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]
Hmmm, This one is definitely not a five minute task but I did take the time and incentive to work for five minutes then sit down and take stock of what really needs to be done. I made a list of to do, how to do, who to do, etc.!!
held a garage sale a few weeks back and then took a carload to the local council recycling centre. I spent a quick 5 before work this morning to re-organise, I have a bin full ready for the weekly collection. Far from where it needs to be but way better than a month ago. Done!
hubby’s domain= not allowed to do anything out there so just organized my paper goods which are stored there
The advice to throw away anything that you haven’t unpacked since your last move is absolutely horrible.
You’re failing to take into account that somebody with serious organizational issues is likely to have birth certificates, social security cards, tax returns, receipts, and other quite-valuable, essential, and/or non-replaceable things that have been safely packed away.
I curious as to who came up with the bright idea to make the “any sealed box that’s been sealed for over a year is junk” mantra a universal truism for professional organizers.
done (well, time spent but you can hardly tell. This one will need a LOT more work.)
no garage 🙂
Hi
This is easy for me thank goodness as we took our daughter for her Cystic Fibrosis clinic visit so that leaves us with no time for anything including breathing
We dont have a Garage We only have a carport so it is not a issue at all for us
Thank you for this one today
Luv Deb
Garage is husband’s domain but I did manage to put some stuff that belonged down there into the cupboards and free up the guest wardrobe upstairs so it was progress. Result – one side of garage quite tidy – other side is the workshop!
My husband is going to just love me in the shed. Glad he isn’t home for this one. “oooh this is a good one”.
Ugh! This one was painful. But it’s done!
Thank heavens I am done with this one!
Did most of this yesterday in place of laundry room work but did touchups today to make it even better!
Well, I can’t say I got very far with this one but I didn’t really expect to because, out of all of the space in and around my home, the garage has to be the absolute worst! It houses everything BUT the cars! I have boxes and boxes of paperwork that I dare not throw out until I have gone through them all..simply because they are records pertaining to my teaching job. Most of it is duplicates and/or junk….but there are a few valuable papers mixed in with the whole and I dare not take a chance on chunking it. But, boy oh boy, wouldn’t I like to just start picking up box after box and chunk them all into a dumpster. The garage is my biggest Achilles heel…and that’s saying a lot, since every area of my life has been pretty much in a state of chaos. I do value these 5 minute intervals of sanity…they DO help me to at least see where I can get a START somewhere…and that’s usually the hardest for me..knowing WHERE to begin. What a long-winded way to say that the furthest I got with this mission was the emptying of one box out of gazillions!
The garage is definitely my husband’s department, but I did the little corner which holds my gardening supplies.
done
We recently overhauled our garage to make a game room for the kids. Gave tons away, and made several trips to the dump. It is now a fun place to hang out, and can be tidied up in a quick 5 minutes.
Done. Well, more than 5 minutes done, lots thrown out, more reorganized, but I definitely will need more time in this room. My husband has lots in here I can’t vouch for and so I need his input to completely finish this room.
we have a tiny one car shop area, but it’s my hubby’s space so i stay out. All finished with today.
The garage is not my domain, I may keep some things in there, but I have little say in where they are kept. I have managed to convince him to clear out most of the stuff in the garage, move (with the help of about a dozen) the train layout and replace the sad 35 year old garage door. The garage – and my stuff – will get organized then.
Spent most of the day here but it was well worth it.
Went over board on this one. We ended up pulling everything out of the garage, swept, scrubbed and have started putting things back in place.We’ll be working on this for a bit. We’ve already made a bunch of progress getting rid of a huge wood tool bench and several unruly shelves.