Children checking out deck box before I take it out to the patio

We were forced to clean out the garage for the move to Colorado. With the help of very good family members and friends we got it done. We sorted through the mounds of stuff trying to decide what to take to Colorado, what was garbage, and what to put in storage for when we have a home again. We came up with another category: “What to return to the store”.  We had so many sprinkler parts never used, or left overs from home-fix-it projects that we bought too much of or just never got around to doing. We threw all the stuff into a bag and into the back of the moving truck. Once settled in Colorado we made some returns and to our astonishment we received just over $100 in store credit for Home Depot and were able to purchase the large deck organizer I had wanted, but hadn’t been able to come up with the money to purchase. At last I could store away the camping gear and tools. I didn’t have to trip over them in the hallway and bedroom or worry about the items I had left out on the patio being stolen.

We also got $40 in store credit at Lowe’s and I had a $10 off coupon. I spent a lot of time deciding exactly what we needed for the apartment. I was going to get as much as possible out of this.

$40 Store Credit at Lowe's

We bought:

• Lamp – Major blessing! We don’t have any lights in our front room. The switch is wired to the outlet, so you have to have a lamp.

• Over the door shoe organizer – No more piles of shoes in the boys room.

• Light bulbs – goes well with the lamps we have in almost every room

• Mesh cube organizer – more organization for the boys room and it was on clearance

• Strawberry and Bell Pepper plant – I miss my garden! This is the beginning of a container garden on the patio.

I’m still amazed at all we got and have definitely learned that it is important to clean the garage – for more reasons than one. We were just throwing away our money by having this stuff laying around.

You may want to clean your garage too!