Whether you can’t take two steps inside your shed, can’t find anything in your shed, cant get anything out of your shed, or all three of these undesirable scenarios, let’s face it: You probably need a new organization system. It may seem like a laborious, harrowing experience, but it’s not as big of a task as it may seem. When you break it down, organizing a desk markedly easier. There are small first steps that even people with beautifully decorated and organized sheds had to take at one point. With all this in min, take back your shed from clutter now!
You don’t need to have a huge shed to make it organized — it’s all about how and where you place everything. Ask yourself what the purpose of your shed is. What do you want it to function as? For example, do you want your shed to serve as a workshop, a den, or a place to store your outdoor equipment such as lawn mowers, rakes, shovel, power tools, etc.? Give your space a purpose! Only once you decide what the space will be utilized for can you then move on to organizing it.
First, you must sort everything. This is the only way you will know which items fit together and make sense for where you want them to go. If you’re not the sorting type, or if you need a bit of encouragement, I urge you to hold a shed sale. Simply place a garage sale out front and direct guests to the back yard. This is the sure way you will only keep the things you hold dear. If someone offers to buy one of your items, but you wish to keep it, politely tell them it’s not for sale. The items you can part with, you’ll make a profit off of. Another step you should probably take is to sort your items into piles. At a minimum, you should have a trash pile, a keep-in-the-garage pile, a keep pile, and a giveaway pile. After this, take a second look at your two keep piles. Ask yourself if you really need to keep all these items. If you’re saving items for a friend, call them and ask them to pick up their items.
After this, empty all the piles out of your shed and take a look at how much room you have. Don’t limit yourself to just floor space. Wall and ceiling space can be utilized as well. Pegboards are easy to access and are cheap. Pick up either a wood or metal one at the hardware store, and maybe more depending how much room you have and how much you want to utilize your walls. The local hardware store can also help with installation tips and instructions.
After the pegboards are installed, you can use hooks to hang up basically anything. For instance, you can use screwdriver hooks or regular hooks for larger items. Screwdriver hooks hold small tools that slide through the hook holes, but are still large enough so that they don’t fall through. You can even use regular hooks to hang up hoses, or even use two hooks next to each other to store a broom on the wall.
Baskets and bins are important storage pieces to utilize in your garage. Wire baskets and accessory items come in a variety of shapes and sizes, which makes things even easier since larger bins can hold tools while smaller bins can hold screws, nuts and bolts.
Once all the smaller items are put away, you can start organizing the bigger items. Depending on how much storage space you have left, you can either buy a garden tool organizer that fits on the floor or a shelving unit for the walls. Once the organization structure is all in place, you can start bringing items back into your shed. Get as creative with it as you want. I’ve heard of people making wooden shelves and screwing in the tops of jars to the bottom of it. He then screwed in the jars to the tops of the jars, creating organization for small items such as nails, nuts and bolts. Additionally, everything was entirely see-through for easy access.
Once everything is put in its place, remember to keep it clean. If you have a good system going then you should have no problem with this. However, if your shed quickly becomes cluttered again, you may need to rework your system. Don’t panic though. Creating a system the first time is the hardest. You may just need to make a few tweaks here and there.
Written by Clark Jones, owner of Tree Frog Complete Grounds Maintenance. Tree Frog is the best company for landscaping Columbia MO has to offer.
