How to De-Clutter Your Home
 A Pat Racks Anonymous Meeting

By Guy Sheely, Senior Storage Consultant, Pine Creek/Belle Springs Storage

Can you park your car in the garage?
If you have a 2 car garage- can you get both vehicles in there?
Or, when the cars are in, can you only get out on 1 side?
Or maybe you can't get to the stuff in your garage when the cars are in there?

For most people, the garage is the most unorganized room in their home.
A recent study revealed that at least half of surveyed homeowners rated their garages as the most disorganized place in the house.

We are going to go over some organization basics that you can apply to any room in your house, but in my years of storage consulting with Pine Creek, the garage seems to be the worst room in the house when it comes to being disorganized.

I'm going to give you some easy steps to follow and remember that this can be applied to any room- the attic, the kitchen, the kid's rooms...even the bathroom.

Tackling an unorganized garage-or any room- is lot like an intervention of a crisis situation. Years of being a pack rat is starting to cause havoc on your family's life.

So let's get this intervention started!
  1. First, get the whole family involved. Use bribery like a Pizza Lunch...or a fun reward when you are all done- can be the incentive you need to get the whole family involved.
  2. Set a date aside on the calendar. Involve your children and make up a game with prizes for the one who can find the oldest, dirtiest throwaway etc. This is essential to success as everyone in the home has some level of attachment to the items that are living there.
  3. If you have so much stuff, move your car outside for the weekend and use the floor space in your garage. And if you have A LOT OF STUFF-this could take 2 weekends.
  4. Set aside enough time for this project by picking back-to-back days like a weekend so that sorted items do not have to sit in piles for too long. Although there is no way to predict the weather too far in advance, a dry weekend is best.
  5. Be prepared with needed supplies. You may need plastic storage bins, permanent markers for labeling and many, many large garbage bags. Place one in the middle of your working space so that everyone can reach it.
  6. Start with a general purging of everything in your path. Decide which of the 4 piles- see below-your items should go in.
Start with 4 Piles...

Pile 1: Trash
Pile 2: Sell or Donate
Pile 3: Keep
Pile 4: Move

It's really important that you create enough space to have these 4 separate piles.
For bigger items, pick up some of those colored dots from Staples- red dots mean Trash, Blue mean sell/donate, yellow means keep. You can use these on larger items, but don't be lazy and say you are going to do it for everything.

Pile #1: Trash...
The first step is to toss what you no longer want or use. If this includes old car batteries, car parts or used oil, be sure to take them to a recycling center for safe disposal that won't pollute the environment. If you stumble across old toys or sports equipment that are in good shape but are no longer being used, move them to the Sell/Donate pile and drop them off at a local charity so other kids can enjoy them.
Items that are outdated, faded, broken or otherwise unusable can often be dumped. If you don't want it, and you don't know anyone else who wants it, dump it today. You'll be freeing your space--and your mind!

5 Questions To Ask Yourself About Your Clutter
  1. When did I last use this item?
    If you haven't used it in the last year, chances are your not going to in the next. Allow yourself to purge old items, interest, hobbies, and unfinished projects to allow room for the really important parts of your life.

  2. Am I going to need this item on a specific date in the future?
    If your best friend just set her wedding date for a couple of months away, it might be wise to keep your mint in the box punch bowl for future use. But if you are keeping a household full of furniture stacked in the garage for when your 5 year old daughter moves out on her own, it may be time to free up some space. If it doesn't have a definite date of use, the clutter isn't worth it.

  3. Does this item have a legal or tax purpose?
    Paper can be our worst clutter enemy and we often use the excuse of the legal and tax purposes associated with a thirty year collection of receipts. Go through your papers and keep only items that are really needed.

  4. How hard would it be to replace this item again someday if I needed it?
    If items are priceless emotionally or historically, they may not be the best items to toss. Consider how hard it would be to replace the item and get rid of things that are a dime a dozen.

  5. In what way is this item making my life more purposeful or better?
    If the items are not making you happier, healthier, or better, they are just taking up space and cluttering up your life. Removing these stacks and boxes of stuff will free up your home and your space.

