The garage seems to be the one place in our homes that we
tend to allow to get a little chaotic. It becomes somewhat of a storage unit
for all of our wants, needs, and sentimental items that we just can’t let go
of. It can become an intimidating thought to even consider taking a day to
clean it out. With everything that’s out there, it’s got to take more than a
day right? Possibly not! With these few tips and tricks to cleaning out and
organizing your garage, it can hopefully be done in just a day and you’ll be
able to reclaim the area for the car that you’ve been wanting to park in there
for some time now!
First things first, you’re going to want to pull everything out
from the garage to be able to determine what you have and where it will all go.
This also gives you a clean slate to help you decide how you will set up your
garage to suit your needs. Next, go through everything that you’ve just pulled
out and ask yourself what you want to keep, sell, donate, or just throw away.
When making these decisions you can ask yourself questions like the following:
- Do I need this?
- Am I going to be using this anytime in the near future?
- Is it outdated and is it time to upgrade?
- Does this still work?
- Would this be more beneficial to someone else?
Once you’ve answered all your questions and have the piles
of keep and toss, rent a dumpster! Calling the day before you clean out your
garage to schedule your dumpster is best. This way, you have the dumpster at
your ready and can toss as you go. It also helps to get everything you no
longer want or need gone faster. You don’t have to haul it away yourself or
have it sitting on your curb waiting to get picked up by the city.
Now that you have all you want separated ready to go back in
the garage, give the garage a nice spruce. Sweep the floors, get all the dust
out, maybe a little spray down with the hose to really give it a shine, and fix
anything that might need a repair.
Lastly, it’s time to organize! Going vertical is best when
storing items in a garage to get the most use out of the space you have,
especially if it’s a smaller one car unit. For smaller tools such as, drill
bits, screwdrivers, wrenches, you could put up magnetic strips to house them on
the walls freeing up any drawer space you might have for other items. Also
consider saving little jars. You can screw them to the bottom of a shelf and
use them as holders for nails and screws. For boxes of trash bags, you could
re-purpose a paper towel holder to take the roll out of the box and hang it on
the wall. Easy access and you don’t have to worry about having yet another box
in the garage. Dedicating a small space next to the door or entry to the house
can also help keep clutter from occurring. Hang a coat, backpack, umbrella rack
next to the door and have a little shoe rack to prevent shoes from tracking in
mud or dirt and becoming misplaced. Wire baskets are great for getting the
little items off the floor and they are stack-able on the wall to really utilize
all usable space.
Using these simple tips and tricks can really turn a garage
from a disaster zone to an accessible little storage unit!
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