How does this happen?

So, the garage seems to be near the shape it was when all this huffing and puffing began. Two festivals and two Christmases have come and gone. The bins are labeled; the shelves are intact; the items belong where they belong according to the carefully organized system put into place.

All this is seasonal stuff: Easter, Christmas, Halloween decorations, plus
extra purchases made against the next great craft idea that is sure to come
when the group convenes every Tuesday night

With some concentrated between-Christmas-and-New-Year's hustle, it is clear items can be put back into place and still have more to deal with. Not shown is the Mantis rototiller, the many collapsible yard waste bags, and other gardening supplies...and a family member's treadmill being held "until she can get back to pick it up".

There are still items out, things that do not belong in the garage.

Clearly, the plan needs to be to acquire or manufacture space somehow. Right now, the idea of enlarging the shed has to be revisited. Three trips to the landfill has honed the trash and broken. Visits to the local thrift store has reallocated useful items for the good of others. Forcing the hand of "guest space hijackers" to come get their stuff for New Year's is the next step as well as talking to our local deck and shed guy. Having stuff stored where it needs to be stored would be helpful.

In hindsight?  How does this happen? What appears to be disorganization chaos is sometimes nothing more than misplacing useful items into the wrong place and letting others take advantage. When the president of a club resigns and drops off all the materials and club equipment to the garage, that was taking advantage. When family members purchase good deals and store them in the garage for later pick up, that was taking advantage. When I use the many lovingly accumulated decorations I am so proud of, but then do not carefully put back after use, I take advantage of my time because now I have to use time to re-do what was already done.

That's how this happens.

Gotta Get This Back in Shape!

Autumn Equinox! The weather will start changing soon and with cooler temperatures come **gasp!* mice.  The garage needs to be top priority! Remember how great it looked and worked on April 17, 2015?

That could happen again.

Then and Now

The same thing has happened!  That was the garage from the Feb. 23, 2014 post:

It has a similar to the back workshop as it does now - almost 2 years later (see below), and bins and my hats. In fact, some of the same stuff is out of the labeled bins I worked so hard to prepare and shelved -- it's back into full view. Holy smokes, maybe I'm just too lazy to put anything away once I use it!

What's happened? The weather turned colder, the weekly gourd social club moved inside, an annual state festival happened, a family reunion in another state happened, a book was written and blah, blah, blah....and life goes on. Each time a collection of stuff was accessed from the bins, it was dumped back into the basic area it all came from but never fully returned to its proper place. Case in point -- take a look at how bins of materials for one event were parked, still sitting on the rolling cart. That kind of stupid can't be good -- the shelves are right in front of the cart!

Another Beginning in the Garage

The garage door has been replaced with a lovely insulated metal door. It is much lighter to lift and makes a comforting clanking sound when the handle drops into position along the track as the door closes. Unfortunately, summer came and went along with all the hubbub that IS the warmer season. In the process, the garage went to you-know-where in a hand basket and by golly it is almost back to square one!

It is so easy to lose control of order and spiral into organizational chaos! One day you think "oh, I'll just put this right here for now." and the next thing you know, BAM!  Chaos.

How did this happen in so short a time?

Oh SNAP!

My friends, this garage project has been going well. The garage has been the location of weekly meetings of artists and craft-persons. Stories have been wonderful fodder for laughter and creativity. Bins have been easily accessed for the annual gourd festival, Thanksgiving, and Christmas/New Year celebrations. Things got a little out of hand after the holidays when the cold and snow hit, and the group moved indoors ....AND has happens in life - out of sight is out of mind - I got lax in my garage tidiness.  Things were not always put away in a timely manner.

THEN, one day, one of the springs for the garage door snapped. The door slammed down and jammed into a position where it would not open or close.  A 22 year old door gave up. So, a new door was ordered, installed.  It is amazing! In the years since the house was built, garage doors have become lighter and insulated and sealed...really, who knew! Now, when the door is closed there is NO light coming in through the edges, it is a feather to lift open, and while working in the garage I had the radiant heater on and it wasn't soon when the garage was warm. Now that it's spring, it's time to get back into the garage!