How To Organize Your Garage Once And For All

The curtain is yellow on the door window that goes out to our garage. It is the color of the outside today. The sun has taken over the sky and after months of cold weather it sure does feel good. A week ago they were predicting today would be the warmest day since November 2010. I am glad they were right this time.

I told myself if they were right I would straighten the garage and see if it needed any organizing after the cold winter. It has been so cold everyone has the tendency to just open the door and on the first available space put things there instead of putting them away.

I opened the garage door and the light poured in. The temperature at first was a tad cool but that didn’t last long as I was bustling about. I wondered where to begin to organize? I chose to start getting rid of clutter right where I was standing which meant by the garage door where the cars come in.

I just have to say as I walk by people’s homes on cold mornings and I see their vehicles in the driveway I feel sorry for them. Getting rid of clutter in the garage is a lot easier than scraping the ice and snow off the windows every morning.

Back to my spring cleaning and organizing in the garage:
1.Keep everything in zones to make it easy to maintain an organized garage. At the end of my garage I have a large blue bucket that holds potting soil and lawn fertilizer. In this bucket I found some gloves that had been stashed there. Just the other day I was asked, “What happened to my gloves”? What had happened is that they weren’t put back in their zone. On the other side of the garage there is a basket for gloves.

2.Along one wall there are nails that hold the hanging gardening tools. Happily I can say these were hanging where they belonged. By designating one area for gardening tools it is easier to put them back after using them and this saves time. It also saves money because when they are hung up it makes it impossible to run over them with the car damaging both the tool and possibly the car.

3.We have metal shelves with several plastic boxes on them. One of the boxes holds oil and funnels for the snow blower and cars. Another container has several wire brushes. A larger container holds cans of spray paint and at the other end (separated by a piece of cardboard that fits snugly in the box) are the cleaning supplies for the car. These could be separated into their own containers but I had this size so I am using it. As long it works why not use it?

4.Larger tools like the snow blower and lawn mower sit nicely along the wall. All I needed to do was switch them around. The lawn mower came out to the front and the snow blower is tucked away in the back along with the artificial Christmas tree we have on the porch during the holiday.

5.I checked the drawers that hold the caulking, grass seed, twine, trowels and other types of gardening sundries and tools. I had a bit of tweaking to do. Even though the drawers are labeled somehow things had migrated for a visit or to take a vacation and weren’t in their assigned drawers. They are now back in their homes.

6.Sporting equipment is kept in large bins and things that can be hung up are hung on the wall. The winter equipment is stored away and the summer equipment is front and center.

7.With everything back in their places and the garage organized it is a good time to sweep the floor to give it that final touch to make it look nice and tidy.

Getting rid of clutter consisted mainly of getting rid of boxes I had saved. They weren’t used during the winter so they were broken down and recycled. Everything else needed to be replaced in their zones.

When the weather is warm then it is time to organize the garage and get rid of clutter so you can park your car in the garage to protect it and you from the cold and the sun.