Decluttering your garage

Storage space around the home very quickly becomes a premium, and the garage is renowned for getting a large portion of random stuff. This can quite easily become a huge mess, and often times the family car can’t even fit in there anymore. The garage is also quite easy to ‘forget about’ when doing a big spring clean.

When it’s time to declutter the garage, there are a few ways to avoid a complete headache.

You will inevitably end up with a bunch of old stuff you don’t use or want sitting in the garage. Let’s run through some tips to get the whole lot sorted.

If the garage has gotten to a point where you can’t even move things around, you may initially want to simply move half of the items out of the way. A small storage unit is an easy way to create some space to help with organising.

Once you’re ready to start decluttering it’s time to setup piles for Keeping, Sell, Donating, Garbage.

You want to really work on getting rid of items in the garbage pile as quickly as possible. This will give you a mental boost as you see your space clearing out.

Selling is really easy these days. You don’t have to stand around doing a literal Garage Sale anymore if you don’t want to. Setup an account on Trademe or a similar marketplace, and for minimal cost you can make a quick buck off of your unwanted items.

Once you know what’s staying and going, you should try and make the garage as organised as possible.

1. Setup shelves for storage. This will really help with managing everything and keeping them tidy and easy to access.
   
   
2. Organise items into plastic boxes and label them. Ideally sturdy, clear boxes. This makes it easy you see what’s inside. You should also get some label stickers to itemize what’s inside, to make things even easier.
   
   
3.  Keep similar items together. Think of your garage shelves like a supermarket. All items will have categories, like automotive, landscaping, personal memories, etc. If you keep your shelves in sections, you’ll know exactly where to find something.
   
   
4. Use ceiling space if possible. Hanging a bike rack from the ceiling for example is a great way to get them out the way. They’re big enough to reach, but won’t usually obstruct anything.

While you’re getting organised you may even want to work on other areas of the house. We’ve already done a couple of blogs on decluttering your Kitchen and decluttering your bedroom.

Once you’ve done the big job, the trick is ongoing maintenance. Keep things neat, and in the correct spots. Don’t allow it to get cluttered again. If you seem to have more stuff than you have space for, a self storage unit is a cost effective option to keep your lesser used belongings safe, and out of the way. Our self storage units in Auckland or Wellington are conveniently located to help with your decluttering.