|
Blog: Take The Stress Out Of Housecleaning
 Help! Winter is Coming and My Car Won't Fit
We all go thru this at this time of year and some garages are worse than others are.
Last week I received a phone call that was just like the title to this article. A man called and realized that over the summer months he had added to his garage 'toys' and now had a mess on his hands or should I say, 'all over his garage'.
This is the perfect time of year to do that organizing that you always planned on doing and so easily talked yourself out of doing. It is not too hot that you get overheated, is too cold that you need to have tons of clothes on and the weather is decent so you can put things outside.
Start by taking everything that is on the floor area and put it in your driveway (be careful people will think that you are having a garage sale) and sort it according to categories. Electric- auto-lawn/yard-tools etc.
Now you have most of the hard work finished, the rest will come a lot easier. Simply put in shelves for extra storage (use the space that is up high for things that are only used periodically) and keep in mind what you will have on the floor or lower area that is under the shelf.
Such as; the top shelf will hold the utensils for changing the oil in the car, the auto polisher, wax, etc. On a space within arms reach, you will store the oil, antifreeze, window cleaner, car deodorizers etc.
Now it is arranged in an area that it can call home. Hint: Make sure that you put the jumper cables, snow scrapers etc. in the trunk of the car.
Yard utensils such as rakes, shovels, hoes, hedge clippers etc. can be put away for now and get out the snow shovels, ice scrapers etc. and put those on the bottom hangers on the wall. Always keep what you are going to use for that particular season within reach.
This is also a good time to add extra hooks, do not forget to take advantage of some of the garage organizers that are in the stores. Make a wood holder on the ceiling instead of it taking up floor space, hang your extra blades for your table saw near your saw or make a base wall by using pegboard and attach it to the base of your table saw. Keep everything that you need within reach.
For all of those items that are on the high shelves and hard to see, I recommend putting those items in boxes of various sizes with a large paper taped to the outside so that you can write in large letters what is inside the box. This way you can stand in one spot in the garage and know exactly what box has the item in that you are looking for.
Floor area: Try to keep as much off the floor as you can, it will be easier to keep it clean and keep dirty from hanging on everything. You should be able to take a Shop Vac or leaf blower and clean out the floor of your garage any time that you need to without having anything in your way.
Walls: I use pegboard on my walls, but that is just my preference. Use whatever you like. I also use clips to keep the 'pegs' on my board tight, so that when I take something off the peg does not pull out of the board area. If you want to be really organized, paint the pegboard white and when dry, outline the item that you are going to hang there with a black magic marker and print the item name in the middle. Yes, that is for people with tons of time, but it sure is impressive when your job is finished.
Borrow it and lose it: If you are constantly having family, friends and neighbors borrow your items, have a sign out sheet hanging on the wall by the door. If you borrow something-sign it out. This way you never loose your tools; always know who has them and where to find them.
Large items: For some garages it pays to make stands out of 2x4's to stack things. Such as, hang the lawn spreader on the wall and under it on the top shelf you can put your push mower and on the bottom can go the riding lawn mower or wheelbarrow. Get the idea now? This way you are taking up approximately 6 feet of floor space, but have three to four tools in that space.
Keep 'like' items together, hand tools, tape, dowels, blades with tools, electric, painting items, tarps etc. It helps to make things that you are looking for very simple to find.
For more tips and hints on cleaning and organizing, check out Jan's website http://www.organizingandcleaning.com. She offers tips, hints and shortcuts as well as free checklists to help you to get the job done by her method of ' Work Smarter NOT Harder!'
posted on: 12/4/2009 10:00:00 AM by Jan Hayner
category: Homes
Take The Stress Out Of Housecleaning: < Previous Post - Next Post >
Blog Central: < Previous Post - Next Post >
 Discuss This Post
There are no comments.
|
|
Take The Stress Out Of Housecleaning
by Jan Hayner
View This Blog
 Subscribe To This Blog
About Jan:
Jan Hayner is a Professional Organizer and the creator of www.organizingandcleaning.com filled with tips and hints on home organizing and house cleaning shortcuts. After years and years of making mistakes and wasting money she has used her own experiences to help take the stress out of life. There are so many shortcuts to cleaning and organizing, that when you apply them, you will have time for the fun things in life!
Jan's Website:
http://www.organizingandcleaning.com
Fun Things To Do
- Fishing Lake Michigan
Whether it is by boat or off the pier, there is nothing like getting that first Coho or King.
- Grandchildren are fun
Making memories for your grandchildren of all of the fun times they had with grandma and grandpa is one of the best memories you will make for yourself too.
- Camping
A tent, a firepit and sitting in the woods is a campers dream. We spend a lot of time camping in Northern Wisconsin and I have tons of camping recipes to share.
TV Shows
- American Idol
I am hooked on this show, nothing interrupts me when this is on. By the time they get to Hollywood, I already have the top ten picked out.
- Last Comic Standing
I love to see how these people, take the judges advice and change their tactics to become great comics, instead of just a comic.
- House
Now really, isn't he the kind of doctor you want on your side? He always has a reason for his actions, he looks until he finds the cure and he has flaws just like the rest of us.
- Any home make over show
I get some of my best ideas off of these shows and I also find things that I wouldn't dream of doing to someone elses home. I will admit, there are times that I wish they would call me and ask for my help!
|
www.OnlineOrganizing.com is a service mark of Bradford, LLC.
