This spring, I was given my biggest organizing challenge yet! This basement space contained over a decade’s worth of accumulated papers and household items that needed to be sorted through, re-boxed in a meaningful way and moved to a storage pod for relocation as part of a relocation. I was happy to take on the job and got right to work!

While the homeowner certainly could have handled doing this job themselves, their available time was in short supply and they felt emotionally “too close” to the task to be objective about it. This is the perfect time to call in an organizer!

Here are a couple of hastily taken “before” shots. Most of these boxes were at least partially full, and there was really no rhyme or reason as to what was in them for the most part.

Ultimately the goal was to clear out the space and make it useable (and healthy) again as a work space. Believe it or not, there is a large workbench and also a wood stove under there somewhere! And you can just see the corner of a large desk as well.

As you can imagine, these boxes had become quite damp sitting on the concrete floor. There were also a number of area rugs that had been rolled out directly onto the concrete, and these had become quite mildewed as well, making the air quality in the space hazardous enough to require wearing a breathing mask while working.

Much of the paper was completely outdated/duplicate and so I was able to bring two entire carloads to the recycling center:

Once they were uncovered, the musty rugs were rolled up and sent off to the dump, along with many other broken/ruined items.

After the rugs were out, and the floors were scrubbed, the homeowner installed a heavy-duty dehumidifier, and at that point the air quality throughout the space was dramatically improved!

After a little bit of furniture moving and organizing of the items that had been chosen to stay, we were left with this fantastic workshop! What a difference!