We’ve all done it, so there’s no use denying it. Friends call to say they are coming over right now! and your kitchen/living room/den are a complete custodial embarrassment. You gather up the mess, open the door to the garage, and throw it in. Voila! Guests arrive, compliment you on your clean house, you serve your mother’s famous sour cream coffee cake and you avoid the garage. That would be fine if, immediately upon your guest’s departure, you went into the garage and removed the items you just dumped there. Honestly, how many of us do that? In fact, once something is put in the garage, it’s likely to stay there and become a magnet for other messes and other piles when other guests come calling. Out of sight truly is out of mind, and nowhere is that more true than in your garage.
It is daunting, yes, to wake up one morning knowing you have to confront your garage, but it doesn’t have to be as hard as the landing on D-day. With a few simple tips, you can make real progress toward getting your garage back for use as nature intended: to house your car.
I know, I know. This is the hardest part. You tell yourself maybe I’ll need this one day but the truth is, if you haven’t used it in a year, you probably won’t need it one day. If you don’t know what it is, throw it out. If you have to fix it, throw it out. Aside from special photos or memorabilia, you should evaluate each item in your garage with only one question: Have I used this in the past year? If not, box it up, seal it, and take it directly to charity. Or, better yet, have charity come to you. Most charitable organizations will come right to your house to pick it up. If throwing out things is hard for you (as it is for most people), here is something I always do for boxes in storage: I simply write today’s date in big letters and leave it neatly boxed. If a year from that date I haven’t opened the box, I either take it to the dump or take it to charity. It’s hard to argue with a year’s worth of dust.
Unfortunately, garages often become storage areas for hazardous or dangerous chemicals. Read the labels carefully. Paints, pesticides, fuels, batteries, stains, oils, glues, and other items need to be securely locked up (or at least completely out of reach) from curious children and pets. This is another area you will be able to discard a lot of items, like that half-pint of yellow paint you saved from that kitchen project five years ago, or those four tubes of caulk that have dried up, or that lawnmower gas from 1972. You will need to exercise extra caution here though, and dispose of these substances properly. Your town or community should have designated disposal areas for household hazardous waste, simply look them up online or call the local dump for further directions.
Any organizing guru will tell you that getting stuff off the floor in your garage will go a long way to helping your garage get (and look) more organized. Use hooks, shelves, bins, boxes, drawers, and stackable tubs. Organize according to how you work. For example, if you prefer all your house painting materials and tools in one place, keep them together. Or if you prefer all your brushes separate from your tape and separate from drop cloths, then organize it like that. Then, get an inexpensive labeler and label the outside so you don’t have to open and reopen and reseal the bins unless you absolutely need to. Organize the way YOU think, not the way your local hardware store or space organizing guru tells you to think. Once you have everything off the floor and labeled, you will be amazed how uncluttered your head feels and surprised at how much time you save the next time you are looking.
This is a pretty simple tip but one most people overlook. Simply put, it’s a good idea to give yourself instant access to the tools and materials you use most often. If you use your hose every day in the summer, don’t give it a home on a shelf so that you have to pull it down and put it up each time you use it. How about that extra weather-stripping? Yeah, you can store that away for a good long while (or better yet, toss it). Whichever items you use frequently, be it your Phillips’ head screwdriver, your box cutter, your funnel, or your hammer, keep them close to your workspace and within arm’s reach. If you think about it, there can’t be that many items like that. Maybe a dozen? Keeping them close means you never have to sift through drawers or tool chests again because you keep everything in the same spot. And, if you get in the habit of returning it to that exact spot once you are done with it, you’ll save even more time.
A well-organized garage for both your storage and your car(s) also has one more added benefit an improved state of mind. Starting when you pull your car out of a clean garage and ending when you pull it back in after your workday, you will experience a stress reducer simply by knowing at least that one small area of your life is organized, clean, and efficient. You may learn to love your garage you may even throw your next dinner party in there!