Category Archives: Storage

Tips for Garage Organization

Posted on by

It all started when I stumbled on this picture last weekend:

garage closet factory

Photo Credit: Closet Factory

That’s a garage. Yep, a garage. The interior of my house doesn’t look that good, never mind the garage!

While it’s pretty, I really have no aspirations to have a garage like that. A kitchen, maybe, but not a garage. All I really want is to have a neat and tidy garage, not like the one pictured here:

my garage

My Garage, Post-Garage Sale

It’s downright depressing! Not to mention, I can’t park my car in it. Clearly, it’s time to reorganize!

Organizing a garage is no different than organizing a room in the house. (Except a whole lot hotter if you do it in July.) Here are a few guidelines:

Garage Organization Plan
1. Pull everything out of the garage into a central staging area.
2. Create zones for keep, donate, toss, and sell. I’m fortunate in that I can back my car up to my staging area and use the trunk as my donation station, and I have a Goodwill donation drop-off just around the corner.
3. In the keep area, group like items together–gardening, cleaning, tools, paints, etc.
4. Define purpose zones in the garage and establish a clear place for each item.
5. Use vertical and overhead spaces. This will clear up valuable real estate on the floor for important things. Like a car.
6. Keep chemicals in a locked cabinet or storage area. If you store your gas grill in the garage, find somewhere well away from the house to store the propane. A teensy leak and a single tiny spark could cause you problems much worse than a messy garage.
7. Label things that can’t be seen. If you’ve used tubs or boxes for storage, you’ll want to know what’s in them. (It’s not a bad idea to label the things that can be seen as a reminder of their proper place.)

Garage Storage Ideas
Unless you have $$$ for ready-made storage, you’ll want to get creative when it comes to garage storage, like these folks did:

This is a file cabinet turned on its back! I’d think you could also use it for sporting goods, fishing equipment, etc.

I love this idea for storing watering paraphernalia, even if it is a Martha idea. I especially like that the bucket interior holds nozzles and sprinkler. The hose reels I inherited with my house are nice, but they don’t have a spot for storing the extras.

 

I only have about five pieces of extra wood so I don’t need anything this grand, but I do think it’s a great, space-saving idea for the more ambitious DIY-er.

For now, I’m focusing on getting things in their proper places, including Goodwill. I’ll worry about making it “cute” some other time when it’s not 100+° outside.

Feel free to share any garage storage and/or organization ideas in the comments!

Recommended: 05/12/2012

Posted on by

Yet another week that zoomed right past! I’m not complaining, mind you, especially since this week included actual income. :)

Reads of note that I stumbled across recently:

HOME
Use Up the Pantry Clutter [Small Notebook]
I already had a pantry-declutter on my to-do list, but this article actually got me into the laundry room to do it. I have empty spaces now!

RECIPES
Strawberries Recipes [Martha Stewart]
I’m not a huge Martha Stewart fan, but even I have to admit that there are some recipe gems in this collection.

FINANCE & FRUGALITY
9 Things You Should Always Buy On Sale [Second Act]
I always enjoy a list of money-saving tips, and this one didn’t disappoint!

PRODUCTIVITY
5 Sneaky Productivity Sappers [Simple Productivity Blog]
At one time or another (and sometimes in the same day), these have all kept me from making progress.

SELF
Not an article, but sometimes a picture says it all. :)

 

MADE ME SMILE

 

Wishing you a magnificent weekend!

Two-fer Tuesday: Organizing

Posted on by

I don’t know if it’s the warmish winter we’re having or what, but my thoughts have been on cleaning and organizing this week, which explains why today’s two-fer offers two cool organizing tips:

heart 1

If you’re in need of an out-of-the way space to store wrapping paper, consider the ceiling area of a closet:

wrapping paper storage solution

frankfarm says: “I had some wasted ceiling space in a closet as well as a need to organize wrapping paper, so I put together this storage solution. It’s only 4 anchors and screws and some galvanized wire. Before this, I had tried 3M decorating clips and thread, but it wasn’t strong enough to hold this much weight.” I say: “Brilliant!”

heart 2

If you’re tired of trying to figure out the source of all those computer or audio/video cords, Apartment Therapy suggests using bread tags to mark them:
cord labels

My cords are currently a mess (by currently, I mean since last September when I got my new computer), and I like this idea. Unfortunately, I eat a loaf of bread about every 3 weeks, so it will be a while before I have enough tags to mark all my wires. Still, it’s a good idea!

