If you’re like me, your garage is probably next to the last space in your home that you think of organizing. I park in my garage, but I also fill it up with clutter! I have a tenancy to leave stuff that I don’t want in my car but I’m not ready to bring in the house on the “work bench”. This often gets to the point where my work bench isn’t so much good for working as it is a random compilation of junk that I don’t care enough to put away or toss.
My garage desperately needs to have the organizational system figured out. However, the fact of the matter is that I don’t have much time or mental space to do that! I do need to get it into working order though. Every couple weeks I take an hour or less to go through my garage and get it to a place that It’s useable, even if it’s not impressive.
The first step is one that reminds me of my mom every time: I go through with a trash bag. Just go through with a garbage bag and toss all those random things that you probably need to just throw away, and stuff that is just straight-up garbage. Getting all that stuff that’s been piling up out of the way helps so much! I find that I can see what needs to be tidied, so that I can get a better idea of where I need to focus.
Turn your attention to the most cluttered surface and begin the organization there. My mantra: “It gets worse before it gets better.” I just take all the stuff lying around and divide it into piles categorized by type. Once you have everything out and grouped, I begin to put it away. If anything goes in the house, I put it into a bag so that I can carry it in. I don’t leave or move on to a different spot into the garage until I’m finished with where I am.
Before:
After!
See? This all took me 5 to 10 minutes, to just throw away all the accumulated trash and to put things back in their places, or make a new space for new things.
After you are all done with the worst spot you can move on. Do a simpler version of what you’ve just done and keep going until you are finished! Sometimes the thing you need is an actual spot to put things. Investing in some inexpensive clear totes can be your shining answer. I like getting mine in packs of three from Costco. If you get the clear ones you don’t have to necessarily have a shelving system ready, and you don’t even have to label the boxes. Being able to see into the boxes is important to this! It really does make everything easier. I just stack my boxes against the back wall and throw things that are like each other into them.
(Photo 3)
Maybe someday I’ll have the time and determination to get my garage whipped into shape. But today, is not that day. So today I’m just gonna throw a bunch of random stuff together and enjoy crossing that off my to do list! I wish you the same joy.