I've Reached the End

     I've finally reached the end of my 40 Bags in 40 days!  It only took me about 65 days!  I feel as though I've completed the project in a way that will prevent me from having problems in the future.  I built a HUGE 4 level shelf that houses all of the bins that were stacked in the back of the garage.  After building it, I labeled all of the bins (clothes the kids will grow in to, fall decorations, Christmas decorations, spring decorations, and a few other things)  I also donated about 35 garbage bags filled with things that our family didn't need but would be helpful to someone else.  I threw away around 10-15 bags of garbage and broken things that I just kept hanging on to!
  

     I know it still looks like A LOT, but it really isn't.  We have our freezer, lawn mower, wagon, window air conditioners, snow blower and few other things in here also.  Everything in is order and easy to get to.  I really think this will help us to keep it clean.  I know that I NEVER want to get back to this state.

     I started off with the tutorial from White House Black Shutters.  But I made a few changes to better fit us.  I decided not to cut my 2x4 frames.  They cut theirs to 6' in height to fit their basement. Our garage is pretty big, so I kept our 8'  2x4s.  I also measured the height of our bins to determine
where I wanted the shelves to be.  I wanted to ensure that they would fit!  The tutorial also says that they used dry wall screws.  I started with these and seriously had a problem with them.  Many of the screws bent and some of them even had the heads pop off.  I ended up switching to the same size in deck screws.  These worked 100% better!

My helpers!

     Here's were I'm going to toot my own horn.  I got a bug in me and wanted to start this project right away.  Ryan was having track meets this week, so I just started the project.  I honestly built about 2/3 of the project on my own!  There were a few screws that I couldn't get to sink in to the board all the way.  So, Ryan came to the rescue!  He finished putting in the screws and helped me but the boards on to the shelves.  He couldn't believe that I was able to get done as much as I had.  I had built the entire outer frame and most of the shelving frames.  I feel so proud every time I look at it.      

                                                                                 
     Since I was getting rid of so much and better organizing things, I ended up having a ton of empty plastic bins!  I stuck them off on the side and still need to decide what to do with them!  I'll probably end up donating them because I don't want to fill them up with stuff again!