Happy Tuesday!

Two-fer Tuesday: Closet Tips

Posted on by

Double the fun today!

wreath 1
I had heard this tip a long time ago but stumbled again recently on The Ol’ Switcheroo:

On January 1 (or thereabouts), turn all the hangers in your closet backwards. As you wear an item, hang it back up the right way. In six months, any clothes that are still hanging backwards are really good candidates for donation.

wreath 1

If you’re short on closet space, use luggage to store off season clothes. Unless, of course, you’re a flight attendant or pilot. :)

Storing Off-Season Clothes

Posted on by

I’ve had the idea to start this blog for a long time, but I kept putting it off in favor of…well, almost anything else. Until, that is, the next item on my project list was swapping out my summer and winter clothes. That’s when I thought, I really need to get the new blog started NOW. But cool weather is here (Memphis), and my winter clothes are kind of in the way piled on my bedroom floor.

Today was swap day in Casa Cammy. As usual, I had made a mountain out of a molehill medium-sized hill. While the process does require some thinking, creativity, and time, I actually have a routine that works pretty well. I shared it awhile back on The Tippy Toe Diet, but given the time of year, it bears revisiting here.

SIMPLE STEPS TO A SMOOTH SWAP

1) Sort first! My first instinct when thinking about storage is to go shopping for new (and cute!) storage containers. Over the years I’ve learned that it’s more efficient to first identify any clothes that are torn, stained, stretched, ill-fitting, and/or out of style, and get rid of them. If you’re not going to wear them, there’s no sense in storing them and no need for new containers, no matter how cute they are!

2) Go through the pockets of any clothes you’re putting away. If you’re a pocket-tucker, you might find lipsticks or other products that could stain when the clothes are packed away. If you’re lucky, you might find some cash!

3) Launder or dry clean clothing before you pack it away. Minor stains could set, plus bugs and other icky creatures will eat through your clothing in search of that teensy little grape jelly (sugar-free, I’m sure) on your favorite sweater.

A couple of notes about dry cleaning: DO NOT store your clothes in their dry cleaning bags. The chemicals used in cleaning build up, along with (possibly) mildew and mold. Eeeew. Also, DO NOT have your clothes starched at the dry cleaners before packing them away. Bugs *love* starch.

4) Sort clothes by fabric type. Protein-types like wool, silk, suede, leather, or–Heaven forbid!–fur should be packed together in breathable containers to prevent drying out or cracking.

Plant-type fabrics such as linen, cotton, and rayon should be packed separately. Since bugs are more likely to go for the protein-y fabrics, having these clothes packed elsewhere eliminates them from the feast.

5) Choose your storage containers. For breathable storage, think canvas or mesh. For airtight storage, I prefer the under-the-bed type storage boxes for their size. I stack them on a closet shelf, instead of under the bed) as I find them to be less bulky to lift than the big tub-style storage boxes.

6) Consider using some sort of moth repellent. (Not everyone can, because of the strong scent.) Cedar is a good choice. Just remember to give the pieces a light sanding between seasons to reactivate the oil in the wood.

If you’re using airtight containers, consider adding some desiccant packs to capture moisture and help prevent mildew.

Here are a few of my favorite places for perusing storage materials:
- Target
- Container Store
- Stacks & Stacks

I have no affiliation with any of those businesses; I just like them.

7) Choose your storage location, which should be a cool, dry place. That, of course, eliminates the storage places most of us have and use: basements, attics, garages, and outside storage buildings. Bad ideas, as it turns out. Moisture invites mold and mildew, and excessive heat can break down the fibers in fabrics, a lesson I learned the hard way when I bought my first house and promptly used one of the two attics as off-season clothing storage. Cool and dry is the way to go.

Guest bedroom closets are great for off-season storage. Under the bed works well if your bed is high enough. If you’ve got room in your main closet, stack the boxes in the back of it.

Another possibility is to create functional storage. Stack boxes bed- or sofa-height, and then put a round piece of wood and a cloth over them to create a nightstand/end table. Or put a metal garbage can, preferably a new one, to work. (I know, too much HGTV.)

I’m so glad to have The Semi-Annual Swap out of the way now. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to buy any new containers. Maybe next year. :)

Do you have any storage tips or advice to offer? Or maybe a cute storage container source I haven’t heard of?