As Lindsay mentioned in our previous blog, the laundry room, and garage are the most forgotten and overlooked areas of the house. It seems that to many of us they are GREAT hiding places. Unfortunately, when you are selling your home, there is no such thing as a hiding place so it is time to take action in your garage!
According to Realtor.com, 23% of buyers say that the garage is the most important room in the house…what? Seriously? Did they only poll men? Yes, we’re serious and no, they don’t poll men only. Ladies, we probably store more stuff in the garage than our men do. So, grit your teeth and dawn your working gloves, it’s time to take a serious look at your garage!
It’s time to face our previous “storage” decisions and, where appropriate, make new ones.
DESIGNATE SORTING AREAS
First, we suggest that you park your vehicles outside your garage, you’re going to need the floor space for this project.
Start by designating these areas on your garage floor:
- Things to Donate/Give- Away
- Things to Throw Away/Toss
- Things to Keep
- Things to Sell only the entrepreneurs among us get to have this category, if you’re not the type of person to sell your things stick with the first three categories only.
MOVE EVERYTHING INTO A DESIGNATED AREA
Now, take everything, yes, EVERYTHING, from bikes to nails, from rags to golf clubs, everything in your garage and put it in one of your designated areas. DON’T store anything in cabinets or on walls until you’ve completed this exercise.
Be brutal with your decision making here. Remember that you’re planning to sell your home which means you’ll be moving, do you really want or need to move things you don’t use, or that are broken or outdated? Ask yourself, is this something that someone needier than you can use? If you store it, and more importantly if you move it to your new home, are you really going to use it some day? If any of these resonate with you choose any area except the “keep” area.
CLEARING OUT THE DESIGNATED AREAS
When you’re done, and all your stuff is in one of your designated areas, put all the “toss” stuff into trash bins or bags or whatever works or is necessary to get rid of it.
Pack-up the “donate/give-away” items and take them to where ever they are intended to go or arrange for them to be collected.
If you have a “sell” area, get the items in it listed on LetGo, Amazon, OfferUp, Swip Swap or whatever website you’re going to use and start selling or have a garage sale, but do it NOW. Price it as low as you can to get it SOLD!
Now you are down to your “Keep” items only.
STORING YOUR KEEP ITEMS
BEFORE you start finding storage spaces for the things you’re going to keep, it’s time to clean. Wipe down all surfaces, yes, all surfaces, horizontal and vertical, the only thing you cannot clean is the floor, it gets a pass until you have stored your ‘keep’ items.
Now, take a serious look at the keep items and, again, being brutal, consider packing the things you’re not going to need between now and when you move into boxes or moving containers. Remember to label the outside of the boxes or containers well so you can quickly determine, without opening them what is inside.
The next step is to organize the remaining items into categories such as, tools, bikes, water toys, golf equipment etc. Allocate your available storage space by how the organized categories will fit into it. Bikes are probably best stored on a wall rack, so they can hang, long handled items also store well on a wall hanger if you don’t have a cabinet tall enough to enclose them. Golf equipment needs a tall area for the clubs coupled with a shelf for the smaller items like balls and gloves. Tools can go on a peg board and so on. Once you have it all planned out, go ahead and start putting your things away. If you don’t have cabinets for storage in your garage, consider shelving (overhead or wall) pack your things into well labelled neat and clean containers on shelves.
Now you clean your floor, sweep, and if necessary, power wash it. If you have oil or grease stains, consider pouring paint thinner on the stains, cover them with an absorbent material (kitty litter, baking soda etc.), leave it overnight then sweep it up in the morning. If the floor looks good, great, you’re done. If not, consider painting or covering it.
BE CAREFUL, paint thinner is flammable, so you MUST follow the instructions on the label! No sparks or flames and plenty of ventilation are required!
It’s time to look around and assess your garage, is there enough light? Is everything working the way it should? Do the walls need painting? Do you need to make repairs? If so, get it done.
Well done! You got through this blog and now it’s time to get to work on your garage.
That’s it for today’s post, if you want more information on decluttering your garage or if you want to stay up to date on all things Anthem, make sure you like our Facebook Page at ‘Wise Move AZ’ or subscribe to our Wise Move AZ channel on YouTube.
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Remember, if you or anyone you know is looking to buy or sell their home, please give us a call! It’s always the right time to make a wise move with the Wise Move AZ Team.
