We all have seen those beautiful organized garages with the expensive stainless-steel cabinets and sparkly floors in magazines and ads. "Expensive" is the word when it comes to having a garage that looks like that; however, you can have a clean, well organized garage easily and inexpensively. In fact, you may not have to purchase a thing if you already have some shelving, hooks and plastic storage bins. It's time to organize your garage so everything has a place and you can find just what you need when you need it. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Measure your walls for shelving (if you do not already have any in your garage.) Inexpensive wire shelving is available at big-box stores such as Home Depot or Menard's. There are various grades, sizes, and price ranges of shelving. For example a commercial-grade six-shelf chrome finish shelving unit can run in the $100 range. (This unit has shelves that are 18 inches in depth, which would accommodate large bins.) Visit store websites for ideas on what is available, price ranges, measurements and customer reviews. Your choice of shelving depends on your budget and the available area.
2. Determine how many hooks you need to hang items such as brooms, shovels, rakes and bicycles. These are also available at big-box stores.
3. Determine if you require plastic storage bins. These bins are handy for storing children's toys, cleaning supplies and outdoor seasonal decorations. Choose bins that will fit on your shelving or that you can neatly stack along the wall, placing rarely used items on the bottom. Use large garbage containers for bats and balls.
4. List and purchase the items you require. Check newspaper sales flyers and ads for bargains. Stick to your list when you visit stores.
5. Park your car on the driveway or street. Remove anything from the garage floor that may get damaged when you hose down the garage floor.
6. Sweep the floor to get rid of leaves, dirt and debris brought in on the tires of your car. The garage floor gets especially dirty after winter due to the salt and melting snow that your car tracks in.
7. Remove floor stains such as oil or grease with soap, water and a little elbow grease. If the stains are large, use a degreasing cleaner, following the directions on the product label closely.
8. Hose down the garage floor, beginning at the back of the garage and directing the flow of water out onto the driveway or alleyway. Allow the garage floor to dry.
9. Hang shelving and hooks. Place your metal storage cabinet where you would like it at this time, if you are using one. Hang bicycles from the ceiling with heavy-duty hooks designed especially for this purpose to free up floor space. Place chemicals and paint in a metal cabinet, if possible.
10. Store small items such as pliers, screwdrivers, gardening gloves and manuals for your lawn mower, leaf blower and snow thrower in an old chest of drawers, if available.
11. Sort through the items that you had stored in your garage and throw out anything you will no longer use. Donate items that are still usable to a local charity.
12. Place items you want to keep in the plastic bins, and arrange them on the shelves. Hang up your tools on the hooks.
Tags: garage floor, your garage, already have, available big-box, available big-box stores