Organizing the Garage-In Time for Winter

You still have time to get your car in the garage this winter by starting now to organize the garage one space at a time.  Divide your garage into parts by the floor or by shelving or any way it makes sense to you and you can accomplish one space at a time. 

Once you have it divided up, pick one area to start and begin the process.  Sort the items and start piles.  One should be trash, one is donate, the other is keep.  The keep pile should be sorted by like items such as tools, gardening, power equipment, etc.  You probably have a piece of each pile in all the areas, so it is not time to put it away yet. 

Each time you set out in a part you have divided, look at the pile you are keeping.  How many hammers do you need, for instance.  Do all the power tools you are finding work properly.  If they have been on the get it fixed list longer than a year, time to toss, you might find another one in a different section of the garage. 

Once you have gone through each section of the garage, it is time to start putting the items away.  As you are putting away the pieces, make sure you are continuing to evaluate the number your have and the need.  The more items you can get off the floor, the more organized and clean your garage will look.  Many stores offer hundreds of different kinds of shelving and hooks for just about anything.  I do try to use the hooks that hold more than one item versus the single item hook.  It takes up less room and you can put one season behind the other to save space.  Make sure you put off season items higher so as to really utilize the space.  You should only have to get to that space twice a year. 

You can divide your garage into weekends or days, but you should put it on the calendar so you will not forget.  At the end, you will be able to park your car or cars in the garage this winter and avoid the scrapping and cold each morning.