Garage
Organization not Garage Sale
1-20-06
Dear
Kathi,
We have a two car garage and cannot fit one car into it. This
is the year that we have vowed to turn our storage area back
into a garage.I know that there has to be other ways to store
my stuff and still have a grage that is useful.How do you
handle a garage full of everything but the car?
Carole,
Encinitas
Carole,
Don’t despair, there are plenty of people in Southern
California with the same dilemna who have solved their problem.
Begin by emptying everything out of your garage.
As you pick up each item to move it out, determine if it is
keep, donate, recycle or toss into the trash.
If
you feel that an item is a keeper, this means only one of
three things: you will move it into your home and out of the
garage. It lives in the garage and is regularly used ie lawnmower,
holiday decorations, Costco overstock etc, Or: It will be
re-purposed or passed on to someone who needs it. An item
should only be kept because you know that it has a purpose
or you want to see it on a daily basis.
For
the other items that don’t really seem to belong in
your life any longer, do yourself a favor. Get rid of them
and do not put them back into your garage for the next time
you clean out. Do not save anything that you have not used
in the past two years ( and that is being liberal) and especially
if you haven’t yet used it but have it saved a for a
rainy day.
We live
in Southern California, which is a desert after all!
If you have a load of momentos, do yourself a favor and put
them all in one pile. Go through them one by one and try to
downsize to only one plastic bin per family member. Your children
will not want most of their keepsakes and certainly will not
want to sort through yours at a later date. Do it now during
this process. Set these items aside and do not let them back
into your garage until they have been downsized and refitted
into plastic tubs. If they are worth keeping you do not want
to store them in cardboard boxes.
A
note about cardboard: Boxes are not a great medium to store
anything in. The gum in the adhesive attracts bugs and they
will move in over time to feast on the glue. Use plastic bins
for long term storage. These bins also keep water damage at
bay.
As
you move items back into your garage think about creating
zones for different categories of items. One wall could be
sports equipment like golf clubs, bicycles etc. Another wall
could be the tool zone.
Keep your once a year décor up along woth your momento
bins up and out of the way. They do not need to take up valuable
floor space and are the perfect candiditaes for high in the
rafters or on the top shelf.
By the time you are done with this exercise, you will probably
have all of your trash cans filled plus a few more bags. Plan
your garage project the day before the trash pickup. Also,
be sure to call your favorite charity to schedule a pick up
of your donation items at the end of the day you are working
on the garage and you will have the satisfaction of being
clean and clear of all of your discards.
.
