How would you feel if your garage door were accidentally left open for the entire world to see? Would you be proud of your organized space where your cars, sports equipment, storage and tools fit neatly and told your neighbors, “This person really has it together.”? Or would you feel ashamed and hope that no one you knew drove by and saw the messy jumble of boxes, toys, bikes, yard equipment and “mystery” items?
Well, springtime is garage time, so take action now to reclaim your garage, your peace of mind and be able to park your cars! It doesn’t happen overnight, but it can happen.
Here’s your plan of action:
Get the clutter out
Assess what’s left
Rearrange into categories
Assign the categories to zones
Get help
Enjoy your new garage!
1. Get the Clutter Out — Devote one afternoon a week to clearing out the clutter. Work on one section at a time, getting rid of everything that doesn’t belong in the garage. Donate, return, recycle, or toss what you don’t want or need, and take things that belong elsewhere to those areas. Be ruthless and become the master of your “stuff,” not the slave!
2. Assess What’s Left — Take a good look at what remains. Will it all really fit in the garage? If not, do some additional purging. Remember — your plan is to reclaim your functional space, park your cars and be proud of your garage.
3. Rearrange into Categories — Sort everything into categories like sports equipment, toys, household products, tools/hardware, holiday decorations, archived files, etc. Measure the overall volume of each category.
4. Assign the Categories to Zones — Now assign a zone for each category. Keeping “like with like” is the single best way to stay organized. Think vertical! Every inch of wall space that’s not obstructed can be used for storage.
5. Get Help — There are some things best left to the pros. Bite the bullet and hire a professional organizer if you feel overwhelmed just thinking about organizing your garage. Don’t agonize about steps one to four when there is help available. This is especially important at the design stage, when you’re planning how to organize the things you truly want and will use. A professional organizer can provide a design to get the most out of the available space as well as help install your new system and put everything away correctly saving time, frustration and, often, reducing overall project cost due to a more efficient design and plan that will minimize the number of shelving and/or full-out garage design products required.
6. Enjoy your new garage!
Wow! You’re finished! Now you can show your garage with pride, find everything when you need it, and park your cars inside. Well done!!
Questions for “The Mess Doctor” or do you need professional assistance to organize your garage? If so, please contact Barbara Ricketts at MessDoctor@Mac.com or call 661-263-0124.