Cynthia loves her job! It shows in everything she does. She arrives with a cheerful attitude, knows where to start, knows what to do next, and encourages her client all the while.
L.V. Redding, CA
"Gone With the Wind" Garage Organization
When attempting to organize the garage, many people adopt the Scarlett O'Hara attitude of "I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy," In most cases, the garage holds years of clutter that has been stashed there because people were unable to make a decision. The garage is a safe place because anything stashed there is out of sight, out of mind. "Where do I begin?" you ask. This is a common question from people who are planning to organize their garage. Let's start with the basic principles of organization.
Decide what your vision of the garage when it is completely organized? What would be the best use of the space? Is it to park the car in the garage? Is it to have a home for all your sports accessories, shop tools or garden equipment? Answering these questions will help you create a game plan that meets the needs of you and your family. Once you have created a goal and designed a layout, it's time to begin the organizational process.
Creating a staging area. This could be the driveway or the front lawn. Create signs, such as "toss", "donate", "garage sale", "recycle or repurpose", and place them in designated spots in the staging area. Gather containers, such as cardboard boxes, to place in these areas to hold smaller items. Also, gather gloves, large extra-strength trash bags and marking pens to label containers. You may even have to rent a Dumpster.
Break the project down into small, manageable sections. For example, if you have a myriad of things, divide the garage into quarters. Most people have about four hours to spare at one time, so dividing the garage up makes it easier to manage and meet the goal for the day. It does not matter what section you begin with, just pick a place to start that will give you a sense of accomplishment.
Sort like items together. For example, all paint supplies, lawn and garden tools, or sports equipment. Some of these items may be placed in the toss, donate, or recycle piles. Sort out every item and try to make decisions as quickly as possible. If making a decision is difficult, place the item on a "maybe" pile and set limits as to what is put there. After you decide what to keep, take inventory. If you have more than one or two of the same items, perhaps it is time to donate, or sell. For items you no longer need, think about selling them via Internet sights such as Craigslist or Ebay. Or give it away by listing the items available on the Freecycle website at www.freecycle.org.
Once the garage is empty, re-evaluate your design. Will this layout work for you? Think about creating zones within your garage, and find homes for all your items. For example, create a garden zone, a work center zone, or sports and fitness equipment zone. Look at the amount of wall space you have. Think about moving things off the floor. Locate things vertically instead of horizontally.
There are many different closet and garage organizing companies who will be happy to do a garage design for you. Remember, you don't have to do the whole garage at one time. This year, start with one wall, decide which zone it will be, and design the type of storage to meet the needs of the items you want to store. Be sure it is within your budget.
Specifically, you may want to organize your sports and fitness equipment. First, think about accessibility when looking at garage storage systems. I like the wall grid system for maximizing the use of space and keeping things off the floor. Wall grids mount both vertically and horizontally. The grid will hold a variety of "activity organizers" such as hooks, racks, shelves and baskets. For example, a bike hook will hold a bicycle vertically. Also, a golf rack and basket will hold two golf club bags and other golf accessories. For those of you who snowboard, there is a great snowboard holder with a shelf for boots. There are also overhead mounts to store items that are seasonal sports equipment such as kayaks.
For those of you looking for inexpensive solutions, you can use Rubbermaid-type containers with lids. They come in various sizes to store balls, helmets, boots, sport shoes, etc. They stack on top of one another, are easily labeled, and fit on shelving units. Consider placing children's pool toys in a laundry basket. Children's sport equipment needs to be accessible at their height. In the end, you want to see all your sport and fitness equipment located in one area of the garage so you can find it in a moment's notice.
I know, you read this article, got a little motivated, but perhaps that Scarlett O'Hara attitude may still be around, "I'll think about that tomorrow." You quietly close the garage door and say, "Honey let's take the kids and go to the movies." There is always another day.
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