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I do not like clutter. It’s hard to not let clutter take over the house with 4 little kids, but I try my best to keep it at bay because not many things get on my nerves like clutter. My husband thinks I’m crazy but I can’t even sit down to relax at night if the house is too messy. The more clutter-free the kitchen is, the happier I am! BUT I’ve had a deep dark clutter secret for a while… it’s the basement. Over the past 4 years of living in this house, the basement has gotten more and more cluttered by the day. It’s not a finished basement so no one goes down there. I guess that’s why it seemed to be an “okay” spot to let the clutter and disaster resume.
It started as “storage” for some of the moving boxes… add in toys the kids have outgrown, all the remaining craft supplies from projects, remains of home improvements, old sports equipment, and all the clutter from the rest of the house that didn’t have a spot.
I’ve wanted to clean out the basement for a while and have never found the time. This summer my kids all kept asking for a place to play in the basement. We have a playroom on the main floor of the house, but for some reason they ALL wanted a spot in the basement to play. We’ve considered trying to finish some of the basement at some point, so I figured creating a small play area down there to try it out and see how much we use it, would be a good start.
Obviously in order to create a play area down there, a MAJOR declutter had to happen. As you can see from these “before photos” (extremely embarrassing before photos!), I had a lot of work to do.
Step 1 was to get Waste Management’s Bagster® bag. We’ve gotten a Bagster® bag many times over the past few years. We’ve used them when moving, for medium-sized home projects and now for our basement declutter. If you’ve never used one, a Bagster® bag is a really convenient, on-demand waste removal solution. You can buy it at your local home improvement store when you need it, set it up and fill it as your project goes and at your own pace. Once it’s full, just schedule the pickup and pay for the collection, and it’s GONE!
The Bagster® bag can hold up to 3,300 pounds: so it’s perfect for a big home declutter or moving, but can also help with kitchen renovations, bathroom remodels, outdoor projects and more. When we had our old deck removed we used one too.
Step one of my basement cleanout was to literally take everything I could OUT of the basement. Then I planned to only bring back down what was truly going to be “storage” and things we planned to save and use. For example, it’s where we keep the bins of holiday decor – those could stay.
Then I started sorting…
We set up the Bagster® bag and first put a few old rugs on the bottom. Then before we added more, I made a pile in one room of recycling and in another room, a pile for donations. Then as I sorted through all the basement clutter (now in my kitchen!) it either went in recycling, donation or to the Bagster® bag.
The next step was to separate the basement into the laundry area, the storage area, and the play area. I used some large foam tiles for the play area and added a table because having an area to do arts & crafts was a big reason they wanted a basement play area. We added some bins for organizing and kid-friendly storage. My oldest was really interested in helping me with this project and so excited to be involved in making the area to play. She labeled everything and as I organized upstairs, she moved the items we were keeping to their new, labeled spot in the basement.
The Bagster® bag was almost full after the big basement project and before I scheduled a pickup, I added a few things from the attic: my next project! We’ll definitely get another Bagster® for our next project.
We are so happy to have the clutter out of the basement and a fun spot for the kids to play. We hope to finish the play area further over the next few years (drywall, flooring, etc) because the kids are so excited to have the extra space!
And, lastly, a great discount! Take 15% off your next Bagster® bag collection using this coupon code: 100-08221. Offer expires 11/30/19.
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