How to Declutter a Messy Garage

Open the garage door right now.

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Actually—don't. We both know what's in there.

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Garages are temples to deferred decisions.

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These are just some of the things I've found in my 30+ years doing this work:

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A treadmill that's been converted into a coat rack.

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A box that's been moved 3 or more times without ever being opened once since it was sealed up.

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A ladder that has more paint on it than the walls do, with at least one rickety rung that's an accident waiting to happen.

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Holiday decorations, spare auto parts, spare tools, old cabinets too good to throw away but too ugly to have in the house …

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The list goes on.

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But the biggest problem is that you've stopped seeing any of it.

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It's just visual noise you maybe drive past twice a day—that is if you can still get a car inside in the first place.

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Is this sounding familiar?

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Maybe you think you're going to have a sale … someday … and you'll deal with it all then.

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But here's the thing about the garage nobody says out loud: it's not cluttered because you ran out of room in the house.

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Or only because you ran out of room.

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It's cluttered because it became the home for every thing you couldn't decide about other than that you didn't want to look at it every day.

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Inside the house, they're hard to get away from.

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Inside the garage, it's out of sight, out of mind.

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Which means that anything that feels too hard to deal with—too sentimental, too valuable, too "it's perfectly good and I might need it," or too much of a project to deal with right now—got quietly moved to the one space where you don't have to see it and you don't think you have to pay for it.

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And if that was your winning strategy, you're wrong on both counts.

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Before we get into how to actually declutter it, there are 3 myths that keep this space cluttered and unusable, and we're going to dismantle them right now.

MYTH ONE: IT'S A SPACE PROBLEM

It's not—not really.

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You could triple the size of that garage and you'd still fill it up in less than a year, because the problem was never just square footage.

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It was that most of what is in there was never a decision—it was deferral and avoidance.

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Sure, your gardening stuff belongs there.

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Likewise tools and other supplies to care for your home.

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But compared to the things you just dumped in the garage and then kept walking, you didn't run out of space for what actually belongs in there.

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It's that everything else crowded out the items that actually call the garage home.

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So a bigger garage would just become a bigger storage locker filled with choices you'd rather avoid making.

MYTH TWO: YOU'LL DEAL WITH IT "WHEN YOU HAVE A FREE WEEKEND"

You've had dozens of free weekends since that stuff went in there.

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It's not that you're too busy—I'm calling BS on that—it's that on a sunny day, you'd rather be outside doing something fun.

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And when the weather's crappy, confronting all those deferred decisions seems gloomier than the day already looks.

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This is a total eat the frog moment or afternoon.

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The only way to tackle the piles and boxes and junk is to suck it up and start.

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The good news is, you don't have to pull a marathon—just get out your trusty timer and start.

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Any progress is progress right?

MYTH THREE: IT HAS TO BE AN ALL-OR-NOTHING PROJECT

This is the one that crops up as soon as you get that timer out.

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There's so much stuff, you tell yourself 15 minutes is a waste of time.

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Believe me, this is the one that trips up people the most.

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You picture the whole garage empty on a tarp in the driveway, and even the thought of it is so overwhelming, you just want to sit down and cry.

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Or slam the door and run back inside.

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How do you eat an elephant? Metaphorically of course.

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We're not eating an actual elephant.

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One bite at a time.

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Same thing here.

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You don't need to take on the whole garage.

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Just set your timer for a realistic amount of time, meaning 15 minutes to 2 hours, unless you're a little neurospicy and 15 minutes is 14 minutes too long.

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I promise you, even one minute without interruptions will get more dealt with than you can imagine and stacking up those minutes will eventually tackle out the whole thing.

HERE'S HOW TO ACTUALLY START

You don't need to do it all at once.

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And you're not on a reality TV show so please, as I said a minute ago, don't get a dumpster and pull everything out onto the driveway—unless you've got help and are feeling very committed to the process.

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Otherwise, just start sorting like with like, right where you are.

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Put all the tools in one pile. Maybe back in the tool box?

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Find a zone where you can stack all the sports equipment together.

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See if you can carve out enough space for all those unlabeled mystery boxes—the ones that have stuff in them.

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The other ones–the ones from Amazon or from a computer purchased 15 years ago–those can get broken down and recycled immediately.

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You're doing a few things here concurrently.

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You're sorting like with like.

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And you're on the lookout for low hanging fruit you can let go of.

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Maybe it's stuff you know you want to give away.

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It might have landed in the garage on its way out of the house—it just never made it into your car or truck to get it gone.

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Or it might be stuff that is broken or so far gone that trash is all it is now.

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No point beating yourself up that had you only dealt with this sooner it might still be salvageable.

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What do they say, "if your mother had testicles, she'd be your dad."

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You can't fix what's done or past or impossible.

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Be here now.

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Just remember that you can't make a clear decision about one tape measure when there are four of them scattered around the space.

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Get them all together and suddenly it's not a sentimental decision, it's just math—you need one, maybe two, not four.

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Same with extension cords, holiday decorations and shovels.

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When it comes to half-used cans of paint left over from when you bought the house or any hazardous material, you'll need to dispose of them properly.

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Your town or county should have a location where those things can be taken to be dealt with correctly.

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For all the boxes marked miscellaneous, you just need your timer and good sense of humor.

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Once you can see what you actually have—when each category of thing is with its siblings—the keep-or-go decisions stop being emotional and start being obvious.

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I'm not going to walk you through the entire garage system here.

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That's not a blog post, that's a project.

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And an entire chapter in Unstuff Your Life!

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But what you have here is a way into a real process that you can use for the entire project—not a Tik Tok version that has you squeezing past a broken kayak again in another 6 months.

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Keep this in mind: the garage doesn't need a bigger door.

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It needs a bit of time, some clear decisions about what actually belongs in there, and grouping like with like as you find homes for everything that stays.

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So, in closing, ask yourself if you're the kind of person who's a self-starter and only needs a road map, some clear instructions and you're off to the races?

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Or are you someone who will still be parking in the driveway next year without someone lovingly kicking you in the butt and holding you accountable?

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There's no shame in either—but the path forward is a bit different.

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If you're the first type, my book Unstuff Your Life! walks you through exactly how to sort, decide, and assign real homes—and as mentioned earlier, there's a chapter dedicated specifically to garages, attics and basements.

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Get Unstuff Your Life! here → https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DQ2P1YS9?linkCode=ssc&tag=andrewmelleni-20&creativeASIN=B0DQ2P1YS9&asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.3NPT054JW2UKT&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ons_mixed_d_asin

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If you're the second type, please join me and several hundred people who are likely to become your new best friends for the De-Stress Your Mess Challenge.

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You'll get live coaching from me for 5 days, an hour a day, and the next one isn't too far away.

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Join the DYM Challenge here → https://go.andrewmellen.com/dym

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Remember, set a timer for 15 minutes and get started. That's all it takes to break your inertia.