How to Organize Your Garage
The major problem when it comes to organizing a garage is the accumulation of “stuff,” some necessary and some not. These sundry acquisitions don’t have to be tossed, donated, or sold at your next garage sale; they simply need a place to be stored. Once everything has its place, the garage can hold your cars and bicycles as well as all that “stuff,” which is now visible, reachable, and usable.
Garages often hold more than just our cars. Designing a versatile garage and workspace requires careful planning.
Assigning and Arranging Space
The first question is where to put everything. A garage provides more wall space than floor space, so it’s an easy task to systematically assign and arrange that space. The ceiling is also a valuable resource for storage space. With the insertion of a few well-placed hooks, the ceiling can hold bicycles, ladders, and luggage out of the way. A storage shelf installed from the ceiling is great for items that are used infrequently or seasonally, such as camping gear, outdoor Christmas decorations or lights, or window screens and storm doors.
Built-in shelves provide plenty of space for paint cans, spray bottles, mulch, buckets, automotive supplies, flower pots, and boxes and bags of all descriptions. Make sure you arrange them on the shelves by category, putting like items together. It’s helpful to confine smaller items in a system of drawers attached to the shelves or in boxes and bins that sit on the shelves. Both drawers and bins or boxes should have attached identification labels.
Workshops and Hobby Areas
As you sort through everything in your garage, you’ll quickly realize that many items need more specific and detailed handling. Or you may decide to designate a specific area as a workshop or as storage for your particular hobby or sport. Your sport may be tennis, skiing, golf, bicycling, or some other activity A neat and tidy look combined with a great deal of storage can be achieved with this equipment displayed on the walls rather than scattered on the floor. For the carpenter or home handyman, there are certainly a number of ways to control and regulate the tool situation. A workbench is a good way to gain some control over the equipment and the many nuts, bolts, and screws that are necessary for this hobby.
If you’re simply looking for a place and a way to organize the tools, nails, and wrenches you use periodically a rack or portable tool box may do the trick. This can be kept in the garage or in the basement, depending on your needs and space.
Gardening
The garage often serves as the storage area for gardening equipment. You’ll need a place for repotting, sprouting, fertilizing, and seeding blossoms and greenery as well as ample storage space for potting soil, pots, sprinkling cans, and the like. An inexpensive combination of crates and bins can be used to build a tidy area that demands little floor space. Of course, little gardening actually goes on in the garage. But the hoes, rakes, spades, shovels, and water hose can be stored there for convenience. A rack or tool strip on the garage wall can accommodate this equipment. Individual hooks in any configuration can also be used if you don’t want to limit yourself to a straight-line arrangement.
Recycling
One final matter in the garage deserves your attention since it contributes greatly to clutter. With today’s concern over the environment, recycling is becoming more common. Recycling bins are most often kept on the floor, taking up valuable space. You can at least control and reduce the amount of space occupied by using stackable recycling bins. Adding a hand cart keeps you from having to make two or three trips to the curb on trash day. Just wheel the entire three-piece unit — with its separate loads of glass, aluminum, and plastic — out of the garage and to the street.
Take from TLC Howstuffworks
http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/how-to-organize-a-garage3.htm/printable
Would You Live In A 65-Square-Foot Tiny House?
In the most recent New Yorker, Alec Wilkinson illuminates the “tiny house movement,” profiling people who seek out small spaces — typically 100–130 square feet — for either financial or socially conscious reasons.
“The occupants of tiny houses tend to be committed, and slightly self-regarding, citizens, who cook on little stoves and have refrigerators like wall safes,” he observes. “They shed years of possessions and keepsakes to get by with two shirts and two pairs of pants and two mugs and two forks, in order to occupy what amounts to a monk’s cell, for the sake of simplicity, frugality, or upright environmental living.”
One proponent of the tiny house movement is Jay Shafer, owner of Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, who has constructed 16 tiny homes. We took a closer look at some of Shafer’s diminutive designs and their cozy interiors.
Courtesy of Tumbleweed
The “XS-House” is just 65 square feet and costs $38,997. Its living room features a built-in desk and couch.
Courtesy of Tumbleweed
You can snooze snugly in a lofted bed.
Courtesy of Tumbleweed
And hang your cutlery in a compact kitchen.
Courtesy of Tumbleweed
Another of Shafer’s creations, the “Epu,” is similarly small — 89 square feet — and easy on the wallet, at $45,997.
Courtesy of Tumbleweed
A low-flush RV toilet helps conserve water.
Courtesy of Tumbleweed
And built-in shelves mean you don’t have to sacrifice a library.
