday tins while Mark is not looking.

Practical and used on very specific occasions every year: Steam canner and food drier. Big pasta pot. Storm windows and the outdoor benches. Folding tables for parties.  Coffee maker. Extra dishes and colored canning jars for drinks outside. Ironing board (which could go…) Painting clothes. Pieces to repair our stove; we buy extra when we find them. There’s enough wire to rewire the entire appliance.

Used for a project or hobby as some time in our lives that we hope to return to: Bee hives. Cross country skis. Cabinet doors, old political signs, and sheetrock for poetry installations.  Typewriter. Pump from the greywater fifty gallon drum system.

Sentimental value: Mark has a trunk of stuff; I am not asking. I have an old jewelry box of my mothers and a copper tea kettle.

Could/should  be repaired: Waffle iron. Chicken door. Two chairs with split bottoms. Space heater. A very cool toaster.  Etc. There’s a lot of this stuff down here, mostly clustered around Mark’s office.

Recycling/ regifting: Boxes and packing peanuts.  Tins for storing wheat before we bought the buckets. Paper. Some PVC pipe from the old greywater system. Old sheets for rags. Weird bits of metal and electrical systems.  A small crock pot.  A wicker loveseat (that has left).

Really? Why is this here?: Toilet seat.