As summer comes to a close you might be looking to pack up your yard in preparation for colder temps and more frequent rain and snow. If you’re going to store your summer gear in your garage now is the perfect time to get it organized and cleaned up. Not only will this make packing up faster and easier, but unpacking next year will be a breeze and you can get right back to enjoying all manner of cookouts and backyard events.
1. Prep
Before you start organizing, it is wise to first take inventory of what you actually use in your garage. If there are items that see consistent year-round use then you should put them aside to either be moved elsewhere or placed last so that you can be assured that they are always accessible.
Conversely, if there are items that haven’t left their spot in a couple of years it’s probably a good idea to move on from them, whether that be by donating, selling, or hiring a dumpster and binning them.
Once you have a good idea of what you’re going to be moving around, you should make sure you have a small area outside of the garage (and out of the way of any entry/exit points) to house bulkier items so you don’t end up fighting through piles of stuff while organizing.
The final step before beginning in earnest is getting lots and lots of storage: shelving, bins, wall hooks, and anything else that can take items off the ground.
2. Getting underway
Once you’ve set aside the necessary items and space, it’s time to get to organizing. You should focus your effort in sections, doing so will reduce stress and create convenient staging areas to envision how your storage solutions will fit in your fully cleaned garage. Items should be sorted by function and size; with similar items all being close to one another and larger items closer to the floor.
This will prevent having to hoist heavy and unwieldy objects above your head, which can be strenuous and dangerous. Here is where a roll of tape and a marker can make a world of difference: labeling each storage unit will save you untold hassle in the future.
If your storage of choice is bulk plastic bins, be careful about stacking and placing them, you’ll want to ensure that each bin is easily accessed and not lying under something too heavy to move around comfortably.
For those looking to take advantage of a clean(er) space and put together a workstation for DIY projects to keep you busy in the fall and winter months, invest in a wall mounted cork board so you can keep all of your tools out of the general clutter and within arms reach.
3. Final steps
Now that you’ve got everything sorted and placed in its new spot, there are only a couple things left to do before your garage is fully liberated.
The first, most important, and easiest step is to just give it a once-over. You want to make sure that space has been used effectively, there are access lanes to everything, and that there is nothing too far away from items that are probably going to be in use together.
Now that everything is stored efficiently it's easier to look it over and make sure that the final layout will be one that helps - not hinders - you and those around you.
The next thing to do is to finally pack up your summer stuff! It should be relatively light work now that you’ve done so much preparation, and the best part is that it will be much easier in successive seasons, giving you that much more time to enjoy the changing weather without worrying about cleanup.
While you were cleaning you probably found a few more things that aren’t going to see use again. Whether it’s a box of decorations that aren’t quite in style anymore, some outdoor furniture that you replaced already, or anything else that may have eluded your initial scan, you can hire Just Dump It, a Connecticut based Junk removal service that will collect, sort, and donate or trash the things that you can’t find a use for. No matter your plans for autumn, hopefully these tips make it that much easier to enjoy them stress free!
Want more tips on how to organize or dispose of your clutter, efficiently clean out an estate, or prepare your home for sale or moving? Check out our other blog articles like this one one.
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