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Our garage was a cluttered mess and we wanted to work on de-cluttering the garage. I love when I can walk into the garage and find exactly what I need, instead of trying to step over shoes, helmets and footballs to get to my bike. We decided it was time to clean it up.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Gladiator GarageWorks for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
Four kids, two grown-ups and now a dog = a LOT of stuff. Where does it all go? Into the garage! Bikes, sports equipment, winter clothes, my husband’s car (that would probably be safer outside of the garage, since the kids’ bikes are in there!)
We ended up making our garage organizing plan together, because the worst part of our garage (before the makeover) was that we will spend a full afternoon organizing it, but we never made a habit of putting things in a certain place, so it gets right back to disaster in no time. Now we were going to have a place for everything. So… how do you go about de-cluttering it?
1- Make a game plan. Lay it out on a sheet of paper before you get started. I follow Gladiator GarageWorks Facebook so I had a few ideas (thanks to them!). We had to think about where everything would go. Where are you going to put your things? My husband and I went online. We knew what we wanted Gladiator GarageWorks is the perfect fit for us because we had a few organization challenges that we knew they could help. We looked through all of their garage storage items. We ordered the highly rated Premier Series Tall GearBox to help us get organized.
He ordered a workbench that sits on drawers. He ordered shelves and cabinets. He even ordered the Premier Series Tall GearBox that locks to keep the kids out. They had so much to pick from and this was his Father’s day gift from us – an organized garage! What more could he want, right?
2- You need to “declutter it” not just “organize it” A clean garage looks like this: piles of things, the middle area cleared, stuff pushed to corners & walls. An organized garage looks like this: A place for everything, surfaces clear, wall space being utilized. We did this by We are doing this in three-days because I want you to break your garage into three zones: (Wall one, Wall two, Wall three). The open garage door doesn’t count, so we just have to worry about three. Each day follow these steps with one of the zones. You will have an organized garage in three days! Think about how great it will look and feel when you walk out there!
3- What do you need? Zone by Zone. We separated our garage into our zones and started to declutter and sort. Sports (bikes, helmets, baseball gloves), tools (tools, extension cords, air compressor), home (Christmas decor, baby clothes), car, etc…
When spring cleaning, it is important to remember that you need to get organized to get clean. Clear out your space before you start organizing it (you can’t organize clutter). First we made three piles (like we did when we organized our kitchen cabinets): Keep, donate, trash (you could have a SELL pile, too).
4- Put up your “walls”. Once we had our piles ready in the center of the garage, we started to assemble the walls of the garage. He assembled each piece (this took him about 3 days to complete all of it, but it is WELL WORTH IT.
Our garage looks a million times better! With the Gladiator GarageWorks (conserved space while we were cleaning the garage out) products & a few things that we had, we couldn’t be happier.
We used pegboard to hang tools and other things that you need… Its a cheap solution for hanging and organizing tools.
5- Organize your piles. Take your trash pile and either put it into the garbage can (if it will fit) or put it in your car to take to the dump the NEXT TIME THAT YOU ARE OUT (don’t let this just sit around!)
Put it in your car and either take it now or do it tomorrow. Put your donate pile into your trunk to take to a charity or call a local charity to pick it up (Inspire Outreach picks up my donations). When you are down to your third pile, start putting it into your new Gladiator GarageWorks storage cabinets and drawers.
Step 6- Remember that if you get it out, put it back. This has to be your rule or you will be right back where you started.
