Having a garage is an added bonus for many of us in the Lansing area. Have you thought how a garage cleanout could help you this winter? Cold winters, wet springs, dry summers, and wet falls. The weather changes almost constantly and it’s not uncommon for us to experience the weather of three seasons in one week (let’s face it – sometimes in one day!). Keeping the car in the garage gives us a little peace of mind – no scraping ice off the windshield, no leaves stuck in the wipers and protection from the damage winds and storms may cause.
The Garage Clean Up
Unfortunately, however, our garages often become a catch-all space for everything – storage boxes, old appliances, countertops you removed from the kitchen when you remodeled, a pile of toys and sporting goods for the kids, and everything else! Before you call us for junk removal or old appliance removal, check out some tips for organizing your space, and deciding what stays and what goes during your garage clean up.
Everything in Its Place
Wire shelving and plastic totes remain king when looking for storage and organization tips for the garage. Used in conjunction, these two common products turn a frustrating situation into organizational bliss. Start with labeling the totes – a large permanent marker is great for this project or you can dress it up by using stencils. If you’d rather not mark on your totes, label their places on the shelves. Putting the totes on shelves creates an easier method of accessing individual totes (without shelves, the totes often stack on top of each other, making it difficult for you to retrieve the goods from the bottom of the stack). If you’re a little handier, building tracks on the ceiling to hang totes from frees up additional floor space!
If you have old cabinets you’d rather not get rid of just yet, consider using them in the garage rather than just storing them! Even an old medicine cabinet proves useful for storing garage items such as car products or cleaning products. Base cabinets and old countertops make for a functional garage workspace along the wall. Makes a garage cleanout easier.
Pile It Up
Once you’ve completed some basic organization projects, decide what stays and what goes by organizing your items in different areas. Non-working fridge taking up valuable space? Move it to one side and start putting your “junk” beside it. Not sure about the rest of the cabinets or that old chair? Keep them separated until you’re sure. For your “keep” items, put away what you can in dedicated areas, then make another pile for the rest.
Once you’ve decided what stays and what goes (even if you have a few “maybe” items), give us a call! Our trained staff will come out and remove what goes – including the old fridge! Once you’ve deleted the junk, you’ll have more room to organize the items that stayed, and more room to park your car right before winter sneaks into the Lansing area.
