Tag: Big Organizing Projects

Organized People… Organize Their Garage. Again. (and again and again…)

The weather turns warmer, our thoughts turn to… the Garage!

This is a great time to tackle the garage project!  In Spring,  communities often offer additional resources to help you purge clutter and create order, for example:

  • Paper Shredding events;
  • Electronic Waste (E-Waste) and Hazardous Waste collection events;
  • Special waste collection dates, for putting large things out at the curb;
  • Community Garage sale weekends (at your own home) or Rummage/ Community Garage Sales (in your neighborhood, you rent a table and sell your items there); or
  • Spring cleaning and organizing supply sales at big box stores like Home Depot or Menards.

If you’re getting the itch to organize your garage, here’s your check list to make it happen!

  1.  Don’t let the size of the space overwhelm you. Like any organizing project, break down big and complicated tasks into smaller, manageable pieces.  Smaller pieces also allow us to make progress on a project even if we don’t have time to finish all at once.  And remember the goal of a garage – car storage, first and foremost.
  2. Grab a Clipboard to help you stay on track!  Look around for a moment, then start jotting down those specific tasks that need to be completed!  “Clean Garage” isn’t specific, but “break down cardboard boxes flat”,  “tune up bicycles”, “winterize snow blower”, “hang peg board” or “go through drawers in work bench” surely are.
  3. Assemble your supplies.  Grab garbage bags, zip ties, sharpie and post-it notes, and whatever else you might need before you get started so you don’t wander off!
  4. Carve out a couple of hours.  DO NOT expect to spend the whole day on this project, or that is EXACTLY what will happen.  Our work expands to fill the time we give it (Parkinson’s Law).
  5. Ask for help!  Garages are big spaces with big (potentially heavy and awkward) items to move around.  Ask for help from friends or family members, in exchange for your help on their project next time!  (That itemized task list from Step 2 will be helpful when it comes to delegating tasks!)
  6. If more than one person uses the garage, consult with your decision makers to decide what stays and goes!   And remember that for some people, the decision -making part is the most overwhelming part of the organizing process.  So, be firm but kind!
  7. Get to it!  Decide on 5-10 broad categories of items, and sort your items.  You may end up with, for example, piles of yard tools, automotive maintenance, holiday decor, sporting goods, tools, house project accessories (paint, plumbing, etc) and others.
  8. Look critically at the contents of your piles, and let go of the clutter.  The broken, unclaimed and unfixable items, the unused and unwanted stuff, the plain old rubbish.
    -If you haven’t fixed it yet, you probably won’t.
    -If you’re keeping it for “just in case”, don’t.  More will always come.
    -If you are waiting for just the right time to use something, stop waiting.  Either use it or don’t, but commit and then act.  You deserve better than living in clutter.
    -If you don’t know where it came from, or who it even belongs to, time to let it go!
  9. Decide how and where to store what is left.  Store the items you use often close at hand, and the less often used items can be stored up high, down low or in stacked and lidded containers.
    -Set up space convenient to your house door for household inventory like paper towels or cleaning supplies.
    -Be safe when storing tools or chemicals, and keep them locked up and out of the reach of children and pets.
    -Keep bikes and kid toys near the door for easy access.
    -Store like-sized and shaped items together – large flat pieces, like plywood, lengths of  kitchen counter or folding tables – to save room else where in the garage for other items.
    -Use your vertical space as well as possible, like peg boards, tool racks or ceiling hooks.
    -In addition, use your horizontal spaces for work space and NOT for long term storage.
    -Please, don’t use cardboard in your garage for storage of important or personal items because cardboard can be inviting to bugs and rodents, and can harbor dust, dampness and mold.
  10. Finally, put a date on the calendar NOW for working through this process again in the Fall, since these spaces never seem to stay perfectly organized!

Get out there, and get organizing!

Big Summer Organizing Projects – You Need a Plan!

I presented my Large Organizing Projects presentation the last two evenings at local libraries.  This is a popular class this time of year because those big organizing projects we tackle in the summer, like garages or basements, can be intimidating!

It is understandable to feel overwhelmed, but don’t let that feeling stop you from positive action!

You need a plan.  

  • Set a date, create a deadline!
  • Don’t get overwhelmed!
  • Enlist aid.
  • Plan your attack.
  • Assemble your supplies.
  • Don’t be a butterfly.  (Get to it, and if you get distracted, get back to it!)

Give your self a deadline, and stick with it.
“Everyone needs deadlines… If we didn’t have deadlines, we’d stagnate” – Walt Disney

Without a deadline, we may never feel the urgency, the drive, to accomplish a project.  Real or imagined, deadlines get us moving!  Create your own if you don’t have one!  Finish the project by: July 1.  July 31.  The time the kids go back to school, the time your company comes in (insert month name here).  Make an appointment, if that would help!  Order the dumpster to be delivered, or the donation truck to pick up!  Schedule a friend or family member to come and help you on a certain Saturday morning for a designated couple of hours.  Having that scheduled time in mind will help you get things done!

If your big project is intimidating, imagine it as a series of little tiny projects!  For example… “cleaning the garage” may feel like a major undertaking, but imagine setting a timer and tackling one small pile of stuff or one small area every day, instead of jumping in all at once.  Conquering a shelf or drawer at a time, and then allowing a break or a change of task, can helps us make progress in small steps towards a big finish line!

Enlist Aid.  Some folks like to organize alone, but many of us benefit from having company!  Your assistant doesn’t have to be a professional organizer, they might be a friend who’s opinion you value, a family member or two that are willing to do some heavy lifting, or even a paid service like movers or junk haulers.

Plan your attack.  If you have helpers, plan the work around skill and activity levels.  And DO NOT START with opening up every cabinet or dumping every box.  Pick your starting spot, and move steadily from there.  No zig zagging, no making a bigger mess!


Once you have your plan of attack, consider your supply list.  Plan on having garbage bags to bag garbage or items to be donated, boxes for oddly shaped items that need to go, storage containers for the items you plan to keep.  I always have sharpie markers, post-it notes, packing tape and scissors with me, too.  Have cleaning supplies on hand – for example, if you’re working in the garage, plan to sweep up in the spaces you clear before putting stuff back!

Don’t be a butterfly! 
In my organizing classes, I remind people that butterflies are not very good organizers.  They fly lightly from here to there and may be lovely to watch, but we won’t get very far in our organizing projects if we fly from here to there without getting anything done.  So, when your work day arrives, Get To It!  And if, during the process, you get distracted, Get Back to It!