Storage areas such as garden sheds or garages are by their very nature prone to clutter and disorganization. It’s where you store everything that you don’t use regularly and which spends the majority of the time simply taking up space. So having a proper organizational system is key to keeping storage areas from becoming overwhelmed with junk and clutter. Here are some tips from Closet and Storage Concepts of Boston, Massachusetts, which will help you to give your storage shed a facelift.
Clear Out and Cut Back
Step one for any successful organizational project is to clear out and cut back on the clutter. Getting rid of things you don’t need or use is never a fun task, but we promise you’ll feel lighter and less stressed when you eliminate the unnecessary from your life. In order to get the best of your inner packrat, clean everything out of your storage shed. And we mean everything! Take it all out so that you can see everything you own. When it’s not all cramped and sitting on top of each other, you’ll be surprised at just how much stuff you have. Go through everything and determine whether or not you actually need it. If you haven’t used it in over a year, it might be a good candidate for elimination. Rent a dumpster or hauler to cart everything away, and by the end of this session, you’ll be much less overwhelmed with the task at hand, since you’ll only have necessities left to organize.
Cleaning and Sorting
Once you’ve decided what you’re going to keep, you need to start the project of organizing it and preparing your storage shed to hold it again. The first thing to do will be to clean your shed. This is a great opportunity to give it the deep cleaning that it never gets. That means mopping, dusting, and even getting up into the corners and the back of cabinets. Once the shed is clean, you can begin sorting everything into categories like chemicals, gardening items, tools, and so on. This will be helpful when it comes to the next step.
Plan, Organize and Put Back
Now that your storage shed is completely clean, and all it’s contents have been sorted and categorized, you can get down to the nitty-gritty of organizing. This is the time when creating a strategic organizing plan will come in handy. The better you organize now, the less you’ll have to do in the long run. Think about the best ways to maximize the space in your storage shed. Consider vertical wall storage for things like rakes, hoes, shovels, and brooms. Think about adding ceiling storage for rarely used items like ladders. Hang pegboard so that you can further make use of your walls as storage, and organize your tools in an easy-access, visually helpful way. Add more shelving if you need it, and a workspace like a potting bench. Hang your hose to make sure you never trip over it and clear the middle space in the shed for bigger items like your lawnmower or wheelbarrow. Don’t ignore small spaces either. You can install magnetic strips to hold small items like shears or trowels, and use an over the door shoe organizer to keep track of all your seed packets.
After all of this, you’ll feel like you have a completely new storage shed, and your life will be much easier with such easy access to what you need, and helpful organization. For more organizational tips and tricks, visit Closet & Storage Concepts of Boston, Massachusetts today!
Top photo: © Edward Samuel Cornwall.