Cleaning the garage during the summer months in the Valley of the Sun can be quite a feat! Start this year off right by hiring Get Organized with Bridges +CO to organize your cluttered space into a functional place that you and your family can feel good about.
Contact Bridges and her team before the end of March, mention this blog and receive a free consultation to assess the scope of the job and prepare an action plan to purge and create space for what you use and need.
What’s Inside the Garage?
A garage is where you park your cars, right? Are you able to park your car inside? Can you find what you need? For some people, car space isn’t the main point they consider as they fill up the room with tools, sports gear and items they want to keep that either don’t belong in the house or don’t fit.
The garage can become the dumping ground, creating so much clutter that people find themselves having to park outside in the driveway in order to keep their “stuff” in its place. This is when you know it’s time to take action!
Ideally, the garage has plenty of space for your vehicle(s) along with other items that you use with regularity. If you do use this space for storage, it should be done in a way that is organized and items are clearly labeled and easy to find.
Deciding What Stays and What Goes
Deciding what stays and what goes is the first step for improvement. What do you really need? Sometimes we are keeping things that we never use. Often we have forgotten that we even have it in the first place!
One thing I know for sure, Delayed decisions create clutter. Are you still wondering if you should try to fix that old grill? Do you keep your kids’ old sports equipment, even though they have outgrown it?
This is when you take inventory of what you really have. Start by taking everything out of the garage. This will reveal where the real trouble is. Sort everything into like piles. You can divide your belongings into four parts: keep, donate, sell and trash.
Go through your items and candidly ask yourself, Do I need this? Do I use it? The answer to these questions will help you move through your clutter quickly.
You may be getting rid of a lot; this is a good thing! Using these piles to sort your belongings will help you see what you really have stored in your garage and decide what can stay and what needs to go. There are thrift stores who will happily accept your donations, along with consignment stores who can help you to reap the rewards of parting ways with your more valuable unwanted items.
Putting it Back Together
Once you have sorted everything, it is important to put everything back in based on how you use them. Is it an item you use often? Then you will want to put that in a convenient and easily accessed spot. If it is something you use rarely, it can be stored up higher. Always think about ‘Vertical is visible and horizontal is hidden’ as you place the items back.
Using clear plastic bins is also something I highly recommend when organizing a garage. These are easy to stack vertically and allow you to see the contents without having to search. Make the placement of your items convenient for you!
Defining Your Family’s Needs
Oftentimes, this process will help to clear up the floor space. A company I highly recommend to help with clearing the floor is Monkey Bars of Phoenix, owned by Bob Lefebvre. They sell a variety of products, all specifically designed to get your garage organized, including shelving, cabinets, and ceiling mounted storage.
They also sell ‘monkey bars’, bars that allow you to hang up anything on your garage walls, from folding chairs to bicycles to yard working tools and sports goods. This can help you to organize your garage in a functional way for your family.
More often used items can be kept closer to the entry door. All the bikes should be in one place, preferably hanging on the wall to save floor space.
Items for storing can be placed inside labeled bins and put inside cabinets so that they are out of sight. If you don’t have enough room on your walls, consider storing things hanging from the ceiling, so that they are still neatly put away, and leaving room on the floor for other things. Like your vehicles!
When everything is organized, you spend less time wondering where things are and searching for that certain item, which gives you more time to enjoy your life and your family.
Save yourself time and peace of mind by contacting Get Organized with Bridges + CO today. They have teams ready to get in there and turn a big project into a much smaller one and help you to get organized in an efficient way! Remember, contact Bridges and her team before the end of March and mention this blog, and you will receive a free consultation!