Spring cleaning: It’s nearly that time of year again! As the days gradually get lighter and the brain-fog of cold winter nights fades away, many of us are visited by the same notion to tidy, cleanse the space around us, and bring about a positive change, or a new beginning.
When we want to organize our lives a little better and bring order into our day-to-day, it’s always good to start with something in our immediate vicinity that is cluttered or disorganized. For most people, this will be the garage.
Nothing is quite as satisfying as a de-cluttered garage. With these 5 tips, you can achieve the level of zen that a well-organized garage can bring to your life.
Throw Out What You Don’t Need
Do you have a stack of dusty boxes that you’re only vaguely aware of what they contain, but you keep them around “just in case” they suddenly become useful? Now is the time to be decisive, to go through everything that you keep out of sight and out of mind, and sort it all into “keep” and “throw out” piles.
If any of the “throw out” stuff is salvageable, donate it! This not only clears your clutter but serves the community – two birds, one stone, as they say. If you are struggling to let go of most of the clutter, use this tip: throw out anything that doesn’t spark joy within you.
Once you know that everything in your garage is something you want to keep, you will have done the hardest part (starting) and will be in a much better place to move on to organizing the chaos.
Color Code and Label Boxes
This tip is as satisfying as it is practical! Start to sort your stuff into categories, for instance “kitchen”, “the kids’ old toys”, “winter wear”. Once you have your garage items organized, you can box or bag them up with other items of the same genre. You can then label and even use color coding to make these boxes and bags really easy to spot.
You should now have your items in some sort of labeled container, ideally something damp and mouse proof, and you should be able to locate specific items based on your color coding and labeling system.
Garage Cabinets
Now it’s time to store your newly boxed and labeled items in a sturdy cabinet, built to withstand the garage environment. Personalized to the space you want to fill, you can create the perfect garage cabinets for you, using the colours, configuration, and materials of your preferences. These cabinets are constructed and sold straight from the factory, making them affordable and high-quality, rather than products bought through an over-priced retail outlet.
You can design the cabinets online for free, with free assistance, and once they are custom built, they have a ten year warranty. These effective, robust, personalized cabinets are just what your new and improved garage storage system needs to shine.
Have A System
Before you start loading your new cabinets with boxes, make sure you have a system. For instance, kitchen stuff to the right, the kids’ old toys to the back, and so on. There is no point in labouring over the previous sorting and packing steps if you aren’t going to make your things easy to find in the trendy new cabinets.
When a cabinet is a total mess inside, it is enough to make you never want to go near it, so before you find yourself in this dilemma, create a storage system that makes sense to you! All of your boxes should be accessible and in a logical order. You can even make a list or a map of your boxes for easy access in the future.
Install Shelving
Are there boxes that you want to keep visible, or particularly easy to grab and go? Install shelving or overhead storage racks. These will keep the clutter off the floor, and keep your stuff organized, but make visible to you the things you want to have the quickest access to.
And voilà! There you have it, your newly-sorted, labeled, and well-equipped garage.
Open Your Garage Door and Show Off Your Work!
Now that your garage is de-cluttered, well-organized, and sporting some brand-new custom cabinets, you’ll want your friends and neighbours to admire your hard work. You should now be able to feel that sweet zen that comes with cleansing and sorting out your immediate environment. With spring cleaning checked off your to-do list, you can sit back and enjoy the new space in your home and the sense of accomplishment that comes with it.
