The Great Garage Clean Out Challenge- The Big Reveal!

You know, 30 days ago I wouldn't have believed that my husband I could have made such a transformation in this disaster of a garage. Heck, even last weekend I still wasn't sure that we would actually reach our goal to get organized before the summer! But after several long days of work this week, we have actually completed the Great Garage Clean Out Challenge!

And after three truckloads of clutter were picked up and taken to the town tag sale, and umpteen bags of clutter were purged into the trash- we actually recovered a huge amount of space!

Where We Started…

We had some big ideas of what we wanted to do with this space- we wanted to be able to have room for all of the kids' toys and all 8 of our bikes on one side of the garage.

On the other, my husband was hoping to build a workbench (something he has always wanted to have out in the garage), and a place to keep all of our yard maintenance and gardening tools, as well as room to actually park one of our cars in the garage!

And because we were fortunate enough to have a whole additional floor of storage space on top of the garage (because my husband wisely built a plywood floor onto the garage rafters 10 years ago when we moved in), it enabled us to hold onto even more clutter!

Even though we had long ago finished using baby items- we kept them around because they were easily tossed and stored up here.

So it was more than time to make a change. A big change!

 

The Idea for the Great Garage Clean Out Challenge

We had done it once already this year. We had taken Org Junkie's 29 Day Challenge and absolutely transformed our basement in just 29 short days.

And from there it spun off an array of clean out and decluttering projects throughout the house- our coat closets, our media cabinet, our bathroom, and even our kitchen (in just 7 days).

But the garage- it will still the last huge project looming over our heads.

And so I partnered with my mentor in decluttering, Laura from Org Junkie. And using her PROCESS steps, and staying focused on our goal, we got it done, in just 31 days. So ya wanna see it?

The Great Garage Clean Out- The BIG REVEAL!

Every square inch of this space, including every nook and cranny of the walls, has been examined and sorted into keep or purge piles. And then everything we kept was sorted into piles by category and then organized. And yes, Steve built his workbench too!

We've created a great way to park all 8 of the bikes in the garage so that the kids can actually get to them easily, and then return them to their parking spaces when they are done.

Steve built scooter parking for the 6 scooters, and created storage for baseball bats, lacrosse sticks, tennis rackets, and a kids golf bag too.

My favorite part of the new space is my bin wall- which holds all of the kids' sports equipment and toys. It is sorted, and organized, and labeled- and just makes me so happy to look at it!

I told the kids quite clearly that it needs to remain this way- they are welcome to take everything out and play with it to their heart's content, but when they are finished with it- back it goes into its proper home (sigh, a Mom can dream, right?)!

Steve's car does actually fit into the garage, quite nicely. With room to spare all around, so we can actually exit the car without banging into stuff.

It's the little things that make us happy, isn't it?

The upstairs? Well it is meant to be a storage area for off-season items, and at the moment it is still holding some stuff that Steve wants to sort through- wood scraps, PVC pieces, metal pipes, and so on. Things he wants to figure out how to save for future projects around the house, but in a way that makes the supplies easy to find and accessible.

Once we gathered it together and accumulated it all in one location, I found that I didn't mind having it around so much. It was the pile in the basement, the pile downstairs in the garage and the assorted piles upstairs in the garage that was making me crazy, and making it hard for Steve to figure out what he really owned so that he could put it to good use.

But now that we have it all in one place- we are both much happier about it!

Here are some more great ideas on how to organize your home!

• 15 Fantastic Command Centers to Help Busy Moms Stay Organized
• 20 Organized Kids Bedroom Ideas
• 10 Organized Laundry Room Ideas
• 12 Organized Closet Ideas
• 12 Ideas for Entryway & Mudroom Organization

Are you ready to get your life organized? Register for Busy Moms Boot Camp!

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