From here, you can start moving the pile into boxes and trash bags and try to get them out of your sight as fast as you can.

TRASH PILE
Now: gather trash bags, boxes or whatever to TRASH these items. If you can, get rid of this stuff right away.
Know your next trash day- you may have to call ahead- just look for a phone number on your last waste bill-or maybe take it to them or the dump.


Pile #2- Sell or Donate
  1. First make your decision- are you going to hang onto this crap until the spring yard sale season or do you reeealy just want to be done with it now and donate it.
  2. If you want to hang onto your treasures until yard sale make a commitment that you will NOT backslide and start sneaking things out of the yard sale pile to keep.
  3. And you'll have to find a temporary storage space for all your yard sale stuff like a storage shed.
  4. I'll be talking about storage sheds in just a minute but buying a storage shed just to keep your goodies for a few months kind of defeats the purpose.
  5. So you may want to wait for your purge until closer to yard sales season- usually April 1st- OR if you can't stand it, then donate it.
  6. Another option would be a winter garage sale- place some signs up in your neighborhood the week of your garage sale- list the address, the day date and times.
  7. If you have some seriously valuable items check out a local consignment shop- but remember even they only pay ten cents to twenty cents for what you paid for it.
  8. And if you really think you have something, check out eBay to find out if you have a chance of selling it here.
If you have yard sale, check out the web for some great advice on how to price, and how to advertise and which days to pick for a yard sale.
If you donate, contact your closest Goodwill or Salvation Army or other Thrift store and find out- before you go down :
  1. if they have any current restrictions
  2. If they are in fact taking donations
  3. when they accept donations
  4. if someone is there to help bring the stuff in.
Make sure you get a receipt from the thrift store to use for charitable donations for taxes.
Important Note- at this stage in your organization intervention start aggressively labeling things, especially if you are starting to use boxes or containers where you can't see the contents. You'll be creating extra work every time you have to open up a box just to see what's inside it.


Pile #3 MOVE IT and
Pile #4 KEEP IT
So by now, you should see a big reduction in the amount of stuff you have...but if you have a lot left over and it's not going to neatly fit back into your garage, its probably time you moved it...

We are going to discuss these 2 piles together- because now that your stuff is hopefully reduced, you have 2 different choices of where you can store it.

When I say KEEP IT- I'm assuming you can move it back into the garage or the room you originally pulled it out of. And hopefully it won't mean you are just going to move all the stuff back in. If you are going to keep it, try to organize it such a way that it's easy to get to.

The Move It pile-which kind of assumes you are going to keep it-, may be moved to a different location.

Here's where I can give some really good advice... I would say the #1 reason people start asking about storage sheds is they have too much stuff in their garage or other part of their home.

You might be smarter to wait until you have really assessed what you have- and what you pared down to see if you need a storage shed and what size.

A storage shed could be the best solution for storing the stuff you have left over in your "move it" or "keep it" piles.
When it comes to storing your items you have a few choices-
  1. Turn another room into your home into your own storage shed
  2. Rent a storage locker
  3. Buy a storage shed
Turning another room into a storage shed may not be that practical because few of houses have the luxury where we can find 100 square feet or so to use for storage. But if you do, consider installing some cheap yet sturdy shelving units to get more of your treasures in there.

Renting a storage locker is another alternative but if you think you will be storing your stuff for longer than 3 or 4 months, you could take that rental money and put it into your own storage unit on your property. The biggest drawback to a rental storage locker is that it's not steps away. If you decide you want to grill, and you know that extra tank of gas is in the storage locker across town, how likely is it that you'll bundle up, get in your card, drive ½ across town, FIND it, and drag it back. And in theory- once you are done with something, it should go back in storage. There is not a lot customization you can do with a storage unit. It's kind of like a rental apartment- you can't really do a lot to it to make it your own.

So if you still have a sizeable amount of your treasures, and you want to be able to access it easily and-this is important- quickly without a lot of hunting- a backyard storage structure could help.

Storage sheds come in sizes from 8 feet by 8 feet all the way up to 16 feet by 24 feet.

