Garages often have collections of little things that are used at specific times, or seasonally, such as:
- Car washing equipment
- Car maintenance equipment (oil, windshield-washer fluid, tire gauge)
- Gardening tools
- Outdoor decorations
- Beach, sports, camping, or vacation gear
Your best bet for keeping all these little things under control is sturdy plastic bins.
These keep the small things from getting lost or falling on the floor, keep the dust off, contain leaks, and give the whole area a nice, organized appearance.
Before you buy them, figure out how many you will need, and what size. Take out everything you are keeping- yes, everything. This is best done on a day with nice weather; you don’t want to freeze/boil while you’re working. Place it in piles on the floor: use the categories above, and create more categories if you need to. Decide what you can toss/recycle/sell/donate, and separate those into their own piles. Then measure the things you are keeping, so you will know what size of bin to buy. It’s pretty annoying to get home with your “sports equipment” bin and find that the tennis racquet doesn’t fit. Also measure your shelves, if that’s where the bins are going.
If you like to be able to see where things are, clear bins are a good choice. Be cautious when buying them; you still want sturdy construction and to be able to stack them.
Bins that you can’t see through give a more tidy appearance, but you will have to come up with a labeling system. Masking tape usually works, but you can get fancy with laminated lists.
Place stuff in bins, stack on shelves, sweep floor, and make plans for what to do with the toss/recycle/donate/sell pile.
Ta-da! You won’t mind having people see the inside of the garage any more.
(Photos: Rubbermaid)
