If you have been following my blog, you know that my parents are up in years and are having trouble keeping things organized (read understatement). This weekend we cleaned up their patio area that had been neglected. To give you an idea of what we did, I have to share with you the before pictures:
My parents met in the late 1930's and had been children during the depression. At that time in our country, people saved everything that they could get their hands on. Women could not even buy nylon stockings because their components were used for the war effort. So my parents have become a bit like hoarders. I don't know if you can make it out, but there are 3 weed wackers in the photo. My parents do not have a big yard and Dad has not used a weed wacker in months.
As we went through all the items in their patio, we grouped them by the following:
- Good condition - save or donate if not needed or a spare
- Fair condition - restore and reuse or donate
- Bad Condition - not really usable, not restorable, dispose
- Trash - dispose
Of course my parents did not want to part with anything tht was usable, so we cleaned the items up and replaced them. We also talked to them about the need to purge and simplify. We had 7 bags of trash and a couple of large items for the trash. This is how it looked after:
So that was our weekend project. What spring cleaning are you doing?
misssrobin
It's beautiful! What a kind gift for you to give your parents.
I've been unwell, so cleaning has fallen by the wayside. But in my mind I'm a cleaning machine. You should see how great my house and yard look -- in my mind.
Stopping by from SITS.
organizedisland
Thank you for your comment. I'm sorry to hear you are not feeling well and hope you recover soon!
Barbara
That after picture is amazing. It doesn't even look like the same place. I need to tackle the kids' closets. I know they have clothes that don't fit that I just can't seem to put away!
organizedisland
Oh good luck with the closets Barbara. They are big jobs! Thank you for your comment.
Tracy | Screaming Sardine
Wow, that is quite a clean up! I know it's hard to let go of some things, especially w/ the way the economy is, but it's great that they let you "weed" a lot of things out.
Ashley Marie
Peeking from SITS!! WOW! nice work on the sun room clean up!! I would love to have a nice little area like that! I haven't caught the spring cleaning bug just yet but everyday I try to tackle something! We recently moved into the house we are in now so I do have quite a bit of organizing that needs to be done!
Miki
You've done a great job! That's a neat environment! 🙂
organizedisland
Thank you! It was a lot of work.
Halle
wow you organized that one really well!!
Candy S
Beautiful!
organizedisland
Thank you! Let's hope it stays that way 🙂