Somewhere along the way every summer, the garage seems to stop being a garage. The bikes get dropped inside. Camping gear comes home and never quite gets put away. Pool supplies, patio furniture, lawn equipment, sports gear, and whatever else we don’t feel like dealing with at the moment slowly takes over. By the end of summer, what was supposed to be a two-car garage might have room for one car — if you squeeze. That isn’t a huge problem in July. In Western New York, though, we all know what’s coming. Fall is a good time to go through the summer’s accumulated “dump and run” and get the garage ready to do its most important winter job: keeping the cars out of the snow. A good place to start is simply separating summer stuff from things you’ll actually use this winter. The snowblower and shovels obviously need to stay handy. The lawn mower, bikes, patio furniture, camping gear, and pool supplies probably don’t.
If you don’t have enough room elsewhere, temporary or mobile storage can make the job a lot easier. A portable container gives you somewhere to put those seasonal items without just shifting everything from one side of the garage to the other. You can load it as you clean and take your time deciding what gets stored, donated, or tossed. And don’t miss the opportunity to get rid of some stuff. If you moved something out of the way five times this summer but never actually used it, maybe it doesn’t need to make the cut for next year.
Whatever you store, label it and keep similar items together. A little organization now makes unpacking much less painful when spring finally rolls around. The goal doesn’t have to be a spotless, perfectly organized garage. Just make enough room for it to be a garage again — because patio furniture can handle spending the winter somewhere else. Your car can too, but you’ll probably regret that decision at 7am after the first six-inch snowfall.
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