Welcome to the 30-Day Organize-athon!
In today’s 5 minutes we’re going to express-organize your garage (yes, I’m serious!).
Remember: clarity, freedom, and order. Let’s begin.
Day 10: Organize Your Garage
Step 1: Get a large box or bag (you may need several). Quickly scan your garage and toss into your box/bag any:
- Junk
- Outgrown toys and clothes (if sorting through boxes for donate-able items is an obstacle to getting it done, then simply toss it all)
- Ancient seasonal items, holiday decorations, etc
- Rusty or broken tools
- Rusty or broken gardening implements
- Rusty or broken garden furniture
- Prehistoric gardening supplies
- Memorabilia (unless it’s genuinely meaningful to you – and if it’s been gathering dust out here for decades, then let’s be honest, it probably isn’t)
- Stuff from when you last moved that’s never been unpacked (if you haven’t opened it you don’t need it)
- Notes and books from school, college, etc
- Accoutrement for abandoned hobbies, sports and interests (if you take it up again, buy what you need afresh; it will cost you less overall when you take stress, clutter and mental clarity into account)
- Anything you haven’t used in the past 12 months.
Step 2: Pop your boxes/bags into the trash or take them the car for a trip to the tip.
And you’re done!
Got an Extra 5 Minutes?
- Consider whether you want to install shelving, hooks, etc, to better organize your garage space.
- Make a note to buy shelves, hooks, and supplies, and/or or to contact a handyman.
Now isn’t that a beautiful thing?
The 30-Day Organize-athon Mantra
Move fast. Don’t overthink. Let it go!
Leave Your Comment Below…
Please leave a comment below to say you’ve completed today’s task.
See you tomorrow!
[Image by aussiegall]
Done. tired and hot. whew
Done. My husband and father in-law did this the other day as we have a birthday party at our house today.
No garage – but have 2 small outside storage closets on patios -more than 5 minutes will be required, but it is a start!!
Thanks for the feedback from those of you who are feeling discouraged, but please don’t be!
This 5-minute task is a quick, ‘express-organize’ task, not an in-depth cleaning exercise. Today is about getting some stuff out of your garage – I’m not expecting you to get the space completely organized.
If you spend 5 minutes putting some of the items from the list into a bag and tossing it, then you’ve succeeded.
Some people want to use the task as a springboard to more decluttering and organizing; others just want 5 minutes that makes a dent. Choose what you want and make that your goal.
The important thing is to use the 5 minutes to make a start. You may not see a huge change in every area every day, but you are forming a habit of decluttering.
We don’t have a garage so I went through parts of my basement and ran the de-clutter activity. I could definitely use more time though. It is amazing how much stuff can accumulate in one place
I don’t have a garage, but I do have a storage I’m afraid to even open ! I’ll comment later as this one will have to start after church and it’s gonna take waaaaaay longer than 5 minutes !
Sorry, but this is my husbands domain and I’m not allowed to move or put anything away. It’s filled with tools, motorcycles, motorcycle parts and other guy things.
Julie, don’t feel left out! 🙁 It’s not just you. Want to clean garages together? 🙂 🙂
I have to agree with the folks who are feeling overwhelmed and defeated by this task. I have two garages, and even if I just tackle the one, I’m in it for most of the day. I like to spend Sundays with my family. A five minute job allows me to still do that. Cleaning the garage takes too much of my free time away. And I know that I should feel like 5 minutes is better than 0 minutes, but with a big job like this, it isn’t. You don’t even see your progress. I was so motivated by the first 8 tasks and really feeling like I could accomplish so much. With tackling my massive laundry room and now the garage… not so much anymore. 🙁
I agree with Denise and Kathy. I have a two-car garage that is FULL. However, I AM planning a yard sale, and I HAVE been wanting to go through things out there, so if I spend 5 minutes starting, it will probably give me the motivation to continue. (I won’t spend hours working in the garage on Sunday, though!) ….Thanks for all your help! 🙂
I started on this yesterday and will finish today- took longer than i expected
I agree with Denise. These tasks are more like 30 minute missions. I thought we were going to be assigned tasks that are manageable in 5 minutes, like cleaning out a drawer or cabinet. If you truly need help with organizing like I do, the laundry room and garage are DAUNTING tasks, and it’s kind of insulting that I now feel like a failure because 5 minutes wouldnt even give me enough time to get a garbage bag out and figure out where to begin. Maybe I am the only one with serious organization issues, and everyone else has an organized home that just needs daily attention. I was hoping these 5 minute tasks would help me see that I can make a difference, 5 minutes at a time. And the first week of tasks did that. But now, I am just feeling overwhelmed and left out. 🙁
Gotta agree with Denise H. In the US, a garage doubles as storage. It will take me 5 days, not 5 minutes to clean out garage. Plus, it’s Sunday…Not saying I won’t do it. Just saying it will be a bigger chore. And, have to enlist help. Just when I was feeling better organized too.
We did alot of this a few weeks ago, still have a few outside toys that need to be trashed, but will work on that today if it doesn’t rain! 🙂
No garage but we have a storage room and took some stuff that aren’t needed out of there.
Don’t have a garage so I cleaned out the cars. (which was much needed)
It took me much more than 5 min……..but that was a good kick to start
The garage was on my agenda for today, so I started with this five minutes of “scan and pickup”. Done. Thank you!
Done
You know I support this 30 day challenge but this is unrealistic for the majority of people. I have 4 children and live in a home with no attic or basement. My garage serves as both. No way 5 minutes is going to touch this. Sorry. And I”m kinda bugged at the suggestion that 5 minutes would touch most people’s garages.