Giving your garage a spruce up just in time for spring can seem like a challenging task. Garages have a natural tendency to become a wayward dumping ground for all sorts of household odds and ends, giving a home to everything no longer used, covered in the corner under sectional covers or custom tarps. Creating order through garage organization, however, is easier than you think when everything is planned in advance.
Cluttered or Not
Organizing is not a one-size-fits-all process and can seem difficult when you contend with the notion that no two spaces are the same and you and only you know the storage capabilities your garage holds.
Storing your family’s cars, tools, yard supplies, cricket equipment, beach chairs, and cleaning supplies may sound like quite the tall order. However, this can easily be accomplished when you take the process step by step.
In the beginning, it’s crucial to sort through your clutter to trim the excess fat of items you no longer use, or even items you’d completely forgotten existed. If possible, remove everything from your garage and sort the items into categories. This helps you divvy the project into sections so that the work isn’t as daunting as it could be.
- Keep items that are essential to your household. These might include tools, sectional covers, or even family heirlooms and antiquities.
- Recycle items that might find second life in a new household. These might include clothes, holiday decorations that’s aged out of rotation, or exercise equipment. These are plum for donation at a local consignment store or charity.
- Throw away or recycle items that have little or no value to you and your family, such as items that are damaged or too hazardous for donation.
This step is crucial in achieving complete garage organization. By sorting items into categories, you’ll find the rest of the process to be much easier.
Clean it Up
It’s time to give your garage that long overdue cleaning you’ve been meaning to get around to. This may seem like a taxing expenditure of time but it’s necessary in order to move forward with a tidy space.
Clean fixtures in your garage with wipes in order to remove excess dust and debris. Mop floors with a cleaning solution of water and disinfectant, ensuring the ground is ready for organization. You might even consider lining the floor with non-slip garage mats as a means of precaution to better protect it in the future.
- Dust by going over shelves, book cases, and other fixtures with a rag, ensuring debris is thoroughly cleared.
- A cap full of bleach goes a long way in cleaning floors and other surfaces. They don’t have to sparkle. You just want a sense of cleanliness.
- You can revisit this process in small bits once everything is organized to retain a clean garage.
Division & Addition
Remember your pile of things to keep? It’s about to get a whole lot smaller and a whole lot bigger in one fell swoop.
Group items together by how alike they are, making sure to save room for items that otherwise defy being easily sorted. This helps to give your storage system shape.
Plastic bins, wicker baskets, and simple cardboard boxes go a long way in helping you to properly store and organize everything. Clearly labeling each box with an identifying category and the item(s) inside helps to eliminate potential confusion as you put items in their new homes. This method of decluttering also works wonders in other areas of your home.
For larger items, like custom tarps or frames for roller shades, it’s okay to skip the hassle of trying to place them into a receptacle. You can instead, leave them be and protect them with a custom cover with a clearly identifiable label signifying what exactly it is. There’s nothing worse than leaving something as a mystery, especially in your garage.
Cover Your Basics
Moving back into the garage space with a clear plan of action makes this next step a breeze. Thinking out the methodical system for which you’re organizing is the hardest part.
An easy method for this is dividing the space into “aisles” that you might find at your local hardware or big box department store. These aisles will help to house items and categorize them so that they maintain order – distinguishing where things go and giving everything an exact place.
Start by dividing your garage into four basic areas that will house major items. These areas can range from anything between “automotive” to “seasonal decor”. For these, you can subdivide sections even further as you see fit. If four main areas proves not to be enough, you can always add additional distinctions.
Organize the aisles in a manner that makes them accessible not only to you, but to every member of your household as well. This allows you to find items when you’re looking for them, but also eliminates the potential for a lapse that will put the space back at square one.
Maintain & Conquer
With garage organization comes order and with order comes a sense of clarity and balance. Doing it yourself is something to embrace with a knowing and positive attitude.
If you find the organization in your garage isn’t working out the way you hoped it would, don’t be afraid to try something new. Find the right balance that works for you. In doing this, you pave the way for easy maintenance to keep things in ship shape.
Maintaining your newly organized garage ensures that everything has a place and a reason for being there, and you’ll never have to worry about a cluttered garage again, leaving plenty of time to enjoy the outdoor oasis that is your backyard.
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