Posted on: Saturday, January 10, 2004
SATURDAY SCOOPS
Banish chaos from your garage
 |
| Too much junk, right? Get organized and get rid of it, and you gain another very useful room.
Illustration by Martha P. Hernandez • The Honolulu Advertiser |
Advertiser Staff
Somewhere amid the lawnmower and the tool chest is a higher state of being.
In Hawai'i, the humble car port or garage might be the hardest working, most functional space in the house. What other room serves as workshop, recycling plant, potting shed, storage locker, weight room, fix-it central, teen hangout and pau-hana lounge all at once? Yet the garage's versatility is also its downfall — an all-too-often generalized chaos.
Set aside a day, roll up your sleeves and make organizing your garage the first project of 2004.
Sort your stuff
Arm yourself with heavy-duty garbage bags, cotton garden gloves, strong cardboard boxes for items to be given away or repaired, and twine to tie up newspapers. Attack one area at a time. As boxes and trash bags fill up, move them out of the garage. The more items you get rid of, the fewer you have to find a place for. Be ruthless.
• Organize what is left: Sort into piles of tools, garden, household, beach, sports, car, miscellaneous (beware this category; do you really want auntie's "handy" electric frying pan?).
• Make a separate storage area for each pile: Items used most often, whether tools, cleaning agents or sports equipment, should be easiest to get at (Christmas decorations, for example, can be stored out of reach). Once you've figured out your piles, decide how you're going to store them. Store what's left
• Garden equipment: Throw out chipped pots and recycle surplus to the nearest garden center. Hang rakes, brushes and spades onto plastic tool racks screwed into the wall to keep the tools tidy and dry. Planks on galvanized brackets or free-standing tool shelves can hold pots, hoses, garbage bags, watering cans and bags of potting soil.
• Sports: Hang bikes by strong hooks in the garage rafters. Surfboards, skates, boogie boards and canoe paddles can rest horizontally on brackets attached to the walls or overhead rafters. Stacking crates are good for balls, shin pads, snorkeling gear, roller blades. • Tools: If you don't own a tool chest, attach a sheet of pegboard with hooks for hanging hand tools to your garage wall (four-by-eight-foot sheets of quarter-inch pegboard cost $14; 32 multisize hooks, $5, at Home Depot). Where to get rid of stuff
City recycling coordinator Suzanne Jones suggests that before disposing of household paints and chemical products, check with neighbors and local organizations who might use leftover products. "Disposal is really the last option," Jones said.
• Recycling information (24-hour) 692-5410. Call for nearest recycling facility. Water-based paints and products can be dried out and then thrown away. Oil-based products, for example, paints or car oil, should be absorbed in a recycling box (5-quart boxes are available at Costco, Longs Drug Stores and auto shops). For safe disposal of household chemicals, wood preservatives and garden fertilizers, Jones advises taking an inventory, estimating quantities and calling 692-5411, or checking www.opala.org for information on disposal. The City and County of Honolulu has quarterly drop-offs for household (not commercial) hazardous waste materials. Next date is Feb. 28.
• Bulky items (old furniture) pickup, 523-4424.
• Big Brothers-Big Sisters Foundation (clothing, household goods, vehicle donations) 524-6111, www.bigshonolulu.org. • The Salvation Army Thrift Stores accept donations of clothing, furniture (in good condition only) and working electrical goods (800) 958-7825.
— By Chris Oliver, Advertiser Staff Writer Par-tay in Chinatown at all-day street fest
There's a parade, too, at 4 p.m., beginning at Hotel and Richards streets, winding toward Smith Street.
Happy Year of the Monkey!
Chow down with a neighbor Did you know that today is Invite Your Neighbor to Dinner Day? Now you do. It all began as a grass-roots effort in Pennsylvania in the fall of 2002, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The object: to bring people closer together.
It's your chance to make friends, mend fences, invest in your neighborhood.
Check it out at www.dinnerday.com. Feline fanciers and their pets plan to show off their stuff at golf course today
Among the breeds expected to be represented by the best in the lovely furry critters are Abyssinian, American shorthair, British shorthair, Burmese, exotic shorthair, Manx (the no-tail cat), Maine coon, Norwegian forest cat, oriental shorthair, Persian, Siamese and Somali. Judging, by officials from the Mainland, begins at 9 a.m. and continues until 4 p.m.
Admission is $4 general, $3 for people 65 and older and kids younger than 12.
Question to rock Big Island
Admission is $15. (808) 322-2122.
Brunch, Sunset beach parties back
Sunset events, featuring food booths, entertainment and films on a 30-foot screen, begin at 4 p.m. today and tomorrow. Today's film is the Eddie Murphy comedy "Daddy Day Care" (right); tomorrow's is the action thriller "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle," starring Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu.
Brunch begins at 9:30 a.m. Sunday with food booths and entertainment, leading up the headliner Hapa.
Admission to all events is free.
If you're a kid, here are a bunch of New Year's resolutions worth making
playing Diablo and finally ask out that cutie with the nose ring. But here's a partial list of New Year's resolutions suggested by the American Academy of Pediatrics:
Teens
• I will eat at least one fruit and one vegetable daily, and will limit drinking soda.
• I will choose nonviolent TV shows and video games and will only spend one to two hours daily with them.
• I will quit negative "self-talk" (e.g., "I'm so dumb").
• Whenever I'm feeling angry or stressed out, I will take a break and look for constructive ways to feel better, such as exercising, reading, writing in a journal or talking out my problem with a parent or friend.
• I will be smart about whom I choose to date.
• I will resist peer pressure to try drugs and alcohol.
School-age children
• I will drink lots of milk, and limit soda and fruit drinks.
• I will spend a couple of minutes every morning and afternoon applying sunscreen before going outdoors.
• I will try to find a sport (like basketball or soccer) or an activity (like jumping rope, dancing or bike-riding) that I like and do it at least three times weekly.
• I will be nice to other kids.
• If I see an unsupervised gun or another child with a gun, I will not touch the gun and will get help from a parent or trusted adult.
Preschoolers
• I will clean up my toys.
• I will brush my teeth twice daily, wash my hands after using the bathroom and before eating, and clean up my messes right away.
• I won't tease dogs and will keep my fingers and face away from dogs' mouths.
You have all morning, afternoon and evening to get into the new year's spirit at the annual Night in Chinatown today on Maunakea Street. Several streets will be closed to vehicles, so you can take your time strolling among the shops and vendors, eating from food booths and taking in that Chinatown atmosphere. Hours are 9 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Admission is free.
Cat fans have their day as the annual Southwest Regional All-Breed & Household Pet Cat Show takes over the Ala Wai Golf Course Clubhouse, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. today.
Hard-rocking homegrown band Living in Question gives a concert at 8 tonight at Aloha Theatre in Kainaliu on the Big Island.
Cross your fingers for clear weather this weekend as the twice-canceled Sunset on the Beach festivals return to Queen's Surf Beach in Waikiki and Brunch on the Beach unfolds Sunday along Kalakaua Avenue.
The kids may have resolved to eat more Twizzlers, spend more time
