52 Things – Clean up the Garage

Here’s the item I did over the last few months:

When we first moved, I wasn’t sure how I was going to arrange everything so I decided that things that didn’t already have a known home were to be placed in the garage and we would slowly open the boxes from there as needed. Which meant that our garage ended up looking like this:

We left the right side empty just in case were going to put the car in there.

So the left side got all the boxes.

here’s a closeup

The photos do not do it justice. I cannot tell you how terrible it was. We could not get into any of the boxes. The door could not be opened. A few months ago I decided that was that and I was going to tackle it. I was told getting it professionally done would be around $6000. There was no way I was paying that.

So I found some metal shelves on Amazon and we measured the garage and I went to town. I bought one just to see if it would work. And when it did, I bought four more. Jake helped me move the boxes. We opened nearly all of them, threw out and/or donated a ton of stuff and then ended up with this.

I cannot take photos that do it justice. Especially since I didn’t have my wide-angle lens.

But trust me when I tell you that everything is 100% organized now. One section for less used stuff like luggage, camping gear, etc. Another section for office supplies, toilet paper, etc. Everything has its place and I can easily get to it all. Jake has his own area now too with two tables, lots of space and both garage doors open without problem. No smell. We still need to sweep in there but otherwise it’s completely happy and it was done for exactly $300. More money than I wish I’d spent but considerably less than the $6,0000 I was told.

The best part is that the garage is now 100% usable. And I feel so much more peaceful. Isn’t that what it’s all about after all.