Hoarding Woes: Storage Locker Emptied!!!

We picked up the 20′ U-Haul truck at 7 a.m. The Team was waiting at the Hoarding House and from there, 5 strong (well, we all seem to have varying degrees of physical maladies) we headed to the storage locker. I unlocked the sliding door and raised it knowing the response I would receive. The sheer amount of boxes gives people pause, especially when they have busted their tails for the past 6 weeks to reduce such stuff. We started off with a burst in the early morning and before you knew it we had broken a sweat and filled the back of the truck. We transported the stuff to the house and proceeded to unload it.

In the early morning light, we unloaded the back of the truck with the plan to sort through each box and move the keepables to the back, and into the tent. The first load was pretty daunting to say the least and I was certain it would fill and over run the tent.

We attempted to stay disciplined to really inspect most of the boxes and sort out the good (resellable) from the donations, from the junk. A choke point resulted at times but we stayed true to this plan, figuring it will pay off in the long run. 

The first load out of the locker made considerable room. It was deceiving as I thought the first load had accounted for over half of the contents. I was wrong. The first load only accounted for one third of the contents.

This undertaking was truly grueling. The weather was mild and perfect, but the volume of boxes and the lifting and walking eventually took a toll on everyone’s body. Three truck loads later, the most amazing thing happened…a mile stone of sorts…

That's me sitting inside the empty storage locker. I owe it all to the Team. I could never have accomplished this move with out substantial help emptying the locker, filling the truck, emptying the truck, sorting all the boxes, filling the Tent, creating a mountain of garbage and a smaller mountain of donations for the Vets. Thank you Team!!!

The resultant pile of debris. It was hard to imagine there would be that much. The cardboard boxes need to be broken down.

It was a different type of stuff today than much of the other stuff we have found inside and outside the Hoarding House. This stuff had some unique pieces and the newspaper wrappings for much of the stuff interestingly dated back to the late 60’s, while my Aunt’s husband was still alive…he died in 1969. Had my Aunt already started accumulating stuff and it accelerated once her husband died?

One of  the most amazing aspects of todays 13 hour event was that all the kept stuff filled the tent with room left over!!!! I would not have believed it. The Team did an amazing job packing those boxes in high and tight.

The Tent after the first load. All that stuff you saw above down the side of the house went into that tent with room left as you see here. The next two loads also fit in there with some serious culling.

13 hours after we started the Tent was sealed up. Very thankful for the extraordinary help. Again, the cost of that storage locker over 10 years was sad. We won't recoup the almost $35,000 dollars in storage fees. But, I know my Aunt is pleased 'that damn storage locker' is no more.

Tomorrow morning another 20 yard drop box will be delivered and the garbage piled on high will be discarded. The poor driveway is destined to see turmoil for months to come, I suspect.