Shed Organization
Summer is the perfect time for a small organizing project. I’ve been trying to follow my own advice of slowing down this summer, so when I asked my husband Dave what I should do next for a post, he recommended we organize our garden shed.
I kind of ignored his request for a week or two, not really understanding what was wrong with our shed organization as it was. But when he repeated his suggestion, I finally decided to take a look. Ugh!
Obviously, I had been ignoring the mess that was mounting in there.
The tools and equipment were just sort of thrown in and leaning against the wall, with minimal organization, occupying a lot of the very limited floor space. No wonder Dave was exasperated.
I took one look, turned to Dave with a big grin on my face and said: “OK, let’s go buy some hooks“.
You have to know that our shed has been imagined, designed and built by Dave. It fits perfectly in a corner of our yard and it was built mainly to house all of the non-garage items. Our garage is Dave’s domain where he works on fixing and restoring cars. So there are only tools, parts and equipment related to cars in there. It’s essentially a work/hobby space. So the shed is for everything else we use outside: shovels, gardening, mower, etc.
We worked together and emptied the shed, making sure we discarded any broken, unusable or unwanted item (trash & donation piles).
A good friend of mine mentioned that organic materials such as grass seeds and other products might not make it through the winter or be as efficient next year. I found only one product that had an expiration date, but it might be worth asking questions at your garden centre or simply using all the grass seeds you have. Apparently, they grow better in the fall anyway. Who knew!
We weren’t fancy at all with our organization, but it made a world of difference.
We just used hooks, laundry bags, bins and some leftover clips from our pantry organization to assign a space for every tool. We don’t use this everyday or even every week, so even though it looks like a tight fit, it will be much easier to get to these seasonal items when we need them.
One side is more for gardening items and the other side is for construction tools. There is also another compartment with its own door for bigger items like the lawnmower and pressure washer where we were also able to fit the weed eater.
In my twenties and even my thirties, I never imagined owning a house and even less how many items one requires to maintain said house. It can get a little overwhelming if you’re not careful. Seeing everything at a glance, instead of having to dig for it, makes it easier to have just the right amount you need.
It only took us an afternoon to complete this project. Simple and straightforward, it was perfect for this time of year and we were able to enjoy more of our last few days of vacation.
What other easy projects would you want to see me organize? Do you have a project you’d like to share? Let me know in the comments below.
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