What do you think — would you live in a tiny house?
For more information, click here to read the Tiny House Blog and here for more on Tumbleweed.
Easy Home Office Organzing Tricks That Work
Smart office supplies and organizing tips that ensure your home office is efficient and mess-free.
Check out this awesome story from our friends at Real Simple!
Clever products and space-saving strategies to help you declutter your space.
TypeFiend, Flickr
Binder Clips, Keyboards, Wire Organizers, Rolodexes
1. If you tend to make piles of papers, use PileSmart binder clips―equipped with erasable labels―to fasten papers together by category and quickly find what you need.
To buy: $4 for a pack of 6, amazon.com.
2. The top of the myKeyO keyboard lifts up to reveal storage for desk doodads, like pushpins.
To buy: $30, keyboardorganizer.com.
3. Conceal excess wires by coiling them inside the cute and discreet rubberized Cable Turtle.
To buy: $7 to $14, containerstore.com.
4. Rolodexes aren’t just for business contacts. Use them for recipes, website log-ons, and passwords.
Desk Organizers, Labels
5. An adjustable desk organizer lets you sort mail by category (bills to pay, bills to file).
6. Magnetic Erasable Labels attach easily to metal shelving, boxes, and bins.
To buy: $11 for five, containerstore.com.
7. Create a hierarchy system for e-mail folders by using an A in front of each label for most-used folders and aZ for those used least.
8. Designate one day of each year to buy birthday cards for friends and family so you’ll never have to do a last-minute drugstore run.
For more ways to straighten up your home office, head over to Real Simple.
What does your mess say about you?
Not all messes are created equal. Find out what your particular kind of disorder says about you.
…and your family, your coworkers and friends. Honestly — it’s not so bad. Who knew that a mess can sometimes get a positive message across?
Hillary Stein, Flickr
If you have messy: Closets
Chances are you are: Nostalgic — perhaps a bit too much.
Sam Gossling, author of Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You notes the connection between old items and our ties to their past. If you’ve got an out-of-control closet, it doesn’t mean you’re a pig — chances are, you’re trying to hold on to past events and people through those small mementos.
How to change it: Letting go can be hard. Don’t put pressure on yourself to empty out the closet during a quick cleaning session. Instead, take some time to go through the items and identify what justifies keeping in a special place and what you can part with.
If you have a messy: Desk
Chances are you are: Creative.
“Messiness is related to creativity because it tends to juxtapose things that don’t normally go together.” says Columbia University Business School professor Eric Abrahamson, over on Penelope Trunk’s site.
How to change it: In the same article, Illinois-based career coach Kelly Crescenti suggests setting up a filing system and then spending the last 15 minutes of every day organizing your piles and clutter into that system.
If you have a messy: Bed
Chances are you are: Going through a dry spell.
Eek. While you probably realize that clothes, magazines and crumbs on your bed aren’t super sexy, have you thought about the subliminal message they’re sending? Over on The Nest, they break it down: “A messy bed could be a sign that you don’t think of your bed as something you need to keep accessible so you can hop into it on the fly.”
How to change it: Try an extra laundry basket for clutter, an extra 10 minutes every morning to put things away or a new, bigger nightstand.
If you have a messy: Sock drawer
Chances are you are: Structured and detail-oriented.
Yes, this one surprised us, too. But Chemistry.com’s latest study found that people who are ordinarily the most orderly have the most chaotic sock drawers.
How to change it: Bring in smaller containers to break up the drawer — this video shows you how.
taken from ShelterPop at AOL
http://www.shelterpop.com/2011/07/01/what-your-mess-says/
Closet Challenge: 2
Continuing our series of Closet Challenges, we bring you a geometrical masterpiece paired with a flair for design and a determined customer: A winning combination.
A customer in Hawthorn Woods came to us on a mission: She had an extremely angled closet with ceilings at various heights; she needed to store luggage above her clothes; she wanted a custom jewelry cabinet; and she wanted every inch of the closet to be usable space. I’ll spare the suspense: Done.
This project required a lot of custom shelving, and that is what we do best. We installed three different tiers of shelving in order to accommodate for the door, skylight, and of course, the customer’s head. Since suitcases are much larger than folded clothes, we added deeper shelves above the door so the luggage could be stored easily and out of the way.
We love having firsts at Everything Closets, and a necklace cabinet was a first. The customer wanted us to use anti-tarnish cloth as a liner, and a space large enough to hold her jewelry yet safe and out of the way. We built a shallow cabinet behind the door where she could easily accessorize and keep her jewelry safe and tarnish-free.
