Clean up your messy storerooms.
Garages and storerooms can be tough places to declutter and get organized. It is often one of the most serious problem areas in a home, in part because it's not even pretending to be a place where you try to live. It's a real storage space, so everything with no place in the house gets shoved in there.

These are places where labels and bins really do solve problems. To get the job done, there are a few things you should keep in mind.

5 Steps to a Clutter-Free Garage and Storerooms

Step 1: Upload your "before" photos

Step 2: Think it through

Step 3: Think F.A.S.T.

Step 4: Create and maintain zones for your storerooms

Step 5: Create and maintain zones for your garage

Step 6: Upload your "after" photos

Is your garage a storage area for anything other than your car? Do you have any idea where your holiday decorations and other seasonal items are stored? It's time to take control of your attic, garage and other storerooms once and for all! Take photos of your rooms as they are right now and send them in! Peter just might be able to help you out if you have questions—or you could be on the show!

What You'll Need to Get Started
:
Digital camera
Computer

Upload your photos


Improve Your Chances of Appearing on The Oprah Show !
1. Don't pick up your mess before you take your "before" photos. The messier, the better!
2. Take a photo from each and every corner of the room. Get the widest angle possible—the more we see, the better.
3. Get creative! Take a few photos of specific areas of the room—your table, your pantry, etc.
4. Make sure the room is well lit. If not, use a flash.
5. Make sure your camera settings are on the highest resolution possible.
6. Turn off the time/date stamp.
7. Don't include anyone in the photos. Rooms only, please!
8. Try not to submit blurry photos. We may not be able to use them.
9. Remember, you can only submit up to three photos, so pick your best ones!
Less truly is more. Having a little more room to move and to think goes a long way. Now, it's time to reimagine your home and make your possessions serve your life, instead of vice versa. Take your vision for your life and make it a reality. Here's how to create a shared vision everyone in your home will love.
What You'll Need to Get Started
Download a room function chart

How to Create a Shared Vision
Gather your family. Be mindful of each other during this process because having to toss treasured possessions can be a highly emotional exercise for most people. This is a tough job, and you are going to engage in tough conversations, so get off on the right foot together.

Establish a basic premise. The best way to enter a tough discussion is to establish where you stand at the start with love and understanding. Before you talk about the clutter, talk about what is important to all of you. Discuss what you want the final outcome of this cleanup to be. Agree on ground rules, and return to this initial conversation when things get difficult or uncomfortable.

Don't make it personal. As you discuss your hopes and goals for the rooms in your house, make sure you don't start blaming your spouse, partner, roommate or children for the mess. Instead of focusing on whose mess it is, think of it as a group problem that you're going to solve together. Don't use words like "yours" and "mine." Talk about the clutter and challenges surrounding it as "ours."

Don't point your finger at others. The goal is to reframe the discussion away from the item itself to its significance in your lives. Here are some questions to help you make decisions about what to keep without starting arguments or passing judgment.

  • Instead of "Why don't you put your shoes away?" ask: "What is it that you want from this space?"
  • Instead of "Why do we have to keep your stuffed animals?" ask: "Why is that important to you? Does it have meaning?"
  • Instead of "There's no room for all of your stuff in there," say: "Let's see how we can share this space so that it works for both of us."
  • Instead of "Why do you have to hold on to these ugly sweaters your dad gave you?" ask: "What do these sweaters make you think of or remind you of?"
  • Instead of "I don't understand how you can live with all of this junk," ask: "How do you feel when you have to spend time in this room?"

Complete a Room Function Chart.
Download a copy and give one to each member of your family. Fill them out individually, then meet to compare your results. At this stage, it is best to simply hear what everyone has to say without dismissing any idea. The more comments, feedback, insight and discussion, the better! Welcome surprises and be prepared for some interesting points of view.
With any project, it's important to kick-start the process. Until further notice, do not go out and buy anything new and unnecessary—no retail therapy, no "great deals" and no sales! Instead, purge as much clutter as possible as quickly as you can using the F.A.S.T. method. Here's a step-by-step breakdown on how to clean house and get organized.

What You'll Need to Get Started

Trash bags
Download signs to help keep your piles in order:
F: Fix a time. Schedule a time that suits everyone involved. Cleaning up is a family affair, so get everyone on board by scheduling your kick-start at a time that works for everyone and make attendance mandatory! Set aside a Saturday or a Sunday, or a few hours every day, to start the process.

