De-stuff Your Garage

Can you park two cars in your garage?  How about one?  I hate to be blunt, but really, a garage is for parking a vehicle so in the rain you can get to your car without getting wet; in the snow, you needn't shovel your car; if you are wearing shorts on a 95 degree day, you won't burn your bare legs.  It protects your car from pollen and bird droppings.   People know this, but continue to use their garages as storage units for stuff that won't fit elsewhere.

I came across a storage idea in a catalog.  It's basically a little outdoor tent where you can put your garage overflow "at the fraction of the cost of a shed.  Zip together two or more units to extend your storage space."  I'm not sure neighbors would appreciate a line of permanent tents in our back yard.  This invention just shows again that people have too much stuff in their garages.

How can I help you?  Here are some ideas:

1.  If you can afford it, get overhead storage racks.  If you just search "garage overhead storage," many options pop up.  Bins and boxes can organize smaller items and others can be hung as shown.

2.  Can you just rearrange items in the garage into a more compact area so as to fit a vehicle?

3.  What can you get rid of?  (My favorite option)  Have you ever used the folded ping pong table?  Let it go if not.  Are there child toys the kids don't use?  Donate them.  How many sets of cross country skis do you need based on how many people in your home actually ski?  Think long and hard about what you've stored for years.  It may be time to let someone who will actually use the items take them off your hands.

4.  For tools or workbenches, a suggestion from Organization Direct, a company in my area, was to declutter less messy shelves first to make space, then go to the messiest workspace and as you declutter there, you will have places to put items you need to keep.  Of course, if the workspace belongs to another family member, get his/her permission before decluttering the space.  It makes for a more amiable relationship.

5.  Remember, the goal is a neat garage with space to park your vehicles.  Keep that in mind as you declutter and have to make the decisions about what to keep and what to let go.