In a moment of rest, I did what I thought would be a quick Google-y search for cluttered garages using various keywords: messy, cluttered, decluttering, and chaotic. By golly, looking at all the messy, cluttered, decluttering projects I began see strong similarities. In fact, several times I had to do a double-take because I thought I was looking at my own garage back when I first started this adventure.
More often than not there was the big plastic blue bins, a shop vac, cardboard boxes, suitcases, extension cords, posters on the wall, and metal shelving. Stuff balanced on top of other stuff. I have balanced stuff forever, and it was gratifying in a strange way to see that other people do this too, probably walking around towers of belongings hoping not to topple anything. My only conclusion is humanity needs basic stuff to live the day-to-day lives of adults, with or without families in tow with a parallel conclusion that many people just don't know what to do with the stuff they need and can't do without. This is not hoarding, which is irrational collecting, but bewilderment. What to do?
The pictures of
Past Projects of A Good Sort are inspiring though. This area of
A Good Sort, an organizing company owned and operated by Olwen Turtle, is nothing more than before and after pictures of areas in the home where clutter was organized and bettered. The garage went from piles to order. Take a look at the other images on the site. The junk drawer is a particular study in organization.
Is professional organizing necessary? At what point do people cross the line into needing professional help? I suspect everyone has their own line in the sand and when anything goes too far will rear up and do something they wouldn't normally do in other
circumstances. Animals will attack when backed into a corner. I have tripped over the stuff in my garage and fallen face first into a pile of easels. I have lost woodburners needed to complete projects making me purchase new ones only to find the others later (which is now why I have a BIN full of woodburners!). I found the spilled can paint so old it had dried solid. What was excuse? I was busy; I was working on a new Master's degree; I was waiting to add onto the house; I....I..I...
who knows why I waited to start this process. At some point, I backed into a corner of some kind and decided to attack.
Another solution for garage messiness is evident in this Houston garage. A quote from the
Industrial Shelving folks gets right to the heart of garage-ness: "
Getting to the point where your garage is organized and can function as a space for your car is what you are aiming for when you opt to choose from the various garage storage solutions in the market."
Put the car IN the garage?! There's a concept!
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