Home Organization 101Week 2 “The Garage” (Season 3)

Let me just start by saying that my garage has not always looked like this.  We used to have a LOT more stuff.  We saved things, “just in case” we needed them, (which we usually never did).  I finally got sick and tired of cleaning up junk and clutter. I had enough!  Once we moved into our dream home, I vowed not to hoard clutter anymore.  So we purged… and purged some more.  We got rid of a TON of stuff!  Then we got rid of some more.  Now we are at the point where we can finally manage what we own.  If you are not at the point where you can “manage” what you have, its time to purge!  This challenge is for you! This week will be the hardest week of all. If you can get through this one, the rest will be downhill from here.

Week #1 went perfect. So many of you shared your pictures, dilemmas, support, and questions on our Facebook Group page. Thank you for that!  Community is what makes events like this successful.

During week #2 we are headed into the dreaded garage!  If you are like me, this place gives you a headache just thinking about it. For some of you, this may be a task thats just too much to handle in one week.  Please don’t be discouraged.  Do what you can.  Attempting something is better than not trying at all, right?  I broke this week into 3 options.  Those of you who want to dive in head first will complete option #1.  Those of you who are hesitant, don’t have the time, or if its too much work for one week can choose option #2.  Option #3 is for those of you who do not have a garage or storage building.  Okay, thats it. Now its time to get organized! Good luck.

*Choose one.

BEFORE YOU START THE CHALLENGE, TAKE A PICTURE OF YOUR GARAGE.

1.  Call your local charity organization to schedule an appointment for them to come with a truck and pick up your “junk”. Sometimes it takes a week for them to arrive.

2.  Make sure you have boxes, bins, etc… before you get started. You will need them. I purchased mine at Target.

3.  Line up your empty bins (in a row) in the driveway.

4.  Go through all of your junk, once piece at a time, organizing your stuff into categories (bins).

 (Sports, garden, tools, car maintenance, painting, pets, light bulbs, grilling, beach/pool, etc.)

5. Go through each item, emptying the garage… completely!

6. Make sure to place the items you no longer want or need into “donation” boxes.

7. Once you have sorted through your stuff, the garage should be empty. At this point you can sweep, blow (leaf blower), or hose down the floor (depending on how dirty your garage is). This is an important step!  You do not want to organize a dirty garage. During this step, if you have a problem with spiders or ants, you can spray the perimeter of your garage with insecticide.  Im not crazy about using insecticide, but living in South Carolina, its a MUST every 3 months.

8.  Place all of your neatly organized bins & boxes back into your garage (on shelves if you have them).

9. Label each bin with a labeler.

10. Hang things on wall hooks.  Try to keep everything off the ground. Spiders like to hide behind stuff on the ground & so does dust!

11. Pat yourself on the back. Your done!

*This process should be repeated at least twice a year (spring and fall), to keep things clean and organized.

*BEFORE YOU START THE CHALLENGE, TAKE A PICTURE OF YOUR GARAGE.

1.  Collect boxes & bins. You will need them.

2.  Survey your garage. Do you see things that are not in there place? Put them back.

3.  Categorize things. Place like items together into bins.

4. Throw away any trash thats laying around.

5. Look for things you no longer need or want. Donate them.

6. Sweep the garage floor.

Our garage is pretty simple.  Its not “decorated” fancy or anything. Its plain, organized and functional, which is how we like it. I park on this side.

The cupcake bucket on the right side has my 5 year olds sidewalk chalk in it. My husband parks on the left side.

This is our “bin” section.  We didn’t want to waste any space in the middle of the garage so we placed these shelves here. We keep EVERYTHING that goes into a bin, on these shelves. Everything is labeled and easily accessible.

We utilized our ceiling height (Its taller than it looks), with these Hyloft shelves.  We store seldom used items here such as the Christmas tree, etc…

I purchased these garage storage hooks/units from Home Depot. They are “Husky”.

They hold everything from beach chairs to sporting equipment.

This basket sits right by my van. We live by the beach so whenever we want to go for the day, I just grab the boogie boards and put them in the trunk!

Below is my Freezer inventory checklist. I got this from Clean Mama printables on Etsy. You can visit her shop (here).  When I stock the freezer, I write in how many of each item I have. When I take something out, I minus it on the check list.  Love it! I take the list to the grocery store with me as well. It keeps me super organized.

Our Emergency Preparedness Station goes on the wall to the right of my mudroom door.  To learn how I put this together (step by step), visit my post here.

This door takes you to the mudroom in our home.

We keep on top of sports schedules with this chalkboard!

My recycle box is placed right by the mudroom door, so I can easily unload the recyclables form the kitchen.  We also have a cubby for shoes (if needed). We usually keep our shoes in our closets.

This shelf is right outside of our mudroom door.  I keep items we use often on here:

1. Extra food containers for school parties.

2. Packaging tape.

3. Sunglasses.

4. Grooming items.

5. Grilling items.

6. Coolers.

7. Empty bags.

8. Sunscreen.

The following pictures are more of a close up of our bins.  We keep everything that fits in them.