.Organizing your Garage for the Upcoming Warmer Weather

Guest Blogger #438, Entry #1055, March 30, 2012

How can anyone do spring cleaning without tackling their garage? And if you’re like a lot of homes across America, that task is not like doing a little dusting around the house. It’s more like a grueling chore that requires more than a couple of hours on a Saturday morning. If you’ve been putting it off, but deep inside you know that there’s no time like the present, here are some garage organization tips that can get your car back where it belongs in no time!

Image via: Martha Stewart

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Go by order of importance

If your garage has been the place where you put everything that you don’t know what to do with, there’s a great chance that you have everything in there from sports equipment and old electronics to clothes and used furniture. Therefore, before you even start cleaning it out and to keep from being completely overwhelmed, you’re going to need to take out a list to designate what your main objective is. Is it to get your car (or cars) back into the garage? Is it to have AARP come and pick up all of the stuff that you no longer use? Is it to motivate yourself to actually pack up some things rather than have them piled up in a corner? Once you know, tackle one project at a time. If it takes a while, that’s OK. Just so long as you know that you’re making progress.

Get some hanging racks and shelves

There are probably a lot of the things that are in your garage that you don’t need, but the truth of that matter is that there are also some things that you do. 2-3 hours into cleaning, you might be tempted to basically throw everything out because you’re not sure where to put it all. There’s a solution to that problem. Simply purchase some racks to hang up on the walls. There are some that you can use for your athletic equipment, gardening tools and even your bicycles. SafeRacks.com and Monsterrax.com are two companies that sell a variety of racks for a reasonable price. And the other stuff like sporting equipment? Why not get a few shelves? IKEA, Target and WalMart all have some vertical ones for the small things that serve big purposes.

Image via: Bhg

Watch the liquids. Literally

In the garage, there traditionally tend to be more chemicals housed in there than anywhere else in the home and a part of being organized is placing things in a way that is safe. Large amount of fluids like gasoline and propane are potential fire hazards and so it’s not really wise to store them up in the garage (especially if it’s attached to your house). A lot of other cleaning supplies are still poisonous if digested and so when it comes to the big stuff, an outdoor shed is probably better and for the smaller liquids, purchase a metal ventilated cabinet that you can lock if/when needed. If you want to take it a step further and do something nice for the environment as well, SeventhGeneration.com and EcoConceptsUSA.com both provide “go green” cleaning supplies.

Remove the duplicates

You know how fashion consultants say that if you haven’t worn something in a year then it’s time to get rid of it? Well guess what? Other than when it comes to seasonal items (like a sled or a jet ski), this rule basically applies to things in your garage as well. You might think that you need three weed eaters, but you don’t. You can toss out that other broom out as well. And the five pairs of sneakers that look like they’ve been playing in mud for the past four years? Yeah, get rid of those too. If there are some things that are usable, but you simply don’t use anymore, there’s always Craigslist or…they don’t call them garage sales for nothing.

Image via: Martha Stewart

Decide what you want your “new” garage to be for

Once all of that space opens up, so do your possibilities. A wise man said that crazy people are those who do the same thing and expect a different result and so in order to avoid having to do this all over again, be clear on what you would like your “new garage” to house. Will it be mostly car and car equipment (like the replacement engine that you’re putting in the automobile that you’re restoring)? Will it be a storage facility? Will it be just for your gardening supplies and camping gear or will it be a little bit of all three? Once you know, get the family together to make a verbal commitment to place nothing in there that’s not designated for that space. Then, rather than waiting until it’s almost too much to bear, do a quick run through once a season. It will keep your garage organized and your mind, at least when it comes to your garage, clutter free!

For more garage ideas on Stagetecture, click here.