Tag: garage organizing

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!

What’s Lurking In Your Garage?

ImageIs your garage scary?  Why are garages such an organizing challenge?

  • Everything is just bigger.  We have to organize bicycles and yard implements instead of dishes, books and papers.
  • Garages are used by every family member, and sometimes by people who don’t even live in our homes.
  • We can look past the clutter in our garage for a long time.  If we use our garage for parking our cars, we just pass through the space when we come and go, and turn a blind eye.
  • If we don’t park in our garage because it’s full of clutter, the usage and priority slip even further, and it sinks even lower down the to-oganize list.  And the dread monster and feelings of overwhelm build….

I’ve worked in a lot of garages lately, so I know it’s a great time to tackle garage projects!  If you, too, are challenged by your garage, here’s how to organize the space, tame the monsters, and breathe easier.

  1. Assemble your supplies:  Garbage bags, sharpie markers, a notebook to jot down follow-up tasks, a smart phone to take pictures of items to sell or donate.
  2. Remove items already slated to leave.  Load up and drop off the trash, recycling or donations.
  3. Get a little tough with your loved ones.  It’s time to STOP storing items for family members who no longer live in your home.  Employ both a request and a deadline: “The donation pick-up is scheduled for July 1, take what you want or it goes out to the curb”, or something similar. Image
  4. Break down the cardboard boxes.  It is amazing how many we have, and how much space they take up!  Keep a few, but flatten them for easier storage.
  5. Choose a starting spot, perhaps near a door, and slowly move around the space, making decisions about the clutter you find.  Clutter is defined as anything you don’t need, use or love.  So ask yourself:
    1. Do I need this?  Yes?  Then where and when do I need this? (and store it accordingly)  No?  It may need to go away…
    2. Do I use this?  Yes?  Then where and when do I use this?  (and store it accordingly)  No?  It may need to go away…
    3. Do I love this?  Yes?  Then treat it as treasure and store it in a clean waterproof container NOT in your garage.  No?  It may need to go away…
    4. Other related questions may be:  Do I have similar items that do the same job?  If the item is large and job specific (like Imagecamping equipment), can it be shared among a couple of households (so one of you can get rid of it!?!?)
  6. Brush down the walls and sweep the floor as you move things around.
  7. Once you have decided what stays and what goes away, determine where your items will be stored:
    1. Store similar items together, like seasonal decorations, gardening tools or sports equipment.  This makes it so much easier to find and use things again!
    2. Consider your budget, and add shelves if possible.  Installed shelves are expensive but attractive.  Plastic or metal shelving units are often on sale at the big box hardware stores, easy to assemble, and if the unit is free standing, you can be flexible about where you keep it. It’s amazing what you can store on just one 4-5 shelf unit.Image
    3. Look at the walls for vertical storage, like pegboards, racks or large hooks from beams or rafters.  Too often garage stuff is piled in short piles on the floor, while the walls stand bare.
  8. Most importantly, once you organize your garage, keep it that way!  At least twice a year, run through this process again.  The piles won’t be so tall next time, and the project won’t seem so scary!

Your Car Is Cold! 5 Ways to Clear Garage Clutter!

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What is the purpose of your garage?  

Car storage, first and foremost.  For many, though, the car sits outside all winter while clutter lives safe and warm inside.  Make space by getting of some garage clutter!

What makes garage organizing a challenge? 

Garages become a catch-all, a dumping ground for our clutter.  Everyone uses the garage, so it becomes the holding place for all undecided items.  In addition, most of the stuff in the garage is just big, both the space and the items stored in it.  And when the clutter piles up, the task becomes so overwhelming, we just can’t tackle it.  The garage is the last area we care about, though it may be the first one we see when we come home.

I would suggest that garages are unique and deserve our respect.  They are truly multi-functional space, with stuff for all members of the household.  And whether we respect the garage or not, winter is coming and no one wants to scrape frost or snow off their car every day!  Here are 5 suggestions to help you Clean Out your garage!

Cardboard – toss it, seriously.

We keep boxes for just in case: in case we need it, in case we have to return an item, in case we up and decide to move.  Most of these just-in-cases never come to pass.  Collapse and recycle your cardboard with your weekly pick-up, or drop off at a local collection location. If you must keep your boxes, nest the small ones and break down the big ones to store flat.  You reclaim lots of space, and a roll of packing tape will restore them later.

Purge appliances and E-Waste like computers, televisions, cords, etc. 

If the item works, try Facebook groups, like buy / sell / trade groups or local groups.  Whether the items works or not, you can also find a place to recycle it:

  • SCARCE.org/Recycling-Events for events in the Chicago Suburbs
  • www.EWorksESI.org, for electronic waste locations and events in Dupage County
  • Solid Waste Agency of North Cook County, https://www.swancc.org/
  •  Check your local community for permanent E-Waste drop-off locations
  • Seasonal E-Waste Collections
  • Assistive Technologies: 7550 W. 183rd Street, Tinley 708-444-2836
  • Call the EPA at 217-524-6713, or visit their website  to find E-Waste collection locations near you!  (Thank you, ME!)
  • Com Ed will collect your old but working refrigerator and pay you $50. Click here for more info

Purge Paint / Hazardous Chemicals:

For more information about hazardous waste disposal sites in your area, click here:  https://www2.illinois.gov/epa/topics/waste-management/waste-disposal/household-hazardous-waste/Pages/default.aspx, or google it for your area.  You can also take the quick way, and purchase paint thickener packets from Home Depot (I’m told cat litter works as well) and add it to partial can of unwanted paint.  Once the paint thickens and hardens, it can be disposed of with regular household waste.

Purge Other People’s Stuff:

If you need help organizing your garage, enlist aid.  Call friends and family, especially the people who have been storing things at your house.  Ask for their assistance with clearing out the garage, and using firm but loving language, ask them for help and tell them the time has come for their stuff to go.

Maximize Vertical Storage:

Imagine all the stuff on the floor of your garage stored vertically on the wall.  Great, right?  There are snazzy garage storage systems like Gorilla Racks or Metro Shelving, but you can reap benefits for a lot less money, too.  For less than $100 at Home Depot, you can purchase some free standing shelves for bulky items, and nails or hooks to install on the studs for hanging storage for items.  I spent 10 minutes in a client’s garage recently, pounding nails into studs for vertical storage.  You can also store stuff in the garage rafters, or suspended from the roof beams.  We hang our bikes from rafter hooks over the winter, above my husband’s car, and clear space in the garage for easier movement.

Finally, once you have cleared your garage clutter, determine zones (storing like items together) and homes (permanent spots) for things, or you will end up right back where you started.  In garages, zones are based on categories like: Seasonal (holiday), Yard / Outdoor, Garden, Hardware, etc.

Spend an hour or two in your garage this week, and you will thank yourself all winter long!