We are back! How are you all making out? This weekend I was dragging my feet I tell you. Of course it could have something to do with the HOURS I spent trying to teach my youngest how to ride a two wheeler, talk about painful! When we got back to the house I was already exhausted and not really wanting to tackle the garage. It just felt like it would take hours to make headway. Oh the stories we tell ourselves. I decided to spend an hour working on the garage and whatever I got done would be better than if I did nothing at all. My husband had already done a pretty big purge so I spent some time moving things around to make more efficient use of the space. It didn’t feel like I’d done too much until I started looking back at the before pictures.
I went from this two weeks ago:
To this:
So much stuff went to the dump or second hand store. You’ll also notice my husband cut one of the shelves down to make room for a new workbench he’ll be putting in. Also the keyboard will hopefully be going back to it’s owner soon.
And from this on the other side:
To this:
I’m most excited about being able to access my freezer now without having to climb over anything. Woohoo! So it’s coming along, yay. And now I’m feeling a little more energized about it. This is why I highly recommend taking those before pictures. We forget sometimes how far we’ve come but rather focus on how far we still have to go. I’ve still got a way to go but seeing the progress like that is such an encouraging boost that motivates me to want to continue.
So this week sees us working on step O and C of the PROCESS. My two favorite steps at that. First up ORGANIZE. This very important step includes:
Organize into piles – donate/toss/sell/keep/relocate – sort like with like – purge excess – the more you purge the less you have to find a home. Ask yourself some declutter questions. Your goal is to bring back into your space only what you love and use and can fit into the space you have available. Purge until it fits!
Then and only then can we move onto CONTAINING all that remains.
Containerize – find storage solutions – containers establish limits and boundaries – designate a space for items being kept – consolidate where possible.
Sharon from Momof 6 has been busy working on her garage as well. I love how she walks through each of the above steps as she works to organize and contain her stuff. She is doing such a fantastic job, I am so very impressed. You’ve got to go check out her post from this week to see what she’s been up to and how far she’s come. It’s very inspiring!!
Check out some of her purge piles:
Love it! So Sharon’s question for me this week is:
Many people (ourselves included) keep items in the garage that relate to home maintenance- the mostly-empty paint cans from our house exterior and trim (in case we need to do a touch-up or as a color reference for when we want to re-paint), or left-over scraps of hardwood from when we installed the floors, etc. But do we need to save all of these things? What is really worthwhile to keep? (And how we do convince our husbands of this?)
So I guess there are two pieces to this question….whether or not to keep all the bits and pieces of home repair and whether or not we can decide for our husbands just to turf it all? Ha! Certainly turfing it all would be the easiest option because less stuff means less to organize and less to contain. Quick, faster, easier. BUT you know I can’t tell you to do that. Husbands can be very particular about their stuff and until their ready to turf it themselves, we’ve got to respect that. We can however offer some suggestions on how to organize and contain it all so that it takes up minimal space. Hopefully you’ll be able to compromise on the amount to keep but you might also have to get creative with your storage solutions as well to make room. For example here is a great post on how to store leftover paint in mason jars. I love how much less space it takes up. Smart!
For more ideas and inspiration check out my Garage Pinterest Board. I spent quite a bit of time updating it today and there are many great ideas over there for helping you get your garage organized.
So now it’s YOUR turn to show us your garage progress in The Great Garage Clean Out Challenge. Link up below!!
Wilson Family Adventures says
Too bad this wasn’t started this weekend. We moved into our new house 3 weeks ago and have been working on the interior. This weekend is when we start on the garage. Good luck organizing everyone!
Laura says
It’s not too late to join us. Link up anytime!!
Nicole says
Can’t wait to really tackle our garage this week. I was gone to a wedding this last week so I couldn’t work on it, but everyone else’s work and ideas have me itching to get started! Thanks everyone!
Monica says
I actually parked a car in our garage tonight!!!!! It’s been sooooo long… thank you so much for the inspiration. You don’t know how happy I am and what an awesome reaction I got from my hubby. I don’t have a blog so just wanted to send a note out and say thank you!!!!
Laura says
Oh Monica, that is just awesome news. So excited for you!!!