Lend Me A Hand

For many of us our garage wears many hats. It parks the car, stores patio furniture, holiday décor, tools, and whatever else we cannot fit in the house. It is easy to pack something away in a box because you may need it again someday, yet someday never comes!

If you’ve ever been embarrassed to let your friends and family see your ever growing clutter, then now is the time to get started. Cleaning out and reorganize your space will ease your tension and make life easier. There are many different kinds of garage organizers available to help.

Getting Started

Gather the family and find a couple of days that everyone can commit to the project. Be realistic about the amount of time needed so that you don’t get discouraged. In fact it is likely that this project will take longer than you initially plan. Those storage bags and boxes may be holding more than they appear to have in them. It may not be realistic to schedule the clean out days consecutively which is fine.

Gather some garbage bags and at least 3 empty boxes or plastic containers so that you can get started. Label one box or container donation, one box sell, and one box keep. Encourage everyone in the family to really think about their items. As a general rule if you forgot you even owned it or you have not needed it in the past year, you can sell or donate it. If you run across ‘projects’ that some day you will have the time to fix or finish, have a heart to heart with yourself. How long have you been working on it? Do you really want or need it? Do you realistically have the time to get it done?

Clean As You Go

Since it is rare that you will find your garage shelves empty, take this time to give them a through cleaning. If you’ve got spilled oil on the cement and cob webs in corners now is the time to tackle them too. Try to detail clean your garage in this manner once or twice a year. This is also a good opportunity to take a look at the foundation, walls, windows, and doors.

Organizing

Now it’s time to head to your local hardware or organization store for storage options. Ask a sales associate to show you which shelves, closets and containers would be best for your space. For example if everyone in your family owns a bike you may want to invest in wall or ceiling mounted racks opposed to parking your bikes and hoping they don’t fall on top of one another. One great option is Elfa storage systems. These come in many different types for different sizes and needs in your garage.

Get creative with your purchases. For instance, if you store decorations for the different holidays in your garage you could color code the containers you purchase for each season. If you have a work bench in your garage, look into the variety of tool storage options that will incorporate vertical storage while maintaining easy access.

Remember that cleaning and organizing take excessively longer when you let something get out of control. Since you have put in all of this hard work don’t let it go to waste. From here on out, if you add something new to the garage make sure that it supports your organization efforts. Commit to checking in with your garage organization once every six months.