Things I Miss About Not Living In A Garage

I’ve been living in a garage for almost six months now.

Sometimes I write sentences like that and then I have to pause for a minute to take stock of my life…

Yep. Definitely living in a garage. The cat dropped a live mouse up onto the bed at 3AM a few days ago just to prove it. (For the record, one of us leapt out of the bed like it was on fire when that happened, and the other of us rolled over and would have snuggled up with the mouse if it meant not having to get out of bed in the wee hours of the morning. I’ll let you guess which one was which.)

The changing of the weather, besides making me all nostalgic, also has me thinking about all the things I miss about living like regular people (who aren’t in New York City) do. These are the top 5 things I’m missing about living

#5 Multiple Rooms

This one actually came of MysteryMan’s list, because unlike him, I am selfish and completely inconsiderate of someone else’s space, including a) covers, and b) typing on my keyboard 10 feet away from your head when you’re sleeping.

In my defense… dude goes to bed at 9PM so it would be hard not to be doing something when he’s sleeping. Also, this website has to get updated sometime, and unfortunately that time is usually after midnight.

#4 Closet Space

Right now we have one teeny-tiny closet, half of which is taken up by a hot water heater, and a department-store’s worth of clothes. You’ve never seen two people that wear basically a variation of jeans-and-tshirt every day who’ve amassed clothes roughly equivalent to the volume of a full grown elephant.

closet

These days I just burrow under the pile of clean clothes on the bed and call it a night.

#3 Bathtub

Summers are for cold showers, and frankly they could be under a hose in the garden for all I care. Our stall shower in the man-cave bathroom was more than enough to get us through the last six months. But I’ve got to say, now that the weathers turned… I need a bathtub. An actual tub with actual hot water in it. I miss this:

Bath_3

I’ve resorted to sticking my feet in the sink and running hot water over them to get the blood thawed out, and it’s just not the same.

#2 Washer/Dryer

As a general rule, I’m not a fan of laundry. Throwing it in the washing machine isn’t so bad, but the whole folding and putting away, and subsequently being blamed (possibly legitimately) for shrinking every article of clothes in the house? Let’s just say it’s not my fave. And I fully realize the universe is having a little ironic chuckle at my expense, and just possibly I’m realizing how good I had it with a washer and dryer at my beck-and-call before I moved into the garage. I’ll be folding socks much more reverently from here on out.

And, the number one thing I miss about not living in a garage?

#1 Dishwasher

So I get that there are people out there who don’t have dishwashers, and I’m sorry, but I’m really not sure how you make it through a year without being crushed to death under oppressive weight of a truckload worth of dirty dishes. The whole “washing dishes out under the hose spigot” thing was novel at first, but even with a sink these days I barely have time to shower, much less sanitize the tines of all our forks.

Seriously, I totally was just eating icecream with a plastic fork… do you know how far down the I-think-I-can-use-this-to-eat-with list that is? After spoons, forks, knives, serving utensils, small measuring cups, and plastic spoons.

And I think I can hold out for another week with my supply of sushi takeout chopsticks… never fear.

8 Responses

      1. And with Thanksgiving coming up, don’t forget that a paint mixer on a drill would probably make decent mashed potatoes 🙂

  1. I feel your pain – We lived in a camper for 3 months (170 sf) and the thing I missed the most was DEFINITELY the dishwasher. The number 2 thing was a decent-sized shower.

    When you finally finish your house, you will be OVERJOYED to have all of these things again. Your house is really coming along.

  2. I sooooo hear you on the dishwasher. I will never take one for granted again after the 7 months I spent without one. My aunt recently got one for the first time in her life, and she doesn’t even use it! And she has kids! A bunch of them! And cooks from scratch!!! Nutso.

  3. You just made me feel so much better. I broke the waste pipe portion of our shower and kitchen last weekend so we are currently without plumbing for either. We’re bathing in the rusty spigot that comes out of our basement wall and runs into the french drain in the middle of the basement floor. And I’ve always hated dishes. We ate frozen pizza for years just because it could go directly from oven to face. And when my husband and I were both working full time and taking classes at night I definitely purchased a metal pizza cutter so that I could bake it WITH the pizza in order to sanitize it. I’m not sure it worked, but we’re still here (and we never get sick). If you’re really hard pressed, Costco sells compostable paper plates that will ease your conscience in a second.

    1. Oh, we totally burn all of our paper out here in the country so I’m good with paper plates!

      I have to give you mad-props for the rusty spigot bathing… I did 2 months without a shower in my last house and the rule for this one was, I will do anything that needs to be done for this house but I WILL ALWAYS HAVE A WORKING TOILET AND SHOWER ON THE PREMISES.

      I’ve got limits.

Comments are closed.

I'm not interested in a mediocre life. I'm here to kick ass or die.

(formerly DIYdiva.net)