Spring cleaning your garage
29 May 2014
The organisation of your garage is often a job that is put off repeatedly. Given the state of some people’s garages, it is not hard to imagine why. As soon as you have begun to attempt to tidy the space up, the phrase “can of worms” springs to mind, and thoughts of a quick job immediately disappear. With the days getting longer, and the spring bank holidays approaching, it is probably getting to the time where you will need to draw a line through one day of the weekend and tackle the beast within your garage.
Check Out the Weather Forecast
It is best to pick a day that is going to have weather throughout, as you will more than likely have quite a lot of your gear outside for a fairly large part of the day. The last thing you want is to have your things getting soaked during a downpour, so forward-planning is essential.
The first job once you have selected the day is to totally clear your garage. Drag every last thing out of the garage and move it to your driveway or garden — or both depending on how much you have in there. If there are things that you have forgotten about in there, or even things still in boxes from when you moved into the property that haven’t been disturbed, it is time to consider getting rid of some things.
Do You Want or Need Everything?
Depending on the value of these items (and that’s the actual value, not your perceived value of 150 editions of Top Gear magazine from the 1990s), you may wish to sell them online, take them to a car boot sale or jettison them at your local tip. If you have a great deal to get rid of, it may be worthwhile hiring a van for the job. Check your local tip’s rules for taking a van, as you may need to call ahead and order a permit before you can do this.
Once you have got rid of everything you don’t want, and have the bits and pieces that you want to keep sorted out, you should then go about organising your items so that they all fit into your garage in a logical manner. It could be worthwhile investing in a few plastic boxes to help keep your things organised. This can also help to keep them protected if your garage is not watertight. If you do get some storage boxes, it could be worth getting a few different sizes, with smaller boxes used for items such as screws and nails and larger industrial plastic boxes for keeping that priceless collection of Top Gear magazines hidden away from your wife!