We’ve all been there, standing at the edge of our dangerously cluttered garage wondering how on Earth it got quite so bad. After a moment’s consideration we make the decision to clean it out. The intention is there, but where do we begin, and how? Take a look at these four pointers to ensure your garage cleaning efforts are precise and successful.
Decide what you want
Decide what you want from your garage space. Do you want to park your cars in it? Store your bikes, skis and climbing equipment? Are you using it purely for storage to keep those extra boxes and a deep freeze? Or do you want a work shop to fix up that old truck you’ve kept around?
These are important questions to consider before you begin cleaning. Making that final decision will help you down the road when faced with all the junk you will fight to get rid of. You’ll know to throw something out if it hinders your final vision instead of helping it.
Set a date
Half the reason many of us forget to clean the garage is because we fail to act on the, “I really need to get that done” voice at the back of our head. Sit down, take a look at your schedule, and devote one day to the garage. Give yourself a wide frame of time to sort and remove junk, it usually takes longer than expected!
Chuck it
As I mentioned before, if whatever you are looking at doesn’t fit the purpose of your garage – chuck it. If you haven’t used it in a year – chuck it. If you haven’t taken the tags off – sell it or donate it. If there are things you would really like to keep but simply take up too much space, put them in a storage facility, but not the garage.
Organize
Time to get organized by putting back into the appropriate place in your garage everything you’ve decided to keep. If there’s room in your budget, consider installing organization tools that will reduce the amount of space taken up by bikes, storage bins and other equipment. These systems are extremely effective in making the most of compact spaces and usually have installers that will come in to set things up for you.
