The basement, after almost two years of work, is finally finished. We are very happy with the way it turned out. This past Saturday I decided to move my tools out of the basement and into the garage, which meant that I needed to organize the garage to fit everything. I have been parking my car out in the driveway for the past year and-a-half because my side of the garage has been used to store stuff from the basement.
I strive to be a minimalist but with a wife and two kids you are bound to accumulate stuff. Fortunately, I recently purchased a Lifetime Fold-in-half trailer. Well actually... my dad bought the trailer for himself but I claim it as mine whenever I need it. He also stores it at his house which isn’t that big a deal since folds up to only 29” wide.
With the wife and kids gone I wanted to get started on the cleaning out the garage. Its easier to throw stuff away when the wife isn’t watching over your shoulder. I went over to my parents to pick up “my” trailer to find out they were out of town. Rats! no help from my dad today to get my junk loaded up.
I was amazed at how easy the trailer was to work with and get set up to take over to my house. This was the first time I have used it. I was able to pull it out of their garage, unfold it, and hook it up to the SUV all on my own without any trouble.
Once I had the trailer, cleaning the rest of the garage was a snap. Pretty much everything in sight that I didn’t absolutely need to keep got thrown into the trailer. Once the trailer was loaded I just threw a tarp over the top and tied it down. Pulling the trailer was a breeze the only problem I had was arriving at the dump trying to back it into where the workers wanted me to be. Backing is tough for an inexperienced trailer-puller like me. I did manage to jackknife it on both sides of my car and I am sure I gave the workers a good laugh. Here is a hint… Trailers respond a lot quicker then you would think to minor adjustments in your steering so go slow… 
Once I finally got it to about where I was supposed to be I was able to pull out the back panel and quickly empty it of all of my junk. Don’t worry, I separated my recyclables out.
Taking the trailer back, folding it up, and wiping off any noticeable dirt so I wouldn’t get busted for using it, was easy. Another thing I learned for you Lifetime trailer owners out there was although one person can move the trailer around by hand (I have the 5x8 model) it is a lot easier if you move it without the front and rear panels inserted. You need to remove these anyway to fold it up or unfold it so just sit them off to the side to move it around and them put them in after.
It is nice to have a finished basement, and a clean garage so my car can park inside this winter.