Does anybody else's garage get like this

[Primrose]

I decided today would be a good time to start trying to declutter our garage shelves and was shocked at the number of gardening products stored on them. But what shocked me more was the number of duplicated or triplicated packets or tins of herbicides, insecticides and other stuff. For goodness sake, how on earth did we ever acquire SIX unused aerosol cans of Raid ant killer? (to name but one) I have far more stuff than I will be able use in the foreseeable future, given possible expiry dates, and I'm wondering how I can usefully dispose of some of it. Any ideas?

[Redfox]

I looked in the upstairs cloakroom 2 weeks ago and found 4 tents!!!
we dont even go camping
so not the garage as we don't have on but the celar gets pretty full of stuff

[FelixLeiter]

Hold a charity garage sale, maybe. Or pass it on to your local allotment society. There are many allotment holders on low incomes who would be grateful for your surplus.

[Ricard with an H]

Hello Primrose.

What I call our shed was built over ten years ago to satisfy my lifelong dream of having a large building that serves as a store and the customary male bolt-hole.

For planning purposes it was called a garage/store, it's built over and above building regulations and has an upstairs. At 6 X 8 metres floor space upstairs and downstairs you would think I could keep,it organised and tidy particularly as I'm a tidy person.

It's a utility room with washing machine and a large side by side fridge/freezer, other than that it's full of the clutter of a garden shed, a garage, a workshop and junk-overflow from the house. I'm always tidying up but it never gets tidy. Herself keeps recommending I throw some stuff out but all the "stuff" is useful.

The garden machinery alone needs the space of a standard garage so we could do with building another appropriate building, I already have plans for such a place which would primarily be a wood store though the cash investment doesn't make and sense at a time we are scraping the bottom of the funding box.

I need to be tidy and organised in my cave but it just gets messier.

[Motherwoman]

My other half got fed up with the state of his man-shed and took up a hobby which requires a clean environment. That shed is now cleaner than indoors....
All small items go in 'Vanish' pots and are labeled, the floor is clear and swept, he busied himself putting up very inventive shelving and storage, got incredibly organised and has kept it that way for around three years. We did put up a smaller store to take the petrol machines which has been a boon and gets the smell out of what is now the 'man-workshop'.

The only way my allotment shed got cleared was when it was dismantled.

MW

[Elaine]

Oh my giddy aunt...you lot are making me feel so much better already!

I have always been a hoarder of stuff for "sentimental" reasons or stuff "which might come in handy". There is so little storage space in this house,so for the eleven years I've lived here, I've tried to be good...or ruthless...about keeping stuff. However, as I've got older, I seem to be slipping a bit and I look round in despair, thinking, "Why did I keep all this??"
We sorted out the cupboard under the stairs a few weeks ago which resulted in a trip to the tip with eight bags of kelt that we had just chucked in there for want of somewhere to put it.

My kitchen cupboards got the same treatment, with the motto, if I hadn't used it for six months, it was getting binned. Another tip trip ensued with two bags of plastic containers which hadn't seen the light of day for far more than the allotted six months.

I need to start on the two bedrooms. What was/is my sons room has started to become a replica of the cupboard under the stairs so urgent attention is needed, because when he and his wife and son come to visit, they won't be able to fit in the room.
Our bedroom...well, I need to get rid of lots of paperback books for a start. The charity shop will be delighted.
My wardrobe....oh dear. There is stuff in there which I will never be able to wear again due to...erm..growing out of it. I don't need all the old handbags and purses.. and shoes with heels of dizzying heights that I can no longer walk in.

I emptied the allotment shed earlier this year and re-stacked stuff and it was great! We had floor space!.. Sadly, my husband has not kept it this way cos he "can't find stuff when it's so tidy".

I do keep meaning to make a start.....really I do..

[Primrose]

Well if there is nobody on this forum on wet winter days I will know it's because we're all clearing out our garages and sheds! Problem is you generally need to put surplus stuff outside while you sort it all out so the rain is a good excuse not starting!

