.Guest Blogger: 5 Easy Tips for a Clutter Free Garage

Guest Blogger #596, Entry #1386, July 16, 2012

Ridding your garage of clutter can be an overwhelming goal. When we can’t decide what to do with something, chances are it goes into the garage. Pretty soon, we have a garage cluttered full of deferred decisions and when it comes time to clean the garage we are faced with all those decisions at once. But don’t surrender just yet. With these five tips we’ll have you clearing the decks and finding the floor in no time.

Get Everything Out

It’s doubtful that your garage filled up in an orderly fashion. Over the years boxes have been stacked and furniture stored in whatever haphazard order they were stowed away. You may even have a few things that fell over and made a mess. Well, that’s not going to sort itself out. Take everything out of your garage and put it in your driveway. You’ll sort it as you go and get a clear picture of how you can organize items before you put them away. This gives you a chance to sweep out the floor and set up shelving.

Image via

[ad#co-1]

Divide and Conquer

Set up four areas in your driveway. These areas are for: rubbish, charity, keep, sell/give away. As you empty your garage, sort your items into their groups. Only the things in the keep pile will be going back into the garage.

Have a Plan Before You Start

At the end of the day, you do not want to be shoving rubbish back into your garage because you don’t know what else to do with it. Make arrangements before you start cleaning. Borrow or rent a truck for the rubbish. Contact a charity and arrange for them to pick up donations. If you plan to give items away, contact people as you go and arrange for them to pick up their new items. Have some tarp to cover things up if you can’t be done by the end of the day.

Be Ruthless

Most items in your garage should end up in your rubbish pile. If you have an item and can’t quickly decide what to do with it, then put it in the rubbish pile. If the item really mattered you would not have hesitated.

Image via

Organize

Take a look at the pile of things going back into the garage. Put small items into boxes with lids and labels. Stack items neatly on shelves. Use hooks for awkward items and get as much off the floor as possible.

Follow these steps and with a bit of muscle and a lot of determination you will have a clutter free garage.

James Christie writes for GEM, providers of award winning breakdown cover.

For more home organization ideas on Stagetecture, click here.