A: Anything not used in 12 months. Face it: If you haven't used an item in the last year, it is highly unlikely you really need it or that you are going to ever get enough use out of it to justify it cluttering up your home. Take the plunge and get rid of it! Ask yourself these questions as you encounter each piece of clutter:
  • Do I use this?
  • How long has it been since I've used it?
  • Will I use it again?
  • Is it worth the space it takes up in my house?
Remember: The objective is to get stuff out of your home, not to move it into another room. You will be amazed by the sheer volume of unused and unneeded items in your home. Don't spend time inventing reasons to keep these things.

S: Someone else's stuff. It's bad enough when clutter is your own, but it is totally crazy when the clutter belongs to someone else. Your house should not contain anything that doesn't belong to you. If it's something you've borrowed, give it back. If you've ended a relationship or gotten a divorce, now's the time to let your ex's belongings go. If your kids have established their own households, it's time for them to pick their stuff up.

T: Trash. The trash can is your friend. It is your very hungry friend. Take pride in how much you throw away and make it fun. Compete with your family members to see who tosses the most or award a prize to the best purger. Remember the goal: You only want to keep the amount of stuff that makes sense for your space.
Rooms are used for different purposes—often at the same time. In order to decide what should stay and where, you need to identify the different activities that take place within each room and divide them into zones. Once you begin organizing, these zones become the center for specific items related to the designated activity. Then, it becomes immediately clear where things belong, where to find things and where to return them.

Sample Zones for Basement, Attics and Other Storerooms:

Laundry
Sporting gear
Seasonal decorations

Quick Tips for Your Storerooms
Start slow. It's taken months or years to build up the clutter. Organize one section at a time. Find out the best times of year to clean out the black holes in your home and more .

Collections and mementos. Ask yourself if those items stored in a trash bag or old box in the garage are really that important to you. If they aren't honored and respected, maybe they are really clutter that you do not need to hold on to. If you truly treasure items, display them proudly and properly in your home

Streamline. If you haven't used it in a year, get rid of it.

Get stuff off the floor. Once items start spreading across the floor, it's almost impossible to keep them under control. Use vertical space and shelving units to increase your storage space.

Make the most of your space. Basements and attics are sometimes used for many purposes at once—storage, crafting, a place to watch television, etc. Once you've cleared away some of the clutter, decide what you're really going to be using your space for and organize accordingly.

Sample Zones for Garages:

Garden supplies
Laundry
Tools
Paint and chemicals
Sporting gear
Seasonal decorations
Workbench

Jump in at the deep end! Once a year, drag everything out of your garage. Get the whole family involved. Commit to getting rid of 50 percent of what is in the garage. Go through all boxes, bins, storage cupboards. Be brutal!

Divide your garage into zones. Organize items into like groups—garden supplies, tools, camping supplies, sporting goods, seasonal items and so on. Use appropriate containers and labeling to identify specific items. Color-coding each zone also helps

Tools. Empty your toolbox and get rid of duplicates. Then, throw away those loose nails and screws and old hardware you'll never use. Get rid of tools and materials you acquired for specific projects that are finished or will never get done.

Paint. Check all paint cans to see if the paint is still usable. As you open each can, label it with a number and paint a small piece of paper next to it. Then, match the paints to the rooms in your home and create a paint guide. Get rid of any paints that no longer match your home. Check with your local city hall to find the best way to discard old paint.

Seasonal items. Every year, reassess whether you need to keep certain items. If you didn't use that glow-in-the-dark skeleton for Halloween this year, will you use it next year? Find out when to start sorting through your seasonal items.

Be aware of what you're storing. Do not store highly flammable items like kerosene, paint thinner or gasoline unless they are in a tightly sealed container in a closed—and preferably locked—cupboard. Ensure that your garage, like the rest of your home, is fitted with smoke detectors and keep a fire extinguisher handy.

Look to the stars. Consider using the ceiling of your garage for storage. Any hardware store carries a wide variety of hooks that can be used to hang bikes, sporting gear or even gardening tools. Items like storm windows or summer window screens can easily be stored on ceiling rafters
.
By now, your garage or storerooms room should be neat and tidy places to house your possessions. Show us how far you've come!

What You'll Need to Get Started
:
Digital camera
Computer

Upload your photos


Improve Your Chances of Appearing on The Oprah Show !
1. Take a photo from each and every corner of the room. Get the widest angle possible—the more we see, the better.
2. Take the "after" in the exact same place you took all the "before" photos. That way they will match up perfectly.
3. Get creative! Take a few "before" and "after" photos of specific areas of the room—your countertops, table, pantry, etc. Just remember to have the same angle for both photos!
4. Make sure the room is well lit. If not, use a flash.
5. Make sure your camera settings are on the highest resolution possible.
6. Turn off the time/date stamp.
7. Don't include anyone in the photos. Rooms only, please!
8. Try not to submit blurry photos. We may not be able to use them.
9. Remember, you can only submit up to three photos, so pick your best ones!

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