Spring is here and the garage door is open. This is a scary thought for Cindy. Her garage is so full that she can’t even park her car there. But the children want to bring out their spring toys now that the weather is nice. As she begins to move piles of trash from one place to another to dig up Nicole’s bike, 3-year-old Megan is having a good day in the piles on the garage floor. Eager to get on her old bike, Nicole begins digging through piles trying to find her bike helmet. His search for her is unsuccessful and she begins to complain about riding without him. Overwhelmed by the chaos and frustrated by the whining, Cindy carries the 3 children
in the car to go buy a new helmet for Nicole.
The next weekend, Mike is forced to tackle the “friend list” because Cindy
extended family comes to celebrate Easter. Yeah, it’s finally time to get that.
painted entrance. Now where did you put those paint rollers and trays anyway? After
rummaging through the garage for 20 minutes trying to find the painting supplies, Mike
He heads to the store to buy all the new things.
Meanwhile, the children want to hide eggs and ask Cindy for their Easter.
sneakers. He knows they’re somewhere in the garage, but the idea of digging
through the chaos is too daunting. Next time they go out, he’ll just buy new ones,
again.
The Mike and Cindy scenario is all too common in today’s busy families. carefully
By planning and organizing, you can save time, money, and most of all, your sanity.
Read on to see how cleaning out that garage can make your life easier.
It’s the beginning of March, time for Tracy to bring out her spring decorations.
For your home. She goes into her garage and pulls out the tub labeled “spring.”
decorations” from the garage closet. Inside, you will not only find the decorations for
your house, but your kids’ Easter baskets and leftover supplies like egg decorating
kits and plastic eggs too. Kids will be excited to play with their Easter
tennis for the next two weeks.
Later in the week, Tracy begins planning her family work day once a year for the
garage. Engage children by allowing them to make hanging signs
around the house detailing the time, date and goals of the family work day. she also leaves
they choose their own colored stickers to label their individual items for sale at
your future dirty garage.
Tracy and Kevin move the cars out of the garage and place several blankets on the
driveway. Each blanket is designated to “sell”, “throw away”, “hold”, and “move to another
location.” Every year the family checks everything in the garage to see if
is still needed and make sure he has a home. Allow children to have a voice in
where items are “housed” gives them more incentive to keep things in place.
They also work together to sweep, mop, and maintain various areas of the garage. IN
a place is made to store items designated for the garage sale to be held
In a couple of weeks. After a hard day’s work, the Tells celebrate by eating at a
favorite restaurant and go out for ice cream.
Garage Organization Tips:
o Make a list of all the problem areas in the garage. Try to find out why
there is a problem (i.e. bikes are lying everywhere because there is no place to
to hang or park).
o Plan a family work day to work together in the garage. Let the children be
involved in decisions about where things should go and what things should be
kept.
o Use a pegboard, garage rack, or hooks to get tools and other items off the floor.
o Keep similar items together. (i.e. all the Christmas decorations go together in clear containers and
all painting and maintenance supplies are together in a tub or on a shelf).
o Consider shelves or cabinets to store tubs of holiday decorations, seasonal toys,
car wash supplies and other items.
o Look for overhead storage to store larger items like camping gear
and luggage
o If you own several large items, such as lawn mowers, wheel bars, and trimmers, a
storage shed may be a good idea.
o Bike racks or racks are a good place to store bikes. Be sure to put a hook
fence to hang the helmet.
o Coating the floor with a layer of epoxy helps keep things cleaner in the garage.
o Have a garage sale or donate to charity all items that have not been used in the last
year.
o Help encourage children to “let go” of outgrown toys and clothes by allowing them to
keep the money earned on your personal items at your garage sale.
o Don’t forget to empty the garage and sort items at least once a year.
to keep a garage clean and organized.
