Organize Your Garage And Get Happy

Many homeowners don't want to confess and come clean, but it's undeniably true: most of us can barely find room to stand in our own garages, let alone put a car or two in them! Spring is coming, and it's time to start afresh and really make good use of that very valuable part of your house. Here are some tips to help you get organized, and get happy.

-- Get up early and get started! Nothing prevents a garage getting clean more than procrastination: be determined and just do it. Don't try to take it on alone. If you have school-aged kids or older, get them to help you out. If you don't, hire some neighborhood kids so that you can make shorter work of the job and save your muscles. You'll be getting your garage clean and organized while teaching a good work ethic to the younger generation!

-- Move everything out before you start sorting out what stays and what goes. It helps to see everything in the light of day and have a large area to work in outside of your garage where you won't feel so confined. Putting things on the driveway or on the front lawn is a great place to start: just don't carry things too far away, since most of it will be going back in the garage again.

-- Go through your stuff and get rid of most of it. Come on, admit it: you don't use most of it anyway. Make a big pile of giveaway items, and then put them by the curb with a sign that says "free." If you get a fair amount of traffic on your street, most of that stuff will probably be gone before you're done with your work.

-- Organize remaining items into categories such as: sporting goods, tools, lawn machinery, and painting supplies. Take a good, hard look at the interior of your garage and decide where the most convenient places would be for particular categories. For instance, a collection of basketballs should be placed fairly near to the door so that they can be easily accessed for a quick pick up game.

-- While everything's still out, make sure to clean, clean, then clean some more. Get rid of cobwebs and give the place a really good sweep. Here's your chance! The garage is empty. You may even feel ambitious and give the walls a new coat of paint.

-- Consider innovative new storage methods and get stuff up off the floor. Many people forget that hanging things on the wall opens up their garage space for actual automobiles! There are companies online that specialize in helping customers get organized by offering relatively inexpensive, long lasting products that make storage attractive and easy.

You can hang up bikes, fishing rods, garden tools, skis, tennis racquets, and even that collection of basketballs so that you can reclaim your garage for good and keep everything organized and accessible.

When it comes to cleaning out and organizing your garage, just do it! You'll be glad you did.