Posted by jsexton – December 2, 2006 4:56 PM
The garage is a special place for me. I like most everything in it. Cars, bikes, tools, sports equipment, beach chairs and many other toys for adults and kids. We have a two-car garage. But it is the classic two-car garage of the 1970s. You can fit two cars into this garage, but there is not a lot of room for much else. Unless it is well organized.
So I work to keep our garage neat and orderly. We have garden tools hanging on the wall. Cabinets in the back for storage. A pegboard for smaller tools. Fishing rods hang from the ceiling. When the garage gets dirty I sweep it clean. I get a little Zen thing going when I sweep. My wife has the audacity in the fall to leave the garage doors open, allowing leaves to blow in. This makes me mad. She actually thinks it is funny that I get angry over this.
I even like being in the garage, particularly on a weekend afternoon, with a football game on the radio. Perhaps this makes me sound old. But I felt this way in my 20s too.
This is why you need to see the photo below of my garage during the remodel. It is the staging area, the place for storing equipment and appliances, and the place where the guys do sawing and sanding when the weather is bad. It is quite a mess right now.
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This is too funny! We have a 4 car garage, yes 4, each one a separate building. They were originally carriage houses and made the transition to automobiles, so they are really huge. In the first is my middle son's 67 dodge dart, that is a frame only! In the second, the husband has so much junk, that his car only fits in half way normally. Currently it has some of the new cabinets. In my garage are all the cabinets for the new kitchen. As we keep running into "little" glitches, they have been in there since Oct 20th. In the fourth, all the tools the crew uses. Because we live in a fairly damp climate the boys wanted to be able to keep their stuff under cover, plus we've had trouble with people walking onto our property and taking equipment. So they lock their stuff up. The bottom line - 4 car garage - no functioning vehicles parked!
Posted by Joyce lund – December 4, 2006 9:21 AM
I can easily relate to the garage mess and not having any cars parked in the garage. Upon moving in a new house, the movers unloaded the van and piled all the stuff in the garage. Needless to say we went over a year without have i a car in a two & one half car garage.
So I started cleaning the garage by moving the stuff to attic. While trying to move the stuff into the attic, I almost fell through the ceiling into the garage. It was then that I invented a product called Attic Trac plus that allows me to store and retrieve my stuff without ever crawling in the attic again. From this we received a patent and have begun making the product in mass for sale. The response has been great thus far and the garage can finally be filled with cars. Check out the site www.attictrac.com
Posted by Gary Balser – December 8, 2006 2:24 PM
Let me tell you my story. My Husband & I moved to a smaller house (3/12/06). I did not have time to get rid of some unused items. Reason being
I was trying too care for my parents that were in & out of hospitals, assisted living, & doctor offices in general. April 14th, 2006 my Father passed unexpectedly of COPD, witch then I was caring for my Mother that was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Then August 2006 my sister-in-law
passed away with cancer. September my Husband was
in the hospital with bleeding ulcers.Then Oct.21st, 2006 my Mother passed away . Between
stress & worn out our garage will not have room
for even a toy car.
Posted by Patricia Riddle – December 12, 2006 10:44 PM
Dear Patricia Riddle, Maybe you can once in a while go out in the garage and find a corner to start organizing for about a half hour twice a week or so. Put on some music you enjoy. Use it as a therapy. (A way to mend) My heart is with you. I try, if I can, (mentally & physically), do a little. It's also a good distraction from our crazy lives.
Posted by Sher Torch – December 13, 2006 3:42 PM
No kidding: Garages are great get aways. Too bad mine is so full of stuff too. But I do have one thing I really can brag about in my garage. I still own my first brand new car. It is a 1970 Plynouth Duster 340. Too bad it doesn't run right now. The other side of the garage is a shop. I take care of some rentals and it is full of stuff. Keep up the great article. By the way figuring out how to make the garage more effecient is a love hate relationship.
Posted by Curt Caskey – December 13, 2006 4:35 PM
I am so glad to hear all of your stories of woe about your messy garages, because it makes me feel better about mine!!! My mom died in may 2005. Just a few months before that we moved into her house to help care for her but also with the intention on staying. WEll my mom and my husband are both pack rats so in the garage were all of my dad's tools and things (he passed 11 years ago) then all of my mom's things. Then we moved in so we had all of our things plus some things of my inlaws because they recently passed and both my husband and i were married before so we each had "our" things. I have 3 growing boys and all of thier sports things. AAARG! That wasn't bad enough this past year we did a whole house remodel, so more stuff! Well finally i had enough a rented a dumpster and cleared out!!! I have to say my husband being the pack rat he is was not happy about all we got rid of but now that i can actually fit my SUV in the garage....yes that's right an actual running vehicle in the garage of all places i couldn't believe it either! It took a couple of years, some deep breaths and even a few arguments but it looks ok. This spring more purging!!! Very satisfying, i can't wait.
Posted by Micky Murphy – February 4, 2007 1:31 PM
I try to keep our 1 car garage as clean as possible. As long as it can fit my corolla or my wifes Voyager then Im happy. It all depends upon which car I need for work. I use her car on car pool days. Since I am the first to leave at 530 am the garage is mine. It's nice getting into a warmer vehicle in the winter.
I cannot stand clutter and sometimes if I let things go it gets to the point where I feel paralyzed and then I have to summon the energy to spend 3 hours cleaning the garage and sorting out the childrens stuff.
Posted by Jay – February 6, 2007 9:10 AM
One thing I insisted when I bought a house was it had to have at least a 1 car garage and that is what I got. I own a 1993 Mustang Cobra bought new and it fits very snuggly in the garage and everything else in the garage is somehow someway placed neatly on all 6 sides of the Cobra. When it was off the road the backseat was down and the inside was packed as well.There's a fridge and freezer both full sizes and are accessible plus I can walk around 1 side of the car to the garage door or entry into the house.It's packed but organized. My point here is that a garage is for a car and everything else around it is 2nd priorty! I'm amazed at how it all fits, unbelievable!
Posted by Kenny Greene – March 13, 2007 6:41 PM
