Tuesday, October 13, 2009

The Garage Revealed

"Take a deep breath, count to ten, and tackle each task one step at a time."

-- Linda Shalaway

This morning I got another email from www.onlineorganizing.com. They had a listing of all of the items in their “catalog” that are on sale until the end of the month. There were many interesting items on all aspects of organizing, from physical file sorters, to organizing software, to books on organizing and being an organizer as a career. I found among the items for time management a note pad printed with an organization scheme for a To-Do List where you can enter the tasks, errands, correspondence and notes for the day. Since the file folder idea that I attempted a few weeks ago did not end up working for me, I decided to try something else. I am not going to order the pad, which is approximately $8.00 +shipping and handling for a 60 sheet pad. Rather, I created a similar sheet on my computer and printed a copy to experiment with. That way, if it is not a help, I won’t have wasted the money on the purchased item. I will bring a copy of the sheet that I created to the next meeting in case someone else might find it useful. So far, today, it seems to be working. Writing my de-clutter blog is listed under Tasks and soon I will have my first “done” checkmark!

As to how I am doing on any other de-cluttering or organizing tasks, I am miserably no more into de-clutter than I have ever been. I did do a little tossing and organizing my desk at work, but it resulted in a small pile of stuff that I still need to determine where it goes. On the other hand, my husband is setting a perfect example of what I should be doing and how this stuff gets done. He has moved his energies inside from the garden and has begun tackling the enormous job of cleaning out the garage. He has had three good days at it and is about one half to two-thirds the way to completion. I wish I had half his energy. We had purchased some storage units a few years ago that were to be put in the corner of the garage to organize the clutter that accumulates there. Until now, they were part of the clutter. The problem that kept the units from getting installed was the fact that the garage had never been painted by the builder when the house was built. The raw drywall with the lines and patches where it was taped and spackled added visual clutter to the actual clutter. My husband doesn’t believe in doing anything half-way, so he is cleaning (removing cobwebs, dust and dirt) and painting the entire garage including the ceiling 16 feet over his head before he puts in the storage and stows the clutter. He painted the first bay of the three car garage on Sunday and was able to assemble and hang the cabinets in that bay yesterday. He was so successful that he was able to paint the next bay because he was able to store the clutter from that bay in the new storage cabinets. He was insistent that the storage units that we bought would be closed with doors, so that the items would be out of view and somewhat protected from the dirt and dust. We purchased these units from Sears, and he is right about the closed doors; it really makes the garage look neat and tidy and keeps stray stuff from just accumulating on the open shelves we have had there until now. The cabinets are the industrial looking cabinets with doors that look as though they are made from diamond plate. Did you know that Sears sells a diamond-plate fronted refrigerator to match? We didn’t go that far. We purchased two full height, double door storage cabinets with shelves, two rolling drawer cabinets and two overhead bin cabinets that needed to be hung on the wall, hence the need to paint first. All of these items are lockable so that no clutter can find their way in!!

Since the garage is the first part of the house that I see when coming home from work, it is a treat for me to see this get cleaned out and organized. I am so thankful that my husband has taken this on and it is a real inspiration to me to get my parts of the house cleaned out. He is throwing away the items that are broken, damaged or no longer used and putting the tools and other garage items away in the cabinets. Another few nice weekends and he will be done! Perhaps I can ask him to lend some of his energy and motivation to me so that we can tackle the remaining areas of clutter around the house.

For now, I can check one item on my to-do list as DONE! Until later in the week, be productive and organize!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Have a comment? Share your ideas with the group.