Cleaning up the Backyard

Happy to say that the mess in my backyard has officially been cleaned up!  That was one of those things that was really bugging me until it got done, so excited to get that project marked off the to-do list.

I got myself another Bagster, which I used last year in a promotion and loved it so much that I did it again.  Cleaning up a smaller amount of debris is easy with this handy plastic bag.  This is not a sponsored post, but I do think the Bagster is genius, so I bought another one.  I had enough to fill up the bag to the top and it’s going to be great to have a clean backyard again.  I’ve been looking at that mess long enough, at least since March when we started the screened porch project.  I’m so so happy to have this one behind us too.  We’re whittling down those projects, one by one.

Here’s where we left off after the screened porch and outside stairs were finished.  We had been using the table saw in the backyard for months and had left it like this, all covered in plastic to keep the rain off.  It was a happy day when we were able to load up the table saw and take it back to my dad’s house.

All of that cutting over the months had produced tons of debris, big and smaller pieces of lumber that all had to be picked up piece by piece.  I wasn’t looking forward to it.

My mom and dad came over to help and it was a sweaty job that took a couple of hours, but we got it done. So thankful for their help, it would have taken me days to do this by myself.  I love those folks!

We took one day to burn a few things before we started clean up and that was my dad’s idea.  What is it with men?  Men love to burn things, don’t they?

I already had a little burn pit back there, so we threw a few limbs and cardboard and some scrap lumber and put it on the pile.

He loves seeing debris burn up so I guess that is less we have to bag up.  All those old kitchen cabinets that are left had to be torn apart too, so Dad did that as well, so that all the pieces could fit flat in the Bagster.

After tearing down the old cabinets, it was time for a rest and then we started filling that Bagster.

Mom came over too and helped.  I took her to Aldi’s for a few things and then we came back and really got on it.  Took about 2 hours, but that Bagster was full to the top when we finished.  It was a high-80’s day too, so we were all sweaty and exhausted.

Setting up the Bagster is really easy, it’s a heavy duty plastic with big handles.  All you do when it’s filled is call their pick up # and they will schedule a truck from Waste Management to come and pick it up and haul it away.

Totally worth the $129 cost of hauling by Waste Management (it was $99 last year, so they have gone up). The bag itself retails for around $30 at Lowes, Home Depot and Walmart.  I love this idea for cleanup!  We took our time and flattened out the bigger pieces on the bottom and then stacked up from there. This is much better than trying to haul all these tiny pieces to the dump yourself.

We hauled everything to the cinder block wall and then over to the bag.  Mom helped with the smaller things, she’s such an angel.  I’ve got some plans to update this wall soon too, I’ll be trying out some new Rustoleum products on it and can’t wait for that.

Little by little, the Bagster was filled up with debris.  My dad brought over his wheel barrow to help with hauling.

Piece by piece, we hauled and packed and got it all in there.

After about 2 hours, it looked like this.  Filled to the top.  We wrapped the top in a leftover piece of plastic in case it rains.

I hate to tell you pallet lovers that I dumped 2 pallets in there.  Don’t hate me, I’m just not a pallet crafter.  Actually, I still have one left in my garage that I’ll have to do something with eventually.  I see all these creative ideas for pallets, but can’t seem to jump on that bandwagon.

After the backyard was all cleaned up, I got out my push mower to finally mow the grass that hasn’t been mowed all summer where our sawhorses were set up.

Looks so much better now.  With all the debris sitting there, the grass stopped growing, but I’m sure with some rain and sun the grass will grow back again eventually.  Hope so anyway!  I may have to overseed, but we’ll see how it does this Fall.

All these patches of dirt should grow more grass.  I am just happy to have the mess GONE!

And get my backyard back again.  Now I have a clean backyard when I look out the screened porch.

Yippee, it feels good to get big jobs accomplished doesn’t it?  Owning a home comes with all the responsibility too and keeping up the yard is part of it.  One day, I hope to make this yard really pretty! For now, I’ll just take clean!

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