Copyright © 2014 Clear Spaces LLC All Rights Reserved Five Steps To Declutter And Organize Your Garage By Denise Lee, CPO ® It’s time to take back the garage from clutter and make it an organized place to protect the expensive cars and equipment ‐‐ and maybe even enjoy. Step one: create a plan and prepare. Having an idea of how you want to garage to function and look like gives you something to work towards. Prepare by planning how you will dispose of the unwanted items and where you will put things as you are sorting and decluttering. Minimally you will need some large boxes for items to trash, donate, recycle, and relocate items somewhere else in the house. Arrange for a charity pickup and trash hauler in advance to help create a sense of urgency in completing the project. Use the driveway as a staging area and have tarps on hand to cover items in case the weather turns bad. Use temporary signs to label the different areas so you don’t have to remember. Step two: sort and declutter. One of the easiest models for how to sort items is to think about where you would find them in a hardware store. Put similar items together. Pare your collection down to the items that you actually use. Items that you don’t use are stealing space from the things that are used. One of the best questions you can ask yourself is “What is the worst thing that will happen if I let of this?” If you can live with the answer to that question, then let go of the item. Step three: zone and design. Zoning means putting items where they are used. Plan where and how things will be stored. There is a large range of garage storage systems available to match your budget and sense of aesthetics. Among all the systems there are some common elements to consider. • Cabinets are great for storing a lot of things with a streamlined appearance. Many cabinets lock for safety. • Open shelving maximizes the amount of storage in a footprint of space and provides maximum accessibility. Shelving is great for storing large bins as well. • Hooks store tools on the wall so floor space is opened up. Grid systems and pegboard are attractively store a large number of items. • Bins and baskets are workhorses for storing collections of items. Step four: set up the storage system and place items in it. Items that are used frequently need to be very accessible; however, items that that are used infrequently can be stored in less accessible spots – such as the top of a shelving unit. Consider safety too. Heavy items need to be stored low and dangerous chemicals might need to be locked up away from children. Label everything. Labels make maintenance much easier. Step five: maintain the order. While returning items to where they belong will go a long way to maintaining the garage, there are a couple of additional strategies you can use. Do not dump items in the garage that you are not sure about keeping –

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Five Steps To Declutter And Organize Your Garage

By Denise Lee, CPO®

It’stimetotakebackthegaragefromclutterandmakeitanorganizedplacetoprotecttheexpensivecarsandequipment‐‐andmaybeevenenjoy.

Stepone:createaplanandprepare.Havinganideaofhowyouwanttogaragetofunctionandlooklikegivesyousomethingtoworktowards.Preparebyplanninghowyouwilldisposeoftheunwanteditemsandwhereyouwillputthingsasyouaresortinganddecluttering.Minimallyyouwillneedsomelargeboxesforitemstotrash,donate,recycle,andrelocateitemssomewhereelseinthehouse.Arrangeforacharitypickupandtrashhaulerinadvancetohelpcreateasenseofurgencyincompletingtheproject.Usethedrivewayasastagingareaandhavetarpsonhandtocoveritemsincasetheweatherturnsbad.Usetemporarysignstolabelthedifferentareassoyoudon’thavetoremember.

Steptwo:sortanddeclutter.Oneoftheeasiestmodelsforhowtosortitemsistothinkaboutwhereyouwouldfindtheminahardwarestore.Putsimilaritemstogether.Pareyourcollectiondowntotheitemsthatyouactuallyuse.Itemsthatyoudon’tusearestealingspacefromthethingsthatareused.Oneofthebestquestionsyoucanaskyourselfis“WhatistheworstthingthatwillhappenifIletofthis?”Ifyoucanlivewiththeanswertothatquestion,thenletgooftheitem.

Stepthree:zoneanddesign.Zoningmeansputtingitemswheretheyareused.Planwhereandhowthingswillbestored.Thereisalargerangeofgaragestoragesystemsavailabletomatchyourbudgetandsenseofaesthetics.Amongallthesystemstherearesomecommonelementstoconsider.

• Cabinetsaregreatforstoringalotofthingswithastreamlinedappearance.Manycabinetslockforsafety.

• Openshelvingmaximizestheamountofstorageinafootprintofspaceandprovidesmaximumaccessibility.Shelvingisgreatforstoringlargebinsaswell.

• Hooksstoretoolsonthewallsofloorspaceisopenedup.Gridsystemsandpegboardareattractivelystorealargenumberofitems.

• Binsandbasketsareworkhorsesforstoringcollectionsofitems.

Stepfour:setupthestoragesystemandplaceitemsinit.Itemsthatareusedfrequentlyneedtobeveryaccessible;however,itemsthatthatareusedinfrequentlycanbestoredinlessaccessiblespots–suchasthetopofashelvingunit.Considersafetytoo.Heavyitemsneedtobestoredlowanddangerouschemicalsmightneedtobelockedupawayfromchildren.Labeleverything.Labelsmakemaintenancemucheasier.

Stepfive:maintaintheorder.Whilereturningitemstowheretheybelongwillgoalongwaytomaintainingthegarage,thereareacoupleofadditionalstrategiesyoucanuse.Donotdumpitemsinthegaragethatyouarenotsureaboutkeeping–

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makeupyourmindanddisposeofthemimmediately.Ifyougetsomethingnew,letgooftheoldimmediately.Allofthesestrategieswillpreventitemsfromtakingoverthegarageandstealingparkingspacefromthecar.

Afterdeclutteringandorganizingyourgarage,youwon’tcringeeverytimeyouopenthegaragedoorandyoumayevenbetheenvyoftheneighborhood.

Needmoreorganizinghelp?ContactClearSpaceshttp://www.clearspaces.orgforonsiteandvirtualassistance.