Get your Garage in Gear – Organizing for the Upcoming Fall & Winter
18 Sep 2017
Get your Garage in Gear – Organizing for the Upcoming Fall & Winter!
How often, after being hit with the first serious snowfall of the year, have you shoveled out and scraped off your car, opened up the garage in the hopes of absolving yourself of this chore the next time, and realized that in the preceding months, you’ve managed to fill every available space with stuff?
If you’re like most people, this is probably a yearly occurrence. In milder weather like Fall, when we can keep our cars outdoors, garages make an admittedly convenient place to store home improvement materials, children’s toys, unused furniture, etc. Yet in Winter, we need this space more than ever – not just to store vehicles to prevent ice damage, but also to stash away the bulky summer objects – pool toys, bikes, kayaks, planters, coolers, etc. – that we won’t be using until spring at the earliest. Fitting all this into a relatively small space requires some serious planning.
To have your garage primed and ready for Fall and Winter, work your way through the following steps sometime in September, October or November, depending on your geographic region and the timing of winter weather. You can go through this checklist all at once, or at your leisure – however, we recommend getting it done in a weekend, for peace of mind and to prevent the re-accumulation of junk in the interim.
1. Perform a thorough assessment of “need” and “need-not.” If it’s been a while since your last great garage purge, it’s time to bite the bullet. Drag out every item and debate its utility in your life – when was the last time you used it? What is the likelihood you’ll use it again? Do you know anyone who might need it? Lucky that your garage is so close to your yard – it provides for easy transport for a neighborhood giveaway or yard sale.
2. Prioritize your space. Once you’ve emptied out your garage to the best extent you can, reconsider what you’d like to use it for. Is there another place to store your bikes that’s equally out-of-the-way? Is storing your car the highest priority? Plan this detail out in advance and it will help you find the best means by which to allot the room, once you get to the nitty-gritty of organizing.
3. Go vertical. Investing in a few shelving units or a pulley system and ceiling storage for items such as bikes will work wonders for your spatial arranging. Not only can you more easily rinse and sweep the floors when there’s very little stored on them, but this ensures there’s always ample room for your vehicle to fit, and easy re-arranging should floor sprawl begin to take over your space again.
For detailed advice and hands-on help getting your garage and other residential spaces organized and fully functional, give us a call! The professional organizers at Organizing Boston have seen it all, meaning we’re more than ready to tackle your organizational and home improvement projects!
