Now if you think of a squirrel, what comes to mind is a small cute rodent with a furry tail. Leaping from one tree to another and nibbling on acorns. Besides being those cute little creatures, squirrels are savers, hoarders and stashes. They stock up for the future and they have back up plans.
Well it seems as if my family has been transformed into squirrels.
Recently we’ve been busy with renovations and also extended our garage. So last week we decided to organise our garage.
A sight for sore eyes to put it bluntly. Seeing all the stuff was overwhelming. Have we gone completely nuts? How can four people accumulate so much stuff?
Although I do believe that accumulating these things were not intentional. We not obsessive hoarders and collectors, like you see on those TV shows. Storing these items was for future use.
Hence my referral to squirrel-like behaviour.
Stacked on one shelf are four bales of toilet paper. I mean there is just no way we taking a chance of running out as that will be a disaster of note. So we buy in bulk and stock up.
Crates of bottled water stashed on the floor. Living in drought stricken Cape Town; this is essential at the moment. Resulting in us stocking up all the time on water as we are planning for Day Zero.
Stocking up on cleaning detergents; because we OCD like that. Scaling down cleaning amidst the water crisis has been somewhat of an adjustment. These products are basically just taking up shelf space at the moment.
Dog food and dog biscuits are stored in a cool-dry section of the garage. We buy quality dog food which is generally expensive so stocking up on this when it is on sale is a must.
Accumulating the girls’ artwork, pottery, magazines and research articles from when I was still busy with my Masters. Not forgetting telephone directories dating back to 2009. I mean who still uses telephone directories and why are we hanging on to this.
These all formed part of the clutter that took up space.
Stashed in the garage are camping and sports equipment, bicycles, paint, chemicals, tools, gardening supplies and equipment. Which, I think belongs there but it was just all over the place.
Unused furniture items, a carseat, high chair, a wetsuit and a whole lot of other junk made its appearance.
Generally a garage is the most common storage place for all sorts of things. Storing these items for future use was the intended plan but it seems as if we completely forgot that it was there. Like the saying goes out of sight, out of mind.
The girls and I have a much stronger tendency to save and accumulate things than my husband. If it was up to him, he would just chuck most of it.
Organising or at least trying to organise your garage is not the most glamorous of jobs. Believe me it is a mission and so time consuming.
Realising of course that all would not be complete within one weekend. We’ve set time aside to tackle sections of the garage. We taking it in our stride.
We recycled the papers. Some items were sold, some were donated and others were trashed.
We are making progress but it will take a couple of weeks for everything to be organised.
I have been getting some great ideas on how to organise a garage from Abby Lawson’s blog and what kind of storage containers and items to use from Simply Organised Blog
Letting go of certain things is not always easy. Some things hold a sentimental value. Looking at belongings and deciding to stash or trash will be difficult but that is the only way we will eliminate the clutter.
As a family, we agreed that if we decide to keep something, we need to get rid of something else to make space for that particular item. It needs to be within sight so that it can be used.
For now, the big clean out continues.
Do you have some great ideas on how to organise a garage, or do you also find yours being a bit disorganised? I’d love to hear about it in the comments so please share!
I can relate to this. After being together with hubby for 30 years and being in this house for 18 of those we have accumulated lots of ‘stuff’. We have saved old furniture for the kids, kept old clothes for decorating, stacked copious amounts of compost and sticks for kindling… I could go on. Suffice to say, I feel you sister…
Author
We tend to hold onto things as we see value in it but sometimes we should just let go.
I so badly need to do this. This post may have encouraged me to bite the bullet! #dreamteam
Author
We tend to let go sometimes, just to realise on the day when we are forced to organise – how much stuff we’ve accumulated – it’s unbelievable.#dreamteam
My husband is painful about neatness and tidiness, especially in ‘his’ garage! So no, we have very little clutter in his man cave/garage but let’s not talk about the shed! lol
My only tip would be to be ruthless!
Author
LOL – no man cave at our place. Luckily we’ve cleared out most of the junk so atleast 1 car can park in there now. It has so much potential to look amazing – so for now it is still a work in progress.
We used to be really bad at keeping stuff, but chucked out loads when we moved. Now my rule is if I can’t remember owning it I won’t miss it if I get rid of it – it has helped keeping our cupboards a bit more manageable.
Author
Such a great rule. I’m good with clearing out wardrobes when it comes to clothes and shoes but our garage is another story. Which linky did you find my post and I don’t see you’ve added it to your comment.:)
Our garage is full of stuff belonging to church that no one’s willing to touch!
When we built our house added a store room for all the stuff that we are “going to be using one day”. 🙂 I desperately need to go and clean out that room too. Great ideas. #globalblogging
Author
Store rooms and garages are the hiding spots for things that we intend to use “some day”. You’ll be amazed what you will discover once you clean it out – good luck.#globalblogging
I used to be a keen “storer” of things and I too like to have a back up of certain items in the garage just in case. The best thing we added was a weight bench for my hubby. Now he works out in there we never allow any storage to accumulate as it gets in his way, so anything that I try and store generally gets thrown in the bin by him before he hits the weights! It’s not cost effective at all, but it saves us a lot of clutter haha. Thanks for linking to #DreamTeam lovely x
Author
Hubby has an exercise bike, weights and boxing bag in there but yet things were still stored around those things. Must say we making a bit of progress in clearing it out.#Dreamteam
We don’t have a garage but I do agree that we’ve been a bit like squirrels in the past too. #fortheloveofBLOG
Author
You see the garage is the place where things are hidden – out of sight out of mind. Luckily we making a bit of progress in clearing it out. Thanks for reading my post.#fortheloveofBLOG
Oh god I think that we have turned into squirrels as well, as we are in the process of clearing things out, why do we keep stuff! The telephone directories made me laugh. Thanks for linking up at #fortheloveofBLOG. Claire x
Author
Ha ha ha – it is indeed mind boggling how we just accumulate these things. Good luck with clearing out#fortheloveofBLOG
I can relate to this so much, we have stuff everywhere so I’m in the process of trying to declutter! Thanks for sharing and linking up with #TwinklyTuesday
Author
Good luck with decluttering.#TwinklyTuesday
I need to declutter. The children never want to get rid of any unwanted pics or toys 🙁 Thanks for linking up to #globalblogging
Author
I think that is the biggest problem in our house as well – the kids’ art – at some point we have to get rid of some of it.#globalblogging
You should see the state of our garage – we can’t even get in it at the moment! #twinklytuesday
Author
Oh dear – time to declutter then. Good luck as it is not a lovely job.#TwinklyTuesday