Cleaning Up the Garage
Continuing the spring cleaning theme I started last week, I’m focusing all my attention on the garage and what’s new in there to help it stay better organized all year long, and clean too!
Like I mentioned last week, I love organizing and getting rid of things. The garage becomes a depository for all of our bigger storage needs and a holding place for outdoor furniture as well as anything we need to donate or throw out in bulk. Then spring comes and I focus my attention on cleaning out the garage again. This is like clockwork every March and April, so here we are.
What is different about this year, though, is that we have a toddler who loves getting into the garage, roaming around, and picking up and carrying any tool he can to play with in the backyard. For the amount of time he likes being in the garage, we had to make it safer and cleaner.
After having put out all of our outdoor furniture the first weekend in April and having donated or thrown away in bulk everything we don’t need, I fixed the storage solution and cleaned up, thanks to a few new things.
- Our old storage unit was dinky and didn’t fit everything we needed it to, including a newish circular saw. I gave the old unit away and replaced it with this Seville Classics UltraHD Tall Storage Cabinet from Sam’s Club. I want to give a big shout out to whomever planned this package and instructions. Putting together this storage unit took a long time but everything was really well packaged (no scratches or damages), really well labeled and very easy to understand the step-by-step process. And trust me, this was a process.
- To keep this storage unit even more organized, I bought a few clear containers to hold miscellaneous items. There’s even one container dedicated to holding the few things I know I will use for every project with a power tool – my protective eyewear, mask and ear plugs. Now everything in the storage unit is easy to find and access.
- I got wall hooks from Store Your Board. They can hold up to 50 lbs. each. One rack is dedicated to shovels and another is dedicated to a few garden tools.
- I got a shop vacuum! I don’t like vacuuming at all but, with all the wood cutting I’ve done in the garage plus leaves and other garage detritus, it was time to get a garage vacuum to clean up years of mess and have it around for future projects. It’s worked great so far, and also includes a car attachment (and now our car looks actually clean!), and a wet attachment that we thankfully haven’t had to use yet.
With these new additions – as well as getting rid of things we didn’t need anymore – the garage is really clean and organized, setting the stage for a little something something I’m working on for Gus. More on that next week.
And remember, if you want to get organized but don’t know where or how to start, check out what a couple of experts had to say here.
Happy spring!
