This unprecedented time that has seen our way of life radically altered has been difficult for everybody.
In addition to the fear and uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic, having our daily routines turned upside down by having to self-isolate has been a major adjustment.
Many of us still have plenty of responsibilities like working full-time from home and having to temporarily home school the kids. Even with an active daily routine, chances are that being stuck indoors most of the time has given you more free time than you’ve had in years.
If you’re feeling burnt out from watching too much Netflix, why not make the best of a bad situation and put some time towards organizing the garage?
Organizing the garage is a productive use of your time
Tidying up the garage can be daunting, particularly if years of neglect has resulted in a garage that is bursting at the seams with clutter. Perhaps your vehicles have been forced to be parked outdoors permanently for more time than you’d care to admit.
How much does clutter affect our life? A report done by OfferUp (a digital selling marketplace similar to Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace) revealed some surprising stats. Their Buried: The State of Stress and Stuff survey of 1,000 Americans found that:
- 48% of the respondents said their homes were “at least somewhat cluttered” with things they didn’t use anymore
- 41% of those surveyed had not decluttered for more than a year
- one in seven of the respondents admitted they had a room in their home that was unusable because it was filled with so much clutter
The garage is a logical area to prioritize for any home organization project. It is typically the most cluttered room in a house and often gets the “I’ll clean it up someday” treatment.
But as writer Gretchen Rubin eloquently put it, “Nothing is more exhausting than the task that is never started.”
Here are four reasons to dedicate some of your extra at-home time right now towards a productive task like organizing the garage.
1. It’s spring cleaning season and most garages need a cleanup
We’re a few weeks into spring now, but who says the yearly ritual of spring cleaning has to be done right when the season begins?
There is still plenty of time to start your spring cleaning projects. Getting them completed soon will mean you’ll have more time to enjoy the summer.
Get into spring cleaning mode and finally tackle that garage cleanup you’ve been avoiding for too long. With the weather warming up, homeowners in northern climates will find working in the garage a little more comfortable right now, too.
Focus more on eliminating clutter from your garage instead of just moving the clutter around so it’s more organized. Whenever someone takes on a big decluttering project, they usually find there’s a lot more junk they need to get rid of than they thought.
As with any cleanup project, seeing progress with what you’re working on is a great motivator, so start by emptying the bulkiest junk from your garage first.
This includes things like old tires, large appliances, broken patio furniture, old indoor furniture, broken exercise equipment, and building materials leftover from a previous renovation.
If you have kids, bikes and old sports equipment they’ve outgrown can go in your donation pile. Create another pile with old electronics that need to be recycled and another group for hazardous waste products to be disposed of like old paint cans.
Note that most locations that handle e-waste and hazardous material disposal are closed during the pandemic, as are most donation centers. Group together anything that you plan to get rid of and keep them in the garage until you’re able to haul things away.
As you can see from this photo he posted on Twitter, rock icon Rod Stewart certainly had plenty of old paint to get rid of when he was cleaning up his garage while in self-isolation. The all-white wardrobe he was wearing for the job probably wasn’t the best idea, however.
2. Organizing the garage gets you active and outside
In recent weeks, most of us have told someone at some point how restless we were being inside so much or how bored we were.
Getting out of the main living space you’ve been spending so much time in recently can involve spending some time organizing the garage, which gets you outside to a certain degree.
Cleaning up the garage gets you physically active. That helps to reduce stress and keeps your mind temporarily occupied with matters that aren’t as worrying as our current sobering reality.
3. Eliminating clutter is beneficial to your mental health
Just as physical activity can reduce stress, so can organizing the spaces you spend time in.
Too much clutter makes you feel like you’re not in control of your environment. This taxes your brain and makes it hard to focus on things, which naturally causes stress.
There are plenty of things that are out of our control causing stress for all of us right now. A messy garage is one part of your daily life that is more than capable of being fixed.
If you’re still struggling to find the motivation to get started, get some inspiration from our garage makeover galleries to see how organized any garage can become.
4. A tidier garage is more functional for your family
The physical and mental health benefits of organizing the garage or keeping active in any way right now are important.
But getting your garage organized allows you to reap the benefits of the full functionality a garage can provide for your family. When it’s filled with clutter, garages become little more than a junk storage room in the home.
Finding anything is a chore. Duplicate purchases get made because items go missing, which only fills your garage up more. A cluttered garage is also difficult to sweep and clean, which causes the room to smell musty.
Eliminating all of that will floor clutter will make regular cleaning easier, improve the airflow in the room and – most importantly – enable you to use your garage a lot more.
With more usable square footage and better organization, vehicles can be parked inside, where they belong. Your garage could also be outfitted to accommodate your hobbies and pastimes, such as working out or working with tools in a garage workshop.
Keep your garage organized and make it look nicer at the same time
Before long, life should return to normal and that means once again having less time to spend on tasks like decluttering the garage.
Now that your garage is hopefully tidier and easier to function in, why not keep it that way?
That uplifting feeling you get walking into your organized garage doesn’t have to disappear a few months from now when clutter starts accumulating again.
Garage Living’s storage and organization systems make it easier for you to maintain a tidy garage space. Our products and design expertise also give your garage a modern, high-end look you’ll appreciate for years to come.
Schedule a free design consultation with us.
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