Five helpful tips for decluttering your garage

A garage’s purpose in life should be to safely house your pride and joy, unfortunately, it can become a dumping ground for everything but. From old toys, broken furniture, boxes of sentimental junk you have no home for and an endless surplus of bags that you have no clue what they hold. In some cases, the car can’t even be housed in the garage because the car to junk ratio is so off.

According to a survey of 1000 people by The Australia Institute, nearly half said that their garage is so full of stuff that they're unable to park their car in it.

If you have a garage, surely you want to make the best use of it for both keeping your car safe from the outside elements as well as storing things you need periodically like the Christmas tree and the tool kit. Here are five helpful tips to reclaim your garage and make the best use of the space.

The best way to start a big project which you’ve been putting off for ages is to officially lock in a day and time to do it. Mark it in your diary and make sure you have no other plans.

You might not complete the whole declutter and reorganisation of your garage in one day, especially if your garage looks like a scene from Hoarders, but it is better to start from somewhere.

You may need to lock out a few consecutive days in a row or weekends to really make the change.

Depending on the amount of stuff that needs to be decluttered from your garage, you may need to sign up a few helpers to get the job done. Anyone from your partner, kids, family members, friends.

If none of them is game, you could even use a site like AirTasker to pay for someone to help out. As the saying goes, many hands make light work.

This goes for both the declutter and removal of junk from the garage and the reorganising of the space. Start by getting some useful supplies like empty rubbish bags, bins and tubs. Even heavy-duty gloves and a mask may be required.

For the declutter, create three separate piles or zones somewhere out the way like on the driveway or front lawn. Things to keep, things to sell or donate and things to bin. This will also allow you to see everything clearly and hopefully will help make the decision easier. Start from one side of the garage and work your way across.

Anything that is for the bin zone should be chucked immediately into the bin, or a hired skip if your garage is really messy.

Don’t forget to stop for a drink and some food, you’ve got to keep the motivation for yourself and helpers going.

Once the garage is all cleaned out, give it a good sweep, wipe down the walls and get the measuring tape out.

Pick each item up and make your decision right there and then on whether it is worth keeping, selling/donating or binning. Don’t be afraid to be ruthless, remember the end goal here, fitting your car in its home.

If you do find yourself having a hard time letting go of items, then perhaps ask a friend who you know is more of a pro at throwing things away and get them to do it for you.

Remember, if you have no use for some items but they are still in good condition, this could be the perfect opportunity to sell it online or donate to someone who will get good use from it. Not everything needs to end up at the tip.

Now this is the fun part, deciding how you want to utilised your new found garage space. Do you want to make it just for your car and a few shelving units. Do you want a home gym? Somewhere to hang all your tools?

Depending on how visual you are, you may want to get a piece of paper and map out how the garage space will work. Start by marking a space out for the car or cars, the reason for the garage clean out. Then scope out the surrounding space and make sure there is ample space to install things like shelving, pegboards, hanging hooks, magnetic strips.

Why not use some coloured tape to permanently mark out zones in your garage. Place some tape to mark a walkway that shouldn’t be blocked, markings for the cars. Even mark out the placement of things like your recycling and rubbish bin.

Now that you’ve decided how to use the space, place your shelves and organisation tools, and start filling them with your remaining things. Create zones for these items, an area for your tools and gardening equipment, a spot for sporting equipment and bikes, an area to put the Christmas tree and decorations. The options are endless.

Once you’re finally done, don’t forget to celebrate! Make it something everyone is excited to look forward to. Happy decluttering!

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