Garage Organizing
In Houston, we are notorious for keeping our cars in the driveway and lawn equipment, unopened boxes and more in our garage! October is a great month to organize your a garage and even have a garage sale too! It is a big project to tackle so be sure to include your family team in the process.
Plan Your Work
With all organizing projects, we need a plan for organizing success! Begin by setting aside 2 consecutive days for organizing your garage. You will need to take everything out of the area, boxes, bikes, recreational equipment or whatever! Enlist your family to assist with this endeavor for them to have ownership of the project and help in the decision making! If a clean space and a way to find toys is not reward enough, remember to find an incentive for your children in this family project. Plan for the biggest parts of what is to be removed from the garage. When is the heavy trash day? You can put items at the curb and have someone else taken them away. Contact Salvation Army to pick up from your home the day after organizing so you won’t have to bring the donations to them. What other large items will be sold and can be listed on www.craigslist.com? Get your plan in action with the big stuff first.
Toss and Categorize
Keep in mind when you might use items again! “Just in case” is not a sufficient reason to keep all the items in your garage. Be decisive about how frequently you will use belongings and whether to keep them. Decluttering is just as important in this space as any other in your home. Once you have made decisions about what you are keeping, it is time to define categories for storage. Categories for your garage might be recreation, hardware, tools, gardening, and seasonal. If you have wood scraps, be sure to store these together but don’t keep every scrap. Also, take this opportunity to clean your garage, sweeping out bugs, dirt and more!
“Finding a Home”
Once you have created your categories, remember to locate what you use most in the areas of best access. Whatever you use most should be located closest to the door to the house. Items that are used the least can be stored behind or beneath other belongings. Use wall and ceiling space to maximize your area. However, keep as much as you can off the floor.
Organizing Products
When purchasing organizing products for your garage, retail and wholesale superstores have wonderful and inexpensive products. Garage items can be very heavy and need extra support. Four tier metal shelving units are most popular. Sturdy plastic containers with lids that seal are an excellent way to keep bugs and dirt away. Rubbermaid has products designed specifically for garages with slots for specific tools. Called “Fast Track” it is an easy way to use vertical space where you have lots of it!. As always, be sure to label everywhere including bins and shelving. Monkeys Bars also has outstanding products to organize visually with hooks, shelves and more. If you can see it you know you own it.
Is garage organizing a priority for you? Email me what you have accomplished to park your car in there!
