Taking Back Our Home

I suppose I came by it honestly. My parents had a bungalow and somehow the unfinished basement always remained unfinished and just filled up with stuff. It always starts with something old you don’t use any more, but you just can’t throw out. Or you get some new furniture, so maybe we will save the old furniture for the cottage. Whatever the decision, it just grows and grows. When my parents’ family home became just the estate, it took four of us a week to purge.

So, it continued in my home. Again, it starts slow. You start by storing items, but slowly you start to store items which will never be used again by the family.

It was probably started by me right after university. I think you can find a full set of text books for electrical engineering in the basement. They are probably combined with another set for an MBA. Why would I think I would ever look at those again? I suppose those expired texts will now just find the black bin.

You start to see the basement filling with old toys (‘keep the best for grandchildren!’), old appliances, old furniture, old hockey equipment, etc. Both of our parents have passed, so there is plenty of history in our storage.

Our family has been involved in Scouting for nearly 20 years. With no permanent group storage solution, leaders tend to accumulate items in their basements. Even worse, you start to store it in your garage. In the end, you have tents, coolers, craft projects, left-over event items - the cars end up parked in the driveway every winter.

So, what does this have to do with Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP)? Well, it’s a little drug called Prednisone, a steroid the doctors use to suppress the immune system. The side affect for me is it makes me hyper with sleeping problems. I don’t like junk. Don’t like messes. I will wash the dishes without looking for other volunteers. In fact, I wrote most of this article at 4 am, in one draft. Weird …

You know that drawer which is full of junk, well I just dump it on the floor. Within ten minutes half of the contents are in the garbage, some items are put in their proper new area and the rest are organized and put back in the drawer. It feels like a rainy-day task has just been completed!

With some TTP recovery time on my hands and my extra energy, I decided to take ownership of the garage. It started by just loading up garbage bags, but garages are complicated. Where do you store old tires? Where do you store harmful waste? We even had a gently-used double bed mattress leaning against one wall.

My brother said you can start by using Facebook Marketplace. Just take a picture and add to your selling list. Wow, within minutes the mattress was for sale, then a couch, then a TV stand. We had great responses. I’m holding a garage sale all over Messenger!

With another call to my Scouting friends (as we have retired now), we reclaimed another area. It’s looking good – the cars will have inside space this winter! Hopefully, there will also be space for a new snow blower.

The home ownership movement also includes the basement. It is quite easy. First just organize. If you are keeping it, then put it away. Find a shelf, or a bin. It you are not keeping it, then get rid of it. Is it garbage? Can you sell it? Can you donate it? Whatever the answer, just get it out of the basement and on its way to its destination.

I know my family is concerned about my issues with TTP but one day they are going to be happy it was easy to clean out the old basement and garage … 😊

Thanks, Bruce.

@BruceFightsTTP