Another One Bites the Dust

Of all the things on my pre-baby to do list, I thought cleaning out the garage would be one of the last tasks we conquered. But when Nick mentioned that he'd like to make a work space out in the garage, I jumped at the chance to tackle one of our biggest projects and strike it from my list . 

Here it is in its anxiety inducing mess (aka Before):

This sucker took some massive cleaning and organizing efforts. We started by taking everything in sight and grouping like items on the garage floor. We designated piles for sports equipment, painting supplies, holiday decorations, vehicle-related items and more. We had a trash pile to prevent us from running back and forth between the trash can, and we also set aside an area for donations. 

Our little sort fest took a couple of hours. While we had most of our holiday decorations and camping supplies already organized, over the years we've been pretty careless about where we've been putting "miscellaneous" items. Nothing really had a home, so our shelves were overflowing with unorganized clutter. If there was a space on the shelf for that extra extension cord or flash light then that is where we put it. There was no rhyme or reason to our garage, and that was really the reason behind my burning desire to straighten it out. 

After everything was satisfactorily grouped together, we placed the items back onto the shelves or in the cabinets according to how often we used them. If we used something once or twice a year, we put it up high or out of the way. For example, our holiday decorations took residence on our top shelf since we only need them during the latter part of every year. Conversely, we kept our tools within arms reach since we use them all year round. Nick also installed hooks for our skim board, boogie board, and snow boards. This was particularly awesome since out snowboards had been living in our computer room propped against the wall.  

I started to use my sweet label maker to help us remember what's inside our various plastic tubs. Don't cha know, though, my batteries died.  I didn't want to drop everything to run to the store, so our garage is currently label free. I plan to finish this task, but I still consider the garage officially organized and cleaned. At this point, labels are just icing on the cake.        

There was plenty of sorting and purging during our extreme garage makeover. And some backache. And headache. But it was well worth it. There's nothin' too fancy about it. There aren't any high end storage containers or organization systems, but it's an organized masterpiece nonetheless.   

The new rule is that if we put something in the garage, we have to put it where it belongs. Everything has its own place now. Hallelujah and amen.  

I truly feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, and I'm glad we cleaned and organized the garage before conceiving. It was much more labor intensive than I realized. And since I like to do things on my own (i.e., lift heavy objects), it would have been hard for me to relinquish control had we waited too long. 

Here's the scorecard if anyone is counting:

• Paint and decorate dining room 
• Stencil Ikea curtains in living room
• Clean out "baby room"
• Organize garage
• Decorate staircase wall
• Give loaner desk back to mom and dad
• Refinish mom and dad's generously donated dresser for master bedroom
• Repair carpet in den and in upstairs hallway
• Shampoo carpet and rug in den  
• Reorganize kitchen cupboards
• Revamp the "recycle center" in the kitchen
• DIY throw pillow covers for the couch

Now, on to the next project...