And here's a quick reference guide to what some of the more popular storage sheds can hold...
An important insider tip: From my years of consulting customers on storage sheds- please believe me when I say to buy a shed slightly bigger than smaller. I don't think I've ever heard a customer tell me in our follow up calls that they wished they bought a smaller unit- they always regret not going bigger.


Learn about how you can customize a storage shed. When shopping around, try to steer clear to the place that won't let you customize your structure. At Pine Creek/Belle Springs, you can practically double your storage space by customizing the whole structure.

Here are a few important areas that many folks over look...
Consider adding on shelving units- for about $50 more.
You can get some sturdy wide shelving units that take advantage of the wall space. This is important folks and if there is one thing you get from your storage class is NOT to overlook wall space or cubic space. An 8 x 10 will only give you 80 square feet of surface space but if you consider the 6 foot walls, for example, you can move many items up off the floor onto shelves and thereby giving more valuable floor space.

Think of your floor space as "prime real estate". Anything that can go up of the floor will give you more room for items that can only fit there.

Some designs of sheds like the Dutch Barn can give you great ceiling space with their mini attics. I think anyone who has a lot to store should make this a must. By spending just a few dollars more, you create another 40-60 square feet of surface space in addition to the surface space you have below.

If you are trying to store bigger toys-just l-consider heavy duty peg board on the side to hang the bulkier items up off the floor. Also an option with a Pine Creek/Belles Springs Structures. In our Dutch Barns, you can pick up extra space by going with the lofts- with a shelf that's about 24" high- it's a great space for less used items like Christmas Decorations.

Here's another insider tip- work with the place you're buying your storage shed from to create a mini layout of how you'll arrange your storage shed before you buy it. And if the place doesn't have anyone who can advise you, that bargain price may not be worth it. It doesn't have to be an exact architectural blue print, but I encourage folks to sit down with me and do a simple outline out to show where the tractor will go, where the trash cans will sit, and where the leaf blower can go... you get the idea.

This is also a great time to double check if the amount of space you are considering will be adequate. Remember- better to be sure of this BEFORE you invest in a structure than after it.

Deciding where things will go in advance can you save from what I call the Shed Dance.... You goal is to set things up so that you are not constantly moving things around. If you need something on a regular basis, keep it handy....and move the Fourth of July Decorations to place in the back.

So once you have an idea how everything will be laid out, think about an extra set of doors. I have seen customers who used every square inch of space of their shed-which is brilliant-but the first time they need to get something- Murphy's Law says that it will be at the very back or your shed. With an extra on the side, you have 2 ways to access your treasures! Don't ignore the higher wall space- for a few dollars more; you can design your shed so it has pegboard on the side to store bicycles off the floor.

Something else to consider...Making a storage shed do double duty.

Ithink for the most part, the general public is surprised...pleasantly surprised to learn what they can do with a storage structure. Our customers have used a storage shed for
  • Home offices
  • Man Caves
  • Craft Room
  • Home Gyms
  • Art and Photo studios
  • Workshops
  • Motorcycles storage
  • And even in law quarters...
So you may want to THINK...just think...about going with a larger structure, say a 12 x 20 and splitting it into 2 parts. One part to be used for pure storage- tricked out with all the tailor made storage options like we talked about, and the other part being a more functional room.

Take a kid's play house....you can order a 12 x 20 and then for no extra charge design the back ½ to be pure storage and the front half to act as a playhouse for the kids. If you always have wanted your own dedicated home workshop- split the space between shop and storage...or Man Cave and Storage...or Gardening Shed/potting shed and storage...
We have a saying at Pine Creek- "if you can dream it, we can build it"- and we are serious- if you have what you may think is a crazy idea- shoot us an email and we give you some professional advice.

Now, the all important Follow Up.
The first thing I recommend is -while you have this motivation- is to go through the rest of your home and tackle at least one additional problem room. Maybe it's your bedrooms- using the same approach I taught you here, apply it to there rooms so that not only your garage but your whole home will be neat and orderly.

And finally some tips for STAYING clutter free:
  1. A place for everything and everything in its place
  2. Put stuff back right away!
  3. Try to limit the new stuff you're are getting or collecting...
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