Organized garage...

The garage is that one place where we all seem to love to be disorganized, however the sooner you get organized, the sooner you can make better use of that space. Organizing your garage  can be a tiresome task for many homeowners. When you think about organizing your garage you should keep in mind that this activity means to find a designated place for everything while keeping your goods available for everyday use. The following five steps compromise a simple system for garage organization.

Sort your garage items.
First of all sort and categorize all the items in your garage, for this you should empty your garage and start sorting everything into categories. Separate the tools from sporting equipment, electric tools, etc. You will realize how much stuff you have and only then you will be able to determine the best ways to organize and store everything.  Misplaced items in your garage should be returned to their proper place. Also you should sort the things that should be in the garage from the things that should actually be in the basement, attic or better, sold at a garage sale. Remember to recycle everything that you decide to throw away.

Separate seasonal items and equipment.
A special rack should be installed to hang lawn maintenance tools and to keep them accessible yet out of the way. If it is
near winter place snow related tools like snow blowers, ice scrapers, snow shovels and also skis, snowboards and sleds
grouped together. Also the items for warm seasons should be  stored in a special cabinet. Near the beginning of every season you should plan this activity and rotate the cold and warm items places in the cabinet. For the other sporting equipment, shelves and drawers should be designed.

Additional shelving and cabinets.
While organizing you should consider adding additional garage storage space to help you maintain the organization.
Shelves and cabinets should be mounted on the walls. The basic principle is to store the items that you use on a regular
basis in a way that makes them accessible every time you need them.

Create efficient working area.
Installing a bench or a table would be a good choice if you use your garage as a workshop. A sturdy tool chest and a pegboard are great in storing your tools and keeping them easily accessible.

Relocate trash and recycling bins nearby the garage.
To easily dispose unwanted items from your garage a good idea is to relocate the trash and recycling bins near to your
garage entrance.  This way you won’t be tempted to keep certain items because the trash bins are too far away.

Now would be the time to hire a handyman to have cabinets, closets and shelves built right into your garage. Invest in some good storage units as described before and start organizing, sorting and storing.

Your workshop-garage heater...

Why do you need a heater for your remodeled garage?  The answer for this question is pretty obvious: one of the major disadvantages of using your garage as a workshop or a home office is that it wasn’t meant for that. The garage is the special place reserved for your car, the garage is the room where you keep your lawn and garden accessories.

If you start using this space for other projects that you have, you need to deal with one of the major inconveniences, that is warmth. During the summer you don’t have to worry too much about this but during cold seasons you might find some difficulties in continuing your project because of the very low temperature.

You can find many ways to warm up your workshop-garage. You can try one of the porcelain heaters; they work great and can warm up a good area but they are not meant to warm a large space for a long time.

Another solution for you would be to use a kerosene heater. These heaters are easy to turn on, most of them have an electric starter. It should have a thermostat to be able to regulate the temperature also they have a specific scent, they do function on kerosene! So if you think you cannot handle this smell, a kerosene heater wouldn’t be a good choice for you. They are quite dangerous for your children, if they have access to the garage and you would definitely want to ventilate very well the garage!

A very good and popular choice nowadays is a gas heater. Of course you have to hire a professional to install it. You
can find a gas heater suited to your budget for remodeling the garage. There are many models and almost all of them
are fairly inexpensive. The main advantage of a gas  heater is that it gives you a consistently warm  environment. They are available in both manual and  thermostatic control types. You would probably prefer a  model that has a thermostat, even though its price is a  little higher than the price of a manual temperature  control model. The only thing that you have to do is to set  it on a desired temperature and leave it to do its job.

There are two types of gas heaters: vented and vent less.  The vent less unit uses air from the room and the vented  model has a system that vents directly out of the garage. The disadvantage of the vent less model is that you have
to keep the room vented at all times because the unit uses  the air from the room where it has been installed. The
main advantage for the both types of gas heaters is that  they have a pretty low running cost compared to the
kerosene and electric heaters.

Remember that if you choose to install a more advanced  heating system like a gas heater, you must ask for a
professional’s help.

Garage facelift...

You would probably ask yourself why do you need a facelift for your garage. It is only a garage! But what if you have a
two or more cars garage? The garage doors take up a significant portion of the front of the house. What is the use in having a great design for your house but having only generic garage doors?

Nowadays the garage door trends are to incorporate the doors into the design of the house. For example you could choose carriage-style doors(look like they open like old-fashioned doors in carriage houses, but they open like normal garage doors) or you could choose wood carriage doors. These wood carriage doors are reminiscences of the horse-drawn carriage days and they are very popular. You don’t need to go as far as to order custom made garage doors because you can find more appealing garage doors at most home improvement stores.

In addition to the doors, the floor of a garage gives style and can integrate to the overall aesthetics of your house. You could try interlocking garage floor tiles that come in multiple colors and patterns. They are made of polypropylene and are easy to install and clean. Another interesting and practical flooring is the coin shaped G-flooring.

Involved your kids In Garage/Yard Sales...

Spring is coming and now is the time to make preparations for having a yard or garage sale. And, yes’this includes the kids too.

For me spring always meant upcoming garage/yards sales to go to with my mom; but more importantly, those garage/yard sales I had with my mom. From these early experiences, I learned many valuable lessons that I use to this day. These include the necessity of de-cluttering, finance, how to make change, how to price an item, how to organize and display items, and customer service. Thanks to my mom’s help, I was able to engage in an entrepreneurial endeavor at the tender age of eight. I have fond memories of my many mini-business endeavors and feel that these ventures contributed to my desire and successes in owning my own business now. Here are some pointers to get your child involved in having a garage or yard sale of his or her own when you have one.

