Today’s guest post is written by Todd at OrlandosBestDeals.com.
Yesterday, I tackled perhaps the most hated chore of any homeowner.
I cleaned the garage.
It was a mess.
It took me 8 hours to clean and organize the garage. It was full of mostly misplaced tools, boxes, sporting goods, our camping equipment, leftover garage sale item that we decided to keep instead of donating with the other leftover stuff, and a bunch of junk.
Some of the benefits of cleaning your garage (or keeping a clean garage) are obvious.
- You can fit your car(s) in the garage
- You can find your things
- You can walk from the house to the driveway without your mountain climbing ropes
- It discourages rodents from hanging out.
But, there is a direct link between a clean garage and saving money.
I first clued in on this when I gathered all the hammers I found. I guess when you can’t find a hammer, you buy a new one!
By cleaning your garage, you save money by knowing where your tools are so you don’t have to buy a new one every time you need one. I also found 4 bottles of PVC glue and 2 of those PVC pipe cutter thingies. Buy one, store it in your clean tool area, and find it when you need it! This same principle applies for bug sprays, oil, cleaners, paint, and pool supplies.
One of the first things I did on my nice clean workbench was to fix a shovel with a broken handle. The wooden handle came out of the shovel the last time I used it, but with a messy workbench, I wasn’t too excited about fixing it. Now that I know where all my tools are (which hammer should I choose?), I quickly fixed the handle and avoided a trip to Home Depot to buy a new one.
If you’re like my family, you’ve lost your fair share of bikes, scooters, and skateboards to rust because they’ve been left outside. We picked up 2 nice bike racks at a garage sale recently, and when you organize your manual transportation devices, the kids are much more likely to put them away when they’re done playing with them.
If you are so inclined, a great way to save money is to buy older, well built furniture at a garage sale, thrift store, or off of Craigslist, and refinishing it or repairing it your nice clean garage! Who wants to spend time in a messy garage?
Time to clean and organize your garage? Check out these garage storage solutions.
What’s your favorite thing about a clean garage?
Orlando’s Best Deals is a family run website whose goal it is to find the best deals around the Central Florida area, and put them at your fingertips. We’ll let you know where to buy cheap, eat free, see a movie without breaking the bank, and enjoy the beauty of Florida by visiting one of our favorite parks or beaches. If you live near or plan on visiting the Orlando area, check out what OrlandosBestDeals.com has to offer. You can also “like” their active Facebook Page.
Okay, why were you taking pictures of my garage?! LOL I just told Hubs the other day that the garage really needs to be tackled.
Always fun, isn’t it?
We desperately need to clean our garage, too. We never fully cleared it out when we moved into this house 6 years ago and now it has accumulated so much junk. We could probably make a decent amount of money having a garage sale! Obviously if stuff has been out there this long we don’t need it.
Jeez Louise, that was a lot of work! I bet your husband was so proud of you. And dont you wish you had all those ladies in the black and white picture to help you?!
Great work cleaning out the garage!
So impressed with the diligence / great photos / motivation to tackle our garage! Thanks!
Thanks for the post Todd, I saw several of my hammers and have already retreived them from your garage.
LOL! Totally busted!!
Love the before pics! Glad to know I’m not alone. Our garage is so full & I am always embarrassed when we have to open it for something… but when I look around our neighborhood & every house has a 2 car garage & their cars are parked outside I think, “I can’t be alone!” I plan to tackle it in the next few weeks when the weather cools off some!
Unbelievably enough, we need a BIGGER garage with all that we have stored in there, now that we have to put our bikes in their, too. But yeah, having just moved, you’d think our garage would be perfect. WRONG! Couple DIY projects, leftover wood, and kids excitedly playing with brick and tools, and it’s a wreck. Sigh.
I think the garage is always the worst after you move! That’s because everything you don’t know what to do with goes into the garage, lol! So sorry about the bike Lisa…. any hope for recovery?
I only read the other day where somebody had bought a box of junk from a car boot sale and found a 1930 World Cup winners medal hidden in what they had bought.
Wow… Looks identical to MY garage!!! I even had garage sales & still have mountains to climb!