[Ricard with an H]

I saving glass jars with lids, plastic tubs with lids, bubble wrap, her shoes, any kind of wood, screws, nuts and bolts, some quality clothing that rarely gets used, old towels, wetsuits, and.........

Hang-on, I'll go have a good look to see what I'm hoarding and if I can get rid.

[Ricard with an H]

I save plastic bags, from the bird-seed, dog-food compost bags, and bags the farmers boys throw into the field after emptying into the spreaders. (Don't get me going on this)

Occasionally I get to critical mass on plastic bags, I'm scared to take them to the land-fill. Why the hell can't they re-cycle those heavy plastic bags ?

Right now I have bags of plastic bags and am hoping to find a way of using then and-so turning their use around one-more-time.

[Primrose]

Well if you have lots of leaves you can always store them in plastic bags with a few holes spiked in them to make leaf mould for your raised bed. (If you have the patience to wait that long. )

[Motherwoman]

I generate chicken food bags and dog food bags (1 big bag a week in our house!) I use them to put the rubbish in for the tip.... or give them to my brother who fills them with horse manure for me!
Plastic carrier bags get a trip to the allotment mostly for picking things and then get thrown into the recycling which keeps me happy on two counts: I've got a use out of them and then they're recycled!
I learnt to separate my glass jars into: small (jellies), jam, pickles and tomato pulp. I label the boxes so that I know where to find the right jars for the right things. When my boxes are full anything else goes in the recycling, saves it getting overwhelming.

Himself put up floor to ceiling shelves in our separate loo for me to put cleaning stuff on. By the time I'd got everything out from the various cupboards it looked like the supermarket and I haven't had to buy any cleaning stuff for months! The shelves also now store rolled up towels, tea towels and bath mats; kitchen and loo rolls and the medicine box.

We live in a small cottage with awkward little spaces and the loo shelves were a brilliant storage solution.

So get cracking in that workshop Richard!

MW

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Motherwoman, since cook is laid up with her foot, i'm in charge of her horse. I had completely forgot how much muck they can generate in 24 hours.... a full sack full no less... A strange thing though, the mare doesn't like me at all, her ears go back everytime i go near her, what does upset me a little, as i love animals...Cook thinks that maybe she has been cruelly treated by another man at some time..

All the empty compost sacks i get, are just ideal for the muck...

[Motherwoman]

Great stuff for the allotment though OH!

My brother is retired now and his good lady has two horses, a mare and her not so young foal. The mare loves my brother but the foal had no human contact for the first 6 months of its life and is a biter! But only of men.... The two horses were going to be put down, owner died, a friend sort of popped down occasionally and then the owner of the field wanted them gone. So a friend of a friend said do you want them...and of course they decided to rescue them. The mare is fine and that's the one she rides, the foal is being hard work, now it's older especially, and will be getting some professional help to become a riding horse.

Hope you are now fulling appreciating cook!

MW

[Ricard with an H]

That's what I need, another manager.

Oh-yes, my shed has massive potential and I did have the skills but there is always something more pressing to get on with and any sensible reorganising means getting rid of things. I'm storing a windsurfing board three sails two masts and other junk but she hasn't sailed for ten years. When that goes I'll get started.

I have two bikes, I ride both. Three grass mowers, all three are used for different types of grass cutting and two strummer/brushcutters, hedgecutter, chain saw, woodworking machines, hand tools for the garden and tools to keep everything working.

I better get over there right now to light a fire and make it snugly.

[Elaine]

Motherwoman, you made me laugh about the cleaning materials!

I always take advantage of supermarket deals on products that I use regularly and buy it even if I don't need it immediately. Laundry liquid...two sorts,non biological due to my husband having psoriasis and biological for my work things as the non bio stuff doesn't get the marks out of my uniform. Loo limescale removers, etc etc. I stored them in stacking crates in the cupboard under the stairs.....and forgot all about them. OR..it was too much of a hassle to find them amongst all the kelt.

So, I won't be needing to buy any of this stuff for a long while either...a very long while.