For Children 8 and above:

Gather Goods to Sell Have your children go through their items to determine what they are ready to sell, part with, or outgrown. You as a parent have veto power, but quite often children will not even think of parting with something they still use. As a matter of fact you may have to ‘assist’ them in this step since it is likely they will want to keep just about everything they own. Be ready to ask them these questions: When was the last time the item was played with or used? 1)Why do they wish to keep it? 2)What does it mean to them? Having children answer these questions helps them to determine what items they wish to keep and those that have little value or use to them. This step teaches children the importance of letting go of stuff they won’t use again and really don’t value. Having children de-clutter their lives this way is a valuable skill that will serve them well throughout life and keep them from falling into the ‘packrat trap.’

Prepare Goods for Sale Have children prepare items for sale by cleaning dirty items and boxing items into separate boxes labeled ‘(Name)’s Garage Sale Items. This way, when it is time to set up for the big garage sale day, your children will be able to find their ’stock’ easily.

Assist your child with pricing the items to sell. Go through each item one-by-one and ask your child the following questions to help them determine an acceptable price. 1)How much do you think this is worth? 2)How did you determine that price? 3)Do you think someone will pay your price for this item? 4)Should we ask ____ amount for this? By asking your child these questions, it helps them to critically think about the value of items and their worth. By making pricing suggestions, it assists them with setting realistic prices. This step helps children learn the relative value or worth of items and gets them to think about how much the buying public would pay. Asking the question, ‘Should we ask ____ amount for this?’ is a way of helping your child set a realistic price for the item.

Preparing for the Grand Opening Set up an individual table for each child next to where you will be collecting money from customers. This way you can monitor and assist each child with customer transactions if need be and protect them from unscrupulous ‘buyers.’

Have children set up their displays themselves. By completing this step, with your help and suggestions, children learn how to display items in a visually pleasing way that will attract customers.

Day of the Grand Opening Provide each child with a change apron (available at most dollar stores) and with a small amount of change such as 2 $1.00 bills, 6 quarters, 10 dimes, and 10 nickels; i.e., $5.00 in change. This way they can collect payment for their items and if necessary, make change for customers. Children are able to reinforce their counting skills and learn how to interact with customers. Most importantly, allow your children to keep the proceeds from their sale, having them put half of the ‘profits’ into their savings accounts. When children are allowed to keep the proceeds from the sale of their items, they are eager participants.

For Children 7 and Below:

Younger children who also wish to participate in the garage sale can by selling sodas. Set up a small table with a cooler full of various cans of sodas and ice. Place a simple Soda for Sale sign on the front of the table. Allow your younger children to sell sodas, helping them with change counting or selling as needed. This way, they still get the experience and knowledge gained by running their own ’small business.’

As a child I truly enjoyed having my ‘own’ garage sale and making money in the process. These small business ventures taught me what went into running a small business from the selection of goods to be sold to the final transaction with the customer. These life skills teach children the basics of money and customer service: skills that are sure to come in handy throughout their lives.

About the author: Jona is an instructional designer, web and graphic designer, and technical and business writer. When she isn’t working on client projects, she can be found updating her personal project, www.simpleandfrugal.com, a website dedicated to those seeking to simplify their lives. Jona has practiced simple living/voluntary simplicity for over 10 years and is available for speaking engagements. She can be contacted at simplefrugal@fuse.net.

Major garage transformation...

One of the most commonly encountered questions when thinking about converting your garage for a new use is the warmth of the floor. Whether you are choosing to convert your garage into a spacious home office or to convert it into a gym room, you have to take into consideration some improvements for your floor.

Since the garage has a concrete and uninsulated floor you should focus on making it warmer and more resilient. Furring up the floor with wood and plywood can  accomplish both tasks. As a warning, you should use pressure-treated wood or protect the wood which is in contact with the concrete by placing a layer of felt paper between the wood and the concrete.

First of all measure and determine how much you want to raise the floor. All garage floors have some amount of slope from the back wall to the wall with the garage door in it to allow the water runoff. To achieve a level floor you will have to adjust the joists, for this if you are placing the joists perpendicular to the slope in the floor each of them would have to be ripped down or shimmed up and if the joists are parallel to the slope, you can rip them on a taper or use shims to level them.

Ok, you finished remodeling the floors, now it’s time to examine your walls. You might be surprised to find out that  your walls are not even with the foundation they sit on. They may be set back from the foundation or maybe overhang it in other areas. Only one step will solve these problems: selecting a lumber size that is deep enough to extend the framing past the concrete. By notching each end of the furring strip and attaching one strip to the face of each wall stud will result in an even wall that completely hides the foundation. Also it will be deep enough for the R-21 wall insulation, this type of insulation being the most common code requirement.

When remodeling the walls and the floor several obstructions may appear. Obstructions like pipes, ducts, wires and other impediments to smooth walls may exist. For small obstructions such as wires or small pipes you could adjust the furring strips enough to accommodate them. The solution for larger obstructions is to box around them. If the obstruction is a water heater or something that you will need access to, you can frame it in and enclose it on three sides and then provide a removable access panel for the fourth side.

A building permit may be required for a garage make over. Of course all the methods presented here are purely theoretical and only for guidance. All garages are different and some adjustments to the used methods or materials may be required in order to accommodate to your garage.