CLEAR THE CLUTTER CHALLENGE WEEK-BY-WEEK
If you have not already joined the Clear the Clutter Challenge, be sure to sign up HERE so that you can receive all the latest decluttering tips! Do not worry if you have not been able to keep up with every week of the Clear the Clutter Challenge. You can join at any time.
Also, consider purchasing the Ultimate Decluttering Guide for an entire detailed program to declutter your home. There are declutter checklists for every room of the house.
So far we have decluttered and organized three spaces in our homes! See the different spaces below.
Clear the Clutter Challenge Week 8: Car and Garage Organization Tips
Now, It’s time to talk about how I organize my garage and car. I have shared several posts in the past on car and garage organization tips.
Here are some tips for decluttering your garage:
- Wait for a nice day to declutter your garage! Right now we are buried in snow, so it is not a perfect time to take everything out of the car and garage. Schedule in a day to clean your garage in the spring or early summer time.
- Take everything out of your garage. This is the not so fun part of the decluttering process. But, you will need to take everything out of your garage. Especially clear everything off of the floor of your garage. The only way to get truly organized is to start with a blank slate.
- Get Rid of Unwanted items. Now, really assess what you want to keep and throw away. Immediately get rid of broken items, outdated, things with missing parts and items you have not used in year. Do not stress over whether you “might” use an item in a year. If you have used it recently, it is not something you really need. You can always borrow from a neighbor or a friend if it is something you need once a year or less!
- Assess what storage solutions you need to buy. Before you start putting things back into the garage, consider if you will need new shelves, bins or hooks. It is good to buy these items before you start to organize. Then, you will not be interrupted with trips to the store during your project.
- Clean your garage. Also, before you start to bring back the items, give the garage a good cleaning. Wash the floor and wipe down shelves and walls.
- Start to organize. Now comes the fun part! Be intentional as you put items back in the garage. Think about what items are used daily versus seasonal. Put less used items up high on shelves. Make it easy for kids to get to the things that they need.
- Make adjustments as needed. At the end of a season, your garage might get messy again. Be sure to assess what worked and what didn’t. If the kids had a hard time keeping their things in place, maybe you need a few more bins and storage baskets.
Our garage is an extension of our home. It provides a lot of extra storage space, but it can also get messy. Get inthe habit of cleaning out your garage once or twice a year and it will never get too messy!
Here are some tips for decluttering your car:
- Take everything out of your car. Pull out everything from the glove compartment, middle console, under the seats and trunk! You will find that if you take everything out, not everything will be going back in.
- Wipe down the inside of your car. Now is your chance to give the interior of your car a good cleaning!
- Organize similar items together. Do you have lot of car activities, sporting equipment and first aid supplies in the car? Group those items together in baskets. I shared car organization tips in this post.
- Keep in a garbage bag in the car. Inevitably, the car will get messy again if you do not maintain the clutter. Be sure to have a garbage bag always in the car to collect wrappers and papers.
- Get in the habit of bringing in everything from the car each day. Make sure everyone is in charge of their own gear in the car. Let it be known that the kids (and adults) need to bring in their water bottles, bags and stuff out of the car into the house after every trip.
We spend so much time in our car, it is good to take care of it! It does not take a lot of time to declutter your car!
Looking for more garage and car cleaning hacks? You might enjoy these posts:
Inexpensive Garage Organization Ideas
We just talked about this yesterday- it is on Rob’s To Do List- stay tuned 😉