So, my basement workshop. I admitted it was a mess a few months ago.
When I built Clara’s dollhouse it forced me to tidy up a bit — just enough that you could actually see some of the floor.
Then the deck project happened and the workshop slid back into chaos: sawdust, scrap wood, and piles everywhere.
I promised myself I’d fix it once the deck was finished. After many hours, a lot of calls, and hauling more scrap wood than I thought possible, I finally made major progress.
My secret weapon was the Bagster. I’d seen them at Home Depot enough to decide to give one a try.
The clutter had started to interfere with new projects and cause anxiety, so it had to go. Bagster is essentially a portable dumpster — smaller and cheaper. After months of trying to find homes for my scrap wood, I took a three-step approach:
- Kept pieces I thought would be useful for future projects.
- Offered reusable pieces for free on Freecycle, Craigslist, and contacted the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore and a pallet-collection service.
- Ultimately put the rest — old, rotten, or unwanted scraps — into the Bagster and let it be hauled away.
The bag cost $29 and, when unfolded, holds about 3 cubic yards and up to 3,300 pounds. For pickup, it needs to sit within roughly 16 feet of the street so the truck crane can reach it.
At first we worried it looked too small. We wondered whether it could handle the rotting pallets and leftover deck scraps.
The very first piece we loaded — a long rotting railing — almost didn’t fit, but we made it work and continued piling in scraps. By the end of the day the bag was essentially full, though the yellow straps were still touching, which is required for pickup.
Next I scheduled pickup online. You indicate the first weekday the bag is ready and they send a truck within three business days. Pickup fees vary by location; in our county it was about $100. With a $20 coupon I found, our total was roughly $80 plus the $29 bag cost. That was far cheaper than the $300–$400 quotes I’d received for a traditional dumpster, and renting a truck for the day would have been more expensive too.
Less than 48 hours after filling the bag, a Waste Management truck arrived. We didn’t have to be home for pickup, but staying allowed me to watch and capture the moment in case anything went wrong — like a ripped bag spilling wood across the driveway.
The driver attached the crane to the bag’s yellow straps and lifted it without incident. It was satisfying — and a little nerve-wracking — to see the full bag hoisted up and driven away intact.
I even recorded a short clip of the pickup; I remember holding my breath while it went airborne.
This felt like a literal and figurative weight lifted. Those rotten pallets had been taking up valuable space for a long time, and removing them energized me to start organizing and improving the basement. Maybe a man cave is in the future — meaning a place to cut wood and play loud music, not a lounge with a TV.
Have you tried the Bagster or a similar service? At first it may look small, but packed full it can handle a surprising amount. Sometimes we consider renting a truck for these jobs, but the cost, insurance, and fuel make that impractical. Ideally, a generous neighbor with a big truck would loan it in exchange for cookies — a pleasant thought, but for now the Bagster solved the problem and cleared the way for the next round of projects.