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How to Organize Your Garage for Easy Cleanup
For most families, the garage becomes a dump for anything that isn’t needed or wanted. They start out as big open spaces that seem like a good place to store useless items like old clothing. What happens is that the garage is eventually overcome with clutter so that clean-up seems like a task to be avoided. But the best way to reclaim your garage is to dive in and get it organized. Here are some tips that will help.
Clear it All Out
Start by taking everything out. Pick a day when there’s no chance of rain, back out the car, and haul everything in the garage out to the driveway. Separate your possessions into what you need to keep and what can be tossed out or donated to charity. If you wind up with enough rejected items, you might consider holding them over for a yard sale. When the garage is cleaned, put up some shelving and put only what you’re keeping back in a logical order with related items stored together.
Use Vertical Space
Don’t forget about vertical space as well as horizontal footage. Floor-to-ceiling shelves along one all, overhead racking that won’t interfere with the garage door, and hooks or pegboards for hanging things up can help immensely. Start with the wall furthest away from the door so you still have plenty of room for parking. Clear everything away, scrub it, repaint it, and look for some affordable but sturdy metal racks to transform that area to storage space.
Consider a Shed
If you have a small garage but some space in the yard, a shed would be ideal. You can buy pre-made models, kits, or build your own shed. As an alternative, you could rent a storage space, and hire a moving company like Wheaton World Wide Moving to pack things up and transfer them. This serves as a permanent repository for all that clutter. That will make it much easier to get the garage cleaned, or prepare for moving day.
Keep Order
When you put things away, especially in paid storage, be sure that everything is clearly labeled so it’s easy to identify. Large items speak for themselves, but smaller items should be placed in boxes or bins. Purchase some from a moving company and label them as to the contents. You could even keep itemized lists taped to the box. This will make things easier to find and conserve space.
Clearing away the clutter is satisfying. If you save enough space, it can be cleaned up and repurposed as a workshop or something like a man-cave. This will give you extra square footage that you can actually enjoy.
