Cleaning the Basement for the First Time

We cleaned our basement! Cleared out empty boxes and made sure that as much as possible was off the floor because we do have occasional trickles of water.  Also made sure my emergency water supplies were on the BOTTOM instead of over things they could ruin!

Here’s a look:

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The basement came with the white lifted shelves, and they’re pretty sturdy.  A lot of my boxes have fabric from projects in them.  The red bin there is a Christmas tree, the light blue bin is the mock up of a wedding dress from my first fiance.  (He turned out to be a cheating cheater of a cheater, so I backed out.)  There are some kitchen appliances, and you can see the EcoZoom – that’s a rocket stove for camping/emergencies.

The wall to the left:

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Luggage, emergency water, camping mats (the boxes on top of them are empty), an extra fan for when one fails, and a bajillion 2 liter bottles in those white bags.  I have a project for them and am… well, just plain lazy.

My husband got a work table for Christmas!  You can see the box on the left up there, and here:

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And then there’s his stuff and some bins of costumes.  He has a lot less things than me!  I’m kind of a pack rat.  Part of that was growing up pretty poor – if you throw something away there’s no way of buying it again if you need it!

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And, yes, swords.  The two Kendo swords are ones my parents bought me when they caught me breaking sticks on my best friend.  (And her breaking sticks on me.)  They decided Kendo swords would be safer and involve fewer splinters to the face.

There are some boffer swords there, and the wooden sword is from when I took Theatrical Fencing in college.  Best class, hands down, that I ever took.  I LOVED IT SO MUCH.

The red and green fabric is a banner for my first MMORPG Guild: Paradox in Dark Age of Camelot.  My ex made it for me, and I loved it so much I kept it.

That’s not all of the basement, of course, but it’s the part that was a mess!

Did you get any projects done over Christmas Break?  How do you keep your pile o’ stuff from taking over?  Inquiring minds want to know!  *smile*