If you are like most people you probably use your garage to store stuff and not your actual car. If that is the case then you will find yourself needing to organize your tools, holiday stuff, and everything else for sanity’s sake. This article will give you some tips to help you declutter and get organized.
Get Prepared Before You Start
First you will need to collect some supplies. For decluttering you will want to have some empty boxes and trash bags on hand to collect unwanted items for donation and things that simply need to be trashed.
For organizing you will want to make sure you have brackets and wooden planks for shelving, and plastic bins to micro organize smaller parts for your tools, nuts and bolts, or hand tools.
Also you will want to consider when your best work hours are. Since this is most likely an all-day project, work during the time of day when you have the most energy. Some people work better at the crack of dawn, where as some people work better once the heat of the sun has retired.
Purge and Sort
Start to sort through your things and decide whether you want to keep it or donate it. Keep yourself organized during this process. Put boxes of items to be donated on one side of your driveway, and stuff that will go back into storage in the garage, on the other side of the driveway.
Label
After everything is organized you will want to label your boxes. If you want to be very micro organized, you can label the boxes with a general title and then with a fine point permanent marker and some white shipping labels, label the same box with more specific items in the box. For example if you are labeling a box holiday decorations as the main title, then the more specific items might be, lights, garland, and ornaments.
Organize
Once your stuff has been purged and sorted you will want to figure out how you will organize it. Simple bracket and wooden plank shelving is an easy way to organize. If you are very crafty you can build overhead storage to hold bigger plastic bins for holiday decorations and such.
Either way, whether you are doing something simple or more complex, make sure your tools are in good working order to prevent injuries, such as a dull saw blade can snap and cause extreme injury to not only you but your tools as well.
Once your shelves are built and put in place you will want to organize according to how often you use stuff. For example holiday or family memorabilia type boxes should be stored overhead, while items such as tools or emergency kits should be stored in places where they can be quickly and easily accessed.
Maintain
Once you have everything the way you want it, try to commit to regular maintenance of purging and organizing to avoid your garage getting out of control again. You can do this once a month or a couple of times a year. Regardless it will help with the upkeep of less clutter and more sanity.