In the plans below, you can see how many angles and dimensions of shelving went into this job. Every inch of the closet was used, and the customer was thrilled.
Closet Challenge: 1
A couple in a 4-year-old custom home, in Schaumburg, was faced with a problem: Their master closet wasn’t large enough. The only asset it possessed was the wire shelving that the builders had originally installed. It was too compact, leaving no room for their shoes or any drawers. They decided to call Lonny at Everything Closets.
Lonny knew how to fix the problem immediately. Rather than redesign the original closet, he designed an additional closet using the crawlspace above the garage. Many homes have this space as extra storage, and most are left unfinished, due to the difficulty of the slanted walls, but Lonny knew how to design it into an amazing bonus closet.
Using special bars designed for these types of spaces, the team at Everything Closets was able to mount hanging rods on both lengths of the new closet; a total of 20 feet of new hanging space! On each side of the window they added a wardrobe, and gave each of them a set of drawers and shoe shelves that now fit over 80 pairs of shoes. Rather than leave space unused, Lonny designed a full island in the center of the room. The new addition gave the couple extra drawers, and a table top, with seats for each of them.
What started out as a wire-cramped headache became a comfortable closet heaven! Now they have a two-person dressing room outfitted in all wood, shelves for all their shoes, a wardrobe and drawers for every outfit, and extra space where they can keep all their linens. Basically, they now have space for their desired lifestyle.
“Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.”
- General George S. Patton
Below is a computer image of the new dressing room
3 Big Organizing Mistakes- by Amber’s Organizing
We want to share this blog post from our amazing business partner, Amber, of Amber’s Organizing:
AVOID THESE ORGANIZING MISCONCEPTIONS
Don’t Empty a Room. Taking everything out of room and starting fresh is actually not a good idea. We see this a lot on television shows. But it is actually is a lot harder than it looks. They also have twenty to twenty five people on set on TV that we don’t see. So please, don’t empty a room or space thinking you’ll only put back what you need and fits. That doesn’t work well because it’s a very extreme approach. Tossing or donating all that doesn’t come back in, is very unrealistic and almost never happens.Then you’re left with another messsy room or space because the leftovers are too overwhelming. I see this happens often when people hire painters or remodel areas of their home. Scheduling workmen is a great motivator to get organizing. I’d suggest just going through the items before the date to start painting arrives. Clear out and purge everything before the project and then, pack up the keepers to bring back after they’re finished working.
Don’t Move things to Offsite Storage. Time and time again, families end up paying month after month to store items they won’t make decisions on. Temporary storage is viable but when I say temporary, I mean six months or less. If there’s not a game plan and actual date decided on, months quickly turn into years. So it’s not a good solution to just stick things in storage because you have the storage option.Too often I end up in Public Storage and Lock Up Storage places going through items and boxes of stuff the owner hasn’t thought of in years. Eighty five percent usually ends up being tossed or donated. Out of sight out of mind, really is true in this case. So think twice before loading up the car and driving it over to storage.
Don’t Pack It All Up. Packing up everything in boxes to go through one box at a time later isn’t going to happen. That solution could be renamed organizing for instant gratification. You may want the clear space now but you and I both know going through ten to twenty boxes of stuff later isn’t really feasible. I’ve seen it time and time again; those boxes end up sitting around, collecting dust, and taking up valuable storage or basement space in a home. Organizing is a lot like dieting. You can’t just loose fifty pounds in one day. It takes one pound at a time. The same goes for organizing-it takes going through one drawer, one box, one pile, and one shelf at a time.
link to original post:
http://www.ambersorganizing.com/blog/2011-6-23-3-big-organizing-mistakes/
(This was originally posted by Amber on Thursday, June 23 2011)
The Wire Closet Storage Systems Benefits
By: kimberly valerio
Are you looking for a low cost, yet very effective way to organize your closet? The issue of a closet in disarray is something you don’t have to deal with anymore. Wire closet organization products are a great solution. A wire closet storage system is also a great choice if you don’t plan to reside in your current location for a lengthy amount of time. They are great for apartments and college dorms. The pieces can also be rearranged and reassembled without damaging them. In fact, a wire closet storage system is the least expensive custom closet organizer you can purchase. Read More
Instant Closet Storage
Author: Jo Granville
Creating closet storage is a great way to get your home organized and even add selling value to your home. Most people have things stored that they haven’t used or even looked at in years. Decluttering is the first step to organizing your closet and creating extra space for the things that you actually need to store. Read More
