In recent years, home owners have had a difficult time selling their homes. The recession, high interest rates, and unemployment have affected the home selling market. However, a recent study found that homes that were properly cleaned, free of clutter, and well presented were on the market 80% less time than homes that were not.
Whether or not you are in the market to sell your home, decluttering it -- and especially the garage -- is a concern for many homeowners. Stephanie O'Dea, author of the New York Times best seller book titled "Totally Together: Shortcuts to an Organized Life," provides a simple acronym to help homeowners tackle their clutter. Her acronym PROM stands for purge, remove, organize, and maintain. Since over fifty percent of all homeowners consider their garage as the most disorganized place in their house, applying O'Dea's acronym helps owners to bring order and organization into that area.
Organizing a garage is difficult because a typical garage does not have enough space to store all of the items homeowners keep there. Because garage floor space is limited, Debra Melchior from The Learning Channel recommends using hooks from the ceiling to hold items. Hooks can be used to store things such as ladders, luggage, outdoor Christmas decorations or lights, storm doors, and window screens.
Putting up shelves or cupboards can also help organize a garage. Sometimes just two or three shelves works wonders at organizing hammers, cans or paint, quarts of oil, buckets, extension cords, pesticides, and ice-melt mixtures.
If you have more things to organize than what can fit on hooks or a few shelves, you can put your things in self storage units. Mini storage units are perfect for storing yard tools such as hoes, shovels, hoses, fertilizer spreaders, weed sprayers, and wheelbarrows. Hanging flower pots, large flower containers, and terra cotta pots could be stored away until the next growing season. When the weather turns too cold to mow your lawn, put your lawn mower in the unit.
When summer is over, store away your summer seasonal sports equipment such as baseball bats and gloves, ultimate Frisbees, Motocross bikes, bicycles, water skis and ropes, knee boards, and life jackets. Include your camping gear such as tents sleeping bags, Dutch ovens, gas lanterns, gas stoves, and cooking utensils. If you own recreational vehicles such as Wave Runners, Sea-Doos, and Jet Skis®, store these in your unit as well.
Sources Used:
"Local Professional Earns Accredited Staging Professional Designation." Online PR Media, 07 August 2011.
"Stephanie O'Dea's Easy Decluttering Prom Method." ABC News, 16 Aug 2011.
"How to Organize a Garage." The Learning Channel.