Has parking your car in the garage become an artful game of ‘dodge the clutter?’ Or have you given up all hope that your car will ever fit inside your garage?
Fear not! What happens behind closed garage doors need not be a shameful mess. We’ve put together the ultimate garage declutter checklist that will transform your garage into an organized oasis.
Decluttering your garage ideas
For many homeowners, the garage becomes a dumping ground for all sorts of stuff. From camping supplies to old bicycles and even the 12-year-old cans of paint – over time the garage takes on a sad role as a secondary storage unit where stuff goes to hide.
Imagine how great life could be if you could finally check “declutter garage” off your springtime to-do list! Not to mention being able to easily find the things you need and, gasp, actually park your vehicle inside the garage. Okay, now that you can picture this utopia let’s get cracking and make this dream a reality! Here’s what you need to do to declutter and organize your garage.
Wait! Before you get started, take a “before” picture. You’ll want to admire the transformation and have a photographic reminder so that you don’t let the clutter happen again.
Get sorted: Separate your things into keep, sell/donate, or toss piles
Get ready to make some difficult decisions. The reality is that you will need to get rid of things. It’s the keeping of all of the things that got you into this mess in the first place.
Once you have prepared yourself emotionally, start sorting items into one of three categories:
- Keep
- Donate or sell
- Throw away
Only keep what you genuinely have a need for – if you haven’t used it in two or three years, let it go.
Are you hanging onto things because you spent good money on them back in the day? While you’ll never recoup the money you spent on what was once the top-rated leaf blower of 2016, it’s not providing value to anyone if it’s just collecting dust in the garage.
Have a garage sale or post your sellable items on Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji. Or if you can afford to, donate some or all of them. Many charities offer free pickup or have convenient drop off bins at various locations.
If it’s broken or otherwise non-usable, throw it away. Be mindful of what will end up in the landfill. Recycle as much as possible and dispose of hazardous waste appropriately. Toxic materials that do not belong in a landfill include things like batteries, old fertilizer, paint, motor oil, solvents.
Don’t want to schlep your garbage yourself? Enlist the help of Local Environmental’s Bin Rental for Waste or Recycling
Decluttering Your Garage Tips: Get organized
Hang it, stow it, tuck it away
Now that you’ve managed to declutter your garage, here’s what you need to do to keep it that way.
- Organize items into zones
Start by identifying logical spots for large items like your lawnmower or tool cabinets and then create accessible zones for the rest of your things. Keep similar items together, like holiday decorations or gardening tools so that it’s easy to grab what you need when you need it.
- Install shelves
Wall-mounted shelves or shelving units are an inexpensive way to free up floor space and leverage the vertical space in your garage.
You can also install simple wall hooks to hang up items like rakes, shovels, and bikes.
- Use plastic bins
Replacing cardboard boxes with more durable plastic bins will help protect your items from insects and rodents. It will also make it easier to stack bins on top of each other to maximize use of vertical space.
- Label those bins
Thank goodness you didn’t throw away that label maker! Put it to good use and label all your boxes and bins so you know what’s inside each one. This will make finding things a breeze.
Keep your garage clutter-free
Keep your garage clutter-free
Develop a routine of sorting and getting rid of things so that you know exactly how to declutter your garage quickly each year.
Scheduling a day or two each season to make sure things are properly put away and organized in the garage will go a long way to help keep it tidy.
Resist the urge to dump things in the garage that you plan to ‘deal with later.’ Is there a particular spot in the garage that tends to attract clutter?
Could you add a shelving unit there instead? Or maybe it’s the perfect spot for a beer fridge! Dealing with clutter before it happens is a good way to avoid having a big mess to clean up down the road.
Enlist professional help as needed
If you prefer to let the clutter fall as it may and commit to a once or twice yearly clean up, you may want to consider a bin rental so that the hassle of waste pick up and removal is left to the professionals.
With a variety of bin sizes to choose from, Local Environmental has a bin to match any home project and can schedule a convenient drop-off and bin pick-up.
Toss that garage clutter to the curb! Schedule your residential dumpster rental today.
