Use it (fix it, share it) or Lose it

Have you watched home improvement shows and noticed so many homes are totally cluttered? Entire basements, spare rooms, garages, even living rooms piled so high you can't safely walk in the space. It's hard to see the house or space around all the stuff. 

      

Some homeowners want to leave their over-crammed pads forever. They tour houses, many neatly staged by professionals, and visualize everything calm and orderly in the space. Others want to rehab their way out of chaos and stay put. Some renters think owning their own place will make everything better. 

But, no matter what, they still have to deal with all their stuff. And all that stuff is often what's really stressing them out and making them dislike their current space. 

Instead of "Love it or List it" idea, how about "Use it or lose it." We all have lots of things lying around: clothes with missing buttons or broken zippers, multiple pairs of tennis shoes from the last dozen years, artwork that was never hung up, things with tags still attached, appliances, outdated or extra games, gadgets or electronics, old books and toys, and so on.

I'm doing a room-by-room review to find forgotten, abandoned or broken things, and all the stuff that's not currently being used. I'll start with BIG items first, since they take up the most space. My goal is to decide for each item whether to fix, share, return, donate or recycle it - and then do it, ASAP.

Some stuff can be fixed or repaired and it's just a matter of getting it done. We may know people with the skills and tools to fix stuff - and maybe they're looking for an excuse to dust off their belt sander, power tools or sewing machine! 

When my bike fell apart last summer, my friend, a super-talented bike repair guy, found a replacement fork when my local bike shop couldn't even order one - and fixed my bike. I helped re-assemble it , and my bike is better, stronger and faster than ever (well, maybe not faster). I was also thrilled I didn't have to "fork" over the money for a new bike!

If you don't know anyone handy, maybe Community Glue Workshop can help. This group organizes monthly gatherings to fix things with the goal of keeping stuff out of landfills. Common items repaired include: toys, furniture, jewelry, clothing and appliances.

Maybe suggest a project exchange with a friend or family member - and help one another clean out your basement or garage, reorganize your closet or de-clutter other rooms in your home. It's much easier with another set of hands - and a set of objective eyes to help decide what to keep or what's best to get rid of straight away. 

In our basement, there are 6 big items: a box spring, an air conditioner, a pedestal sink, a freezer, old kitchen cabinets and a bicycle. In our living room we have a flat screen TV. I'll tackle these one by one and see what can be done. 

First, the queen-sized box spring is in perfect condition, but it won't fit up the narrow staircase to our 3rd floor guest room. Luckily, it was wrapped in plastic by the moving company last year, so it's clean and dry. Who needs a box spring?

A box spring goes with a mattress, usually as a set, and most charities won't take beds, at all. But when I got to the Salvation Army site,  I saw that they accept box springs (with or without mattresses), plus small appliances, clothing, and household items,. Also, they pick up, for free, and pickups in Chicago can be scheduled on the site. Bingo!!

The SA site has a donation guide with approximate dollar amounts for different items, based on how they price items to sell; this is handy for tax purposes. We have a room air conditioner in the basement that was left by the previous owners - and SA accepts them too, woo hoo!

Although I haven't gone through all of our closets yet, I estimated a bag/box of women's clothes, men's clothes, bedding and winter coats/hats. I could easily take these smaller items to the SA store in my car, but the scheduled pick up gives me extra incentive to clear things out, makes it worth the organization's time to pick it all up - and gives me a deadline.

Now what to do with that pedestal sink? I go downstairs to inspect the sink, also left by the previous homeowners. It's in good condition, and has no cracks or chips. I wipe out the dust and take a picture so I can figure out who might want it. 

Online, I saw a pedestal sink re-purposed as a planter. We have an old claw foot tub turned into a water lily pond in our backyard garden (from previous owners). So, this would complete our set, and be better than just having the sink collect dust in the basement.

I think this sink can find its true purpose so I keep looking online. The planter idea is my "plan b."

I checked a few architectural and antique shops but this sink has no real design or historical value - so that's a strike. I remembered a workshop I attended at the Rebuilding Exchange. I was surprised at the variety of things for sale there: doors, crates,cabinets,  windows, bathtubs and, yes, sinks. I checked their donation page and then emailed a note with a picture of the pedestal sink.

A few hours later, I got a response from the RX Donations Department. Yes, they'll gladly accept this sink as a donation, if I can get it to their location during business hours. I plan to drop it off as soon as I can safely get it into my car - and hope this sink can find a new home.

Then there is the upright freezer, another gift from the previous owners. It came in handy when we rehabbed our kitchen last year but now it's unplugged and collecting dust and rust in our basement. I already know what to do with this one, because I've already cleared out an old refrigerator that was here last year with ComEd's Refrigerator Recycling program. Set up an appointment and they'll pick up the old fridge or freezer, haul it away and properly recycle it - and send you a check for $50, to boot! Woot woot!

We put 5 of our old kitchen cabinets in the basement when we rehabbed our kitchen last year because we didn't want to just toss them in a landfill. We've decided to re-purpose 2 of the cabinets with drawers to store and organize tools and painting supplies. The other 3 cabinets we'll give to my parents to use in the basement they are refinishing at their new house. 

Re-using is better than recycling, unless the item is a bicycle, which means we can do both! This brings us to my old Huffy 10-speed, which has been sidelined since I got a new bike several years ago. I thought friends or family members would use it, when they visited, but that hasn't happened. Also, we joined Divvy bike sharing, and with bikes available all over the city, we don't need to keep this old one any longer. 

This bike should be on the road somewhere, instead of collecting dust in our basement. And that's just what Working Bikes believes: that bikes should be shared and used. The organization accepts donated bikes at their site or at many locations in Chicago. They fix and donate the bikes to local people and send them to under-developed countries. Their site says they donate 6,000 bicycles each year! 

That leaves the flat screen TV, which gave up the ghost in the final scenes of The Terminator a few weeks ago when the streaky colored screen went black. Our research suggests this is a common problem with this brand and we'd like to at least try to fix it. A friend recommended local repair place 20th Century TV & Stereo so we're going to see what they can do. 

After I sort out the BIG items in our house, I'll tackle the next phase of Use it or Lose it, which will include electronics, gadgets, cell phones, gardening materials, and whatever else I find while I'm digging around. In between episodes of HGTV, of course!