Organizing and decluttering the homestead

[frustratedearthmother]

I was incredulous when she told me she had 10K stashed in the freezer! I hate to say it...but dang...she shoulda known better. That's a whole stack of money even if it was all $100dollar bills. I just don't get it...

My mom was the same way and hid a lot of money in her house. Unfortunately, when Hurricane Harvey demolished the place a whole lot of cash probably floated away or was liberated by the groups of people that 'helped' in their neighborhood or was simply thrown away. Thankfully they had a huge safe that was bolted to the floor and had a lot of things like guns and her silver collection that no one was able to access.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

My FIL stored cash in a gas grill we bought him as a Father's Day gift. MIL said, what ever you do, don't ever start up that grill. He has 1K hidden in it!

 

[YourRabbitGirl]

I love this topic! We bought a farm 3 years ago and lots of junk came with. Some has been good and useful, but most of it not. We have a HUGE dumpster this week and are clearing out all the junk. We filled it in just a couple days. Most of the contents came with the farm. I look at it and think "no wonder I felt so stuck/helpless/unable to clean up" because most of the objects were too big to dispose of in household trash.

It's going to feel good when it's hauled away!

Cleaning is fine, I mean it is a basic thing. the bad thing about it is when the daily garbage truck schedule gets abrupted for some unknown reasons. I don't know about your neighbourhood. But here in ours. you'll get stared at when the trash is outside, even if it's in your own backyard.

 

[wyoDreamer]

We have truckloads of junk that came with our place also. Who saves the rafters from when they replaced the roof? Seriously! We have a 3' high, 4' wide and 16' long pile of old rotted 2x8 boards with nails, sheating bits and shingle tar on them. And they hauled them to the way back of the calf shed and stacked them neatly in a pile.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Registration for the community yard sale opens Feb 1.
Hopefully this will be a declutter year.

We have 8 (!) Coolers of the 6 to 8 soda can size, not counting the large ones. Opportunities opportunities

 

[CrealCritter]

But what if I may need that "clutter" item in the next few day weeks, months, years... ? What then?

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Never ending source of marital strife here. I am a hoarder. Hubby... not so much. But, he tolerates my treasure gathering... especially when I find a stack of 2 x 6 or 2 x 8 that are "gently used". Sometimes I find new lumber, as well... and since I'm always building something, it makes more sense to gather and hoard rather than doing the Lowes/Home Depot runs. I have a stash behind the garage door, some stored in the trusses, and a stash of windows under the deck. When I build a 8 x 12 Woods Open Air coop this summer, the purchased inputs will be minimal. I like to do gentle reminders when building something.... "This material came from the Town Mall (aka dump). Total cost: $0.00. If I'd bought it at Lowes it would have cost $X.00.

@FarmerJamie Those coolers: I see: insulated animal waterers, incubators...

 

[Hinotori]

I can see keeping usable wood. I'm always needing a bit here and there. Nice to go to the pile and just cut the size I need. Nails and screws are kept as they also tend to get used.

I still have junk to haul to the dump that the previous owner left here. There was a lot.

I used to keep the torn tarps off the silkie pens back when I only had 2 pens. The tarps gave out at the middle seam after 2 years. Fold and store until I needed to replace the windbreak on the fences. The half tarps would last another year in that use. I toss them now as I have actual windbreak cloth which seems to last forever.

 

[Beekissed]

I've had to start getting realistic about my wood hoarding....I tend to store small scraps as I find myself using those quite a lot. This season, with many wood projects going on, I found I had no more room for small scraps...none. I have enough.

So, now they go in the kindling box if not from treated wood. This next spring or summer I hope to move and resort my hoarded lumber to a different place and seriously downsize that pile. I can do that now because I'm busting up approx. 60 or more 10 ft x 4 ft pallets I scavenged for free.

See how that works? You clean out some, you get some more, you use some, you hoard the scraps, you clean them all out finally....because you just got BETTER scrap lumber. Now I've scavenged several huge railroad ties, which will be cut up and placed so as to stack my hoarded lumber on. I'm now down to hoarding wood to store my other hoarded wood......Houston, I think I have a problem.....

 

[Hinotori]

There is a big pile of old railroad ties down the track right where my property ends. We dragged out three of the best to take to Mom a few years ago. I think they went on to support the steps into her shed at the cabin.