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Learn how to organize your garage so it's neat, clean, and you can find what you need when you need it.
It's happened all too many times. You've come home from a long day at work, and as you pull into your garage you wince. You scramble to get the door back down as quick as possible, but it's too late. Your neighbor has already gotten in a peek and seen the disaster that reigns supreme. Rakes tumbling down like fallen branches after a storm, soccer cleats left abandoned in piles by the back door, bins of "stuff" that needed fixing 3 years ago. All the unwanted, castoff "junk" that your house has accumulated has ended up here and here it lies, dying a slow death in your garage. Well, no more! Why should the very first thing you see when you get home be the most cluttered, dirty area of your home? Garages can be organized, neat, and clean. It just takes some work. And the threat of selling your children to circus performers if they don't help. So, the first thing you (and your fuming kids) need to do is, don't groan here, haul everything out. You need to go through all this "stuff". The broken toaster, the rusty rake, the plastic pumpkin from 4 Halloweens ago, you have to make a decision about all this stuff. Keep, donate, or trash. If you haven't used it in the past year, chances are you won't and it needs to go. Resolve to make a decision about everything you lay your hands on. The stuff you have leftover is the good stuff. The working lawnmower, the current Christmas lights (the job of testing each strand you can give to one of the kids...aren't they lucky?) the gardening tools, this all needs to go back in. But where? Garages are blessed with abundant wall space, so this is where you want to look for your storage requirements. There are a variety of different wall systems you can purchase to hang all this stuff up with. They can be found at any major hardware/home improvement store, and are worth their weight in gold. Rakes and shovels can be hung on hooks, bikes from the ceiling, etc. You can hang some cabinets to store things like paint and car supplies. They key here is to get it all off the floor-that's where clutter can happen seemingly overnight. If you have plenty of hooks and shelving in your garage, then all this stuff has a place to go, and won't just get piled where it falls. You can also get some freestanding sports organizers if your kids are active. These, again, can be found at most major hardware chains. These hold the baseball bats, the soccer balls, the catchers mitts and all the other sports paraphanalia you never knew existed until you had kids. Usually this stuff is piled in the corner, right? Well, purchase one of these babies and your kids will actually know where all this stuff belongs. Be warned- this is a big project. It will probably be dirty, and there might be bugs involved. But if you save it for a summer day you can pull the door open and enjoy the fresh air. When you're done, you won't be ashamed to open your garage anymore so it's well worth the effort! An organized garage is a thing of beauty, and you'll know it when you put all this work in.
The copyright of the article Organizing Your Garage in Home Organization is owned by Heather Levin. Permission to republish Organizing Your Garage in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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