Garage Organization System

Everyone has junk that they need to get rid of. The garbage man can get the small everyday junk that people gather from cooking, cleaning, doing yard work, and other things around their home. But when people have large items that have been stored in the attic, the garage, or behind the house, they need some way to get rid of it.

Most people store unused items because they either do not have a way to take it off themselves, however, these items can be taken away with a simple phone call. There are many organizations that will pick the items up and repair them for people who really could use them, such as the Salvation Army, Goodwill, and others.

There are also second hand shops that would be more than happy to come out to your home and remove any items that you have, usually for no charge at all. They will pick them up repair the items that they can and turn around and sell them for a minimal profit.

If you have collected a substantial amount of knick-knacks that are just gathering dust, clothing that you no longer wear, books that you have already read; instead of throwing them in the weekly garbage pickup, call someone to come out and get them out of your way.

Perhaps you have done some remodeling on your home and have saved old windows and doors, or drywall or something else that you thought might you might need later, and it has been sitting in the garage. These things are not only an eye sore, they take up valuable space that you could be using.

Some people try to recycle themselves. They collect such items as aluminum cans, scrap metal, and other types of metal; waiting for the price of certain metals to rise. This is great, but do not let it become an eye sore to the community.

There are also online organizations that will send you boxes to fill with certain items, and even pay for them to be shipped back to them. For information about this, all you need to do is to research these companies online. You will be surprised how many companies actually do this. This is a great way to get rid of old printer and copier cartridges, and they will send you a replacement cartridge for your printer.

There are also some online such as “Free Cycle.com” which allows people to post whatever they wish on the website and other members of the site, that would like to have one of the posted items, can call for more information and directions. Then just go pick it up. I have seen exercise equipment, furniture, appliances, and many different things, and all a person had to do was to travel to get it. These items are free, so the only money you would be putting out of your pocket would be for gas.

Getting rid of your Bulk Trash is easier now than it ever has been. Someone can use the junk one way or another, and it will help you have much more space in your home.

Have you ever tried to cook something when you didn’t read the recipe, there was clutter all over the counter and half way through you realized that you didn’t have some crucial ingredient for your recipe? Think about how disorganized and out-of-sync you felt when you were trying to prepare a recipe by the seat of your pants. Chefs avoid this confusion by what they call mise en place. It means “put into place” and in practice in means to have everything ready before you start cooking. Vegetables washed and chopped, almonds sliced, flour measured, salt out and ready to go – what ever will be necessary. So when it comes time to cook, all you have to do is cook, without being distracted by more prep and a search for missing ingredients.

This is true not only in cooking, but in your house as well. Have you noticed that when your house is a mess that you feel less organized and more scattered? It’s almost like your thoughts and mind are in a disarray, just because your surroundings are. Often to be at peace and be most effective, we need to put our space in order so we can focus on what we are doing. In order to do this, we must simplify.

Simplify is a scary word. It means to let go. We have surrounded ourselves with stuff and convinced ourselves that we really need it all. This mentality has led us to cluttered rooms, closets packed full to bursting, garages we can’t park in and paying for storage space for all of our stuff. It’s time to make a change.

Start small.

It is far to overwhelming to try and declutter your house all at once. Instead start small with one drawer or one shelf. Take everything off/out of it and divide the contents into three piles – keep, donate and maybe. Put anything you haven’t used in six months into the donate or maybe piles. Put the keep stuff back nicely. Give the donate stuff away and put the maybe pile into a box in the garage. If you haven’t missed it in thirty days, donate the entire box to charity. Celebrate your success and next weekend take on another shelf/drawer/corner/etc. You can do this until a whole room or your whole house only contains things you use and love.

You will notice as you go through the process that you will feel a calm relief when things are neater and more organized. Your thoughts will be clearer and you will be able to concentrate at the task at hand. And because you will know exactly where everything is, you won’t have to spend time searching for things. You will have mise en placed your life and you will love the feeling of calm it brings to your life.