What image comes to mind when you think of your garage? A clean and organized space where your favorite man mobile lives and all the other man tools and toys are in their place? Unlikely. In my experience, most garages are a living hell – die for a garage fix of some meager proportion. At least that’s what my garage looked like.
A garage can be a scary place. Most of us start out by parking our cars in our garage. Remember that? After all, the dictionary says that a garage is “a building or shed for housing a motor vehicle or vehicles.” But over time we forget about that: we buy a lot of tools and toys that get lost, misplaced and thrown here and there.
Trust me, as an electrician and contractor, despite my best efforts, my garage got out of hand. It just grew and grew and grew, like some crazy sci-fi movie. It got to the point where I could barely move around the place.
And it’s not just my electrical equipment and tools, there are the dreaded things. You know, things that kids have outgrown. Things that are a bit broken, but not enough to throw away and things to give away. My garage was crying out for some love, some TLC.
And then one day I had an epiphany. I began to visualize all the possibilities that this 20′ x 20′ building could offer. So folks, I tell you this… just IMAGINE… Imagine parking your car in the garage again. Now wouldn’t that be great?
Imagine finding the tools you need when you need them without digging and searching for hours. I mean, I’ve had times where I just couldn’t find a tool and I got tired of searching and bought another one.
Imagine being able to grab our bike and helmet to go for a ride with a friend or our family without having to move a bunch of other stuff first. Grab and go is the way to go! Imagine: a garage that is so clean and organized that your spouse will love you for it.
Well friends, I have to tell you that I have done what I do and I have said it. I finally got off my ass and after enough scolding and more scolding, did I say scolding? I decided that this was going to be the year that I would organize my garage. I found some really great garage solutions, like overhead storage that got bikes off the ground and gave me more floor space.
My wife and I had a garage sale. Now that just got us rid of a bunch of stuff and made a few extra bucks in the process. And then I invested in one of those garage storage systems and gave my tools their own super silly home. They are happy and so am I. Now everything (well, almost everything) is at my fingertips. And I almost forgot to mention the new garage shelving I got…sweet. What I can say without a doubt is that when I organized my garage I got a lot more floor space and it’s not as scary in there anymore. And you know what else? It’s not so stressful anymore to go to my garage.
When all is said and done, my recommendation is to organize your garage. Worth the effort.