Here we are at Week 11 and it’s time to tackle the Garage. For many, this may be your primary storage area. It’s where I have all my holiday (and other) bins stored. For me, as a single person household, I've learned the importance of being able to access my holiday decorations after Thanksgiving. Additionally, with the colder weather in our area, I need to make sure I have my winter snow removal items accessible and ready to go, as soon as they’re needed. This is also the time to tackle any other major storage areas. Can you easily get to what you'll need? Time to give these areas a little attention.
For those with a garage, it’s best to begin by moving the car outside onto the garage slab, curbside, or into other parking areas that you can use. As with other areas in the house, start by sweeping down any visible cobwebs from the ceiling and walls. As you can, sweep around the exterior and look for areas that little critters may be able to enter. If you find any, time to break out the steel wool to plug them and set out any traps that may be needed. Next, tackle the garage door windows – I got the outside windows done earlier this Fall, but then the HOA power washed my siding and painted exterior trim. May have well not even done them, they look so bad. So windows, both inside and out are on my to-do list for Garage Week.
Give the garage floor a good sweeping, and then start your organizing by stowing things in their appropriate place. Tools that were used over the summer and never made it back into their tool chest; gardening tools and extra pots, and gloves, along with seeds for next year; stow bicycles and other summer play gear until next season ... whatever needs to be put away, do so. This will help ease access to your Christmas décor.
Once everything is stored, begin staging Christmas bins in the order in which you’ll need them. I generally begin by changing the wreath on my door from autumn to Christmas and setting out my front porch décor (artificial swag and lanterns in various sizes with battery-operated red candles) first, and then I hang the garland, bows, and a wreath from my deck railing. So bins with those items will be pulled out and moved forward. Then, make your tree accessible (if you use an artificial one), and then your bins with ornaments. Lastly, make those misc. bins accessible. Mine house other decorations, including my angel collection. There’s a bin with Christmas linens, including the tree skirt and my holiday (non-china) serving pieces in a another. I’ll pull serving pieces on an as-needed basis., so that bin doesn't necessarily need to be moved forward, just made accessible from the shelf it's on, with nothing blocking it.
The key is accessibility – be sure you can easily get to what you need, when you need it. If you haven’t previously done so, label each box or bin (use printer labels or painter's tape) with details on what is in there, so you limit the amount of time you spend searching for holiday items. And it makes it much easier to send a family member to “go get the box marked xyz.”
Be sure to check your garage and any exterior lighting for any bulbs that may have burned out. Don’t forget to give your garage door a quick “tune-up” by lubricating your door wheels and any other moving parts. If it’s not something you can do yourself, contact a garage door maintenance person / company to handle that task for you. Lastly, for those of us in the northern climate, make sure your snow shovel and ice melt container are easy to grab when the time comes. Do you know where your ice scraper is? Is it in your car yet? need more ice melt to get through the winter? If not, start watching for sales. While the HOA takes care of the snow, I have a pup that needs to be walked and I tend to find that my stairs have not yet been shoveled when pup decides he needs to "go" at the crack of dawn. So, I'm usually doing the stairs before the clean-up crew arrives.
Pretty soon we’ll need to be ready to make the most of the garage area. And, the time spent in this area of the home will certainly pay off.
Ready? I’m throwing on an old sweatshirt and my oldest pair of jeans for this one. Let’s do it!
For those with a garage, it’s best to begin by moving the car outside onto the garage slab, curbside, or into other parking areas that you can use. As with other areas in the house, start by sweeping down any visible cobwebs from the ceiling and walls. As you can, sweep around the exterior and look for areas that little critters may be able to enter. If you find any, time to break out the steel wool to plug them and set out any traps that may be needed. Next, tackle the garage door windows – I got the outside windows done earlier this Fall, but then the HOA power washed my siding and painted exterior trim. May have well not even done them, they look so bad. So windows, both inside and out are on my to-do list for Garage Week.
Give the garage floor a good sweeping, and then start your organizing by stowing things in their appropriate place. Tools that were used over the summer and never made it back into their tool chest; gardening tools and extra pots, and gloves, along with seeds for next year; stow bicycles and other summer play gear until next season ... whatever needs to be put away, do so. This will help ease access to your Christmas décor.
Once everything is stored, begin staging Christmas bins in the order in which you’ll need them. I generally begin by changing the wreath on my door from autumn to Christmas and setting out my front porch décor (artificial swag and lanterns in various sizes with battery-operated red candles) first, and then I hang the garland, bows, and a wreath from my deck railing. So bins with those items will be pulled out and moved forward. Then, make your tree accessible (if you use an artificial one), and then your bins with ornaments. Lastly, make those misc. bins accessible. Mine house other decorations, including my angel collection. There’s a bin with Christmas linens, including the tree skirt and my holiday (non-china) serving pieces in a another. I’ll pull serving pieces on an as-needed basis., so that bin doesn't necessarily need to be moved forward, just made accessible from the shelf it's on, with nothing blocking it.
The key is accessibility – be sure you can easily get to what you need, when you need it. If you haven’t previously done so, label each box or bin (use printer labels or painter's tape) with details on what is in there, so you limit the amount of time you spend searching for holiday items. And it makes it much easier to send a family member to “go get the box marked xyz.”
Be sure to check your garage and any exterior lighting for any bulbs that may have burned out. Don’t forget to give your garage door a quick “tune-up” by lubricating your door wheels and any other moving parts. If it’s not something you can do yourself, contact a garage door maintenance person / company to handle that task for you. Lastly, for those of us in the northern climate, make sure your snow shovel and ice melt container are easy to grab when the time comes. Do you know where your ice scraper is? Is it in your car yet? need more ice melt to get through the winter? If not, start watching for sales. While the HOA takes care of the snow, I have a pup that needs to be walked and I tend to find that my stairs have not yet been shoveled when pup decides he needs to "go" at the crack of dawn. So, I'm usually doing the stairs before the clean-up crew arrives.
Pretty soon we’ll need to be ready to make the most of the garage area. And, the time spent in this area of the home will certainly pay off.
Ready? I’m throwing on an old sweatshirt and my oldest pair of jeans for this one. Let’s do it!
