storge

[Ralph D]

Well I cant take it anymore, its bad when i say it. I’ll give everyone the basics and I hope I can get some really good ideas out if it.

I own a small garage where I keep everything, it’s about 6 1/2 feet tall and about 28 feet long and about 10 feet wide. the family keeps the normal amount of stuff in it as well but my Christmas stuff is now out of control taken up over...”way” over half of the garage now. Even i think I’m doing something wrong. I need to learn how to consolidate what i have. I’d like to take up half of the room I do now. I know that might be unrealistic but i need to do something. so I’m turning to everyone here and I hope i can get some great ideas......my wife and I have already considered a storage bin, I “we” can’t afford it, and buying a shed, again right now times are too tight, so revamping is the only way to go.

I will post some pitchers soon so everyone can see and give me ideas. Trust me I’m a very neat person and I like to have everything in its place, but I’ve lost control, and over the last three months just given up. Now with the nice weather coming I want to spend some time and fix it up again. Even my work bench is under 2 feet of mess.

I don’t even know what to say at this point I’m embarrassed! And defeated by my second love of my life Christmas lights!

Ps I usely take a lot of time putting away my stuff, this year was not like that, we had very bad weather and i had to work alot more tis year so I had rush…..that will never happen again, id rather leave it up not to have this happen again. So I understand how I got here but even then, it’s too much stuff not to be better organized.

I’m really struggling here.

[George Simmons]

Hi Ralph,

Grab yourself a tall cool one and sit back and relax. No matter how bad you think your mess is, I guarantee mine is even worse. It's just been the last week when we had warm enough weather here that the ice in the yard has melted and I can get my cords up. My garage is about the same size as yours, except it's a bit wider, and it's stuffed. I have a 10x10 shed that's also stuffed and there's still half a boatload of stuff still in the yard. I have a workbench but it's been so long since I've seen it that I'm not entirely sure it's still there. But no matter how bad it gets (and right now it's as bad as it's ever been) somehow it will all get done. It always does, and I suspect yours does too. Besides, if you had everything put away neatly, all that would happen is your better half would give you a list of other things for you to do anyway. So take your time and enjoy the peace and quiet. Cheers!

[jimswinder]

I'll be right over and take half of it off your hands... :shock:

[PaulXmas]

jimswinder wrote:

I'll be right over and take half of it off your hands... :shock:

Oh I didn't know he was looking for that kind of answer...
I will take the other 1/2

Not sure where I will store it but I will cram it in somewhere.

[Cray Augsburg]

Yup! I agree with George. I have a two-story shed (12 X 16, 14' tall) full. I can't get to the top floor now. Rented a 10 X 15 storage unit -- it's full. Not to mention the basement, full of half-finished (not baked, I hope) projects for Xmas 2010.

Grab a tall one of yer choice, and sip along as you slog along. The ideas will come. :cool:

Cray

[Ralph D]

Yeah I know, thanks guys! I wish I could. I feel like I’m behind already. lol I walked around the front yard today and found close to 50 led’s, c6/c7 and c9 bulbs. So that’s a good thing. I want to build my replacement mega tree mine fell and broke into pieces in Jan,, set up my new lor screen. fix my songs, save up for my 5 new wire frames....and I have a ton of yard and house repairs to get working on.lol but fist I need the money to do all this stuff....so work hard first to do all this stuff as I can. god i wish we were back 4 years before all this economy stuff happened. Ok I blew off my steam thanks for listening everyone. I have to tell everyone I can count on level heads when i need it most here. it just is hard and I feel like I don’t have enough arms. so back to fixing the garage, did i mention I needed some ideas. Hey changing gears here. I trying to learn how to make my mini arches look like there dancing back and forth like hoping on the left then hope to the right and raise the left. but im just not getting the hang of it. Does anyone have that so I can see what it looks like..

keep any ideas coming....ps I had a beer and no Jim you can’t have half my stuff! . But a day labor will get you a day’s pay if you want to help clean my garage with me...

[jimswinder]

Ralph D wrote:

keep any ideas coming....ps I had a beer and no Jim you can’t have half my stuff! . But a day labor will get you a day’s pay if you want to help clean my garage with me...

well..I didn't want to be greedy and take it all... :shock:

[GaryBo]

Ralph,
Like most of the guys here, I am an "over" achiever of obtaining decorations and such. It seems to get worse every year. I am always picking up items from garage sales, after Christmas sales, and have had a lot of items donated to me, etc.
Now...... where to store all the stuff????
I started out using the attic of the garage, installed a pull down ladder, and part of the garage (two car, 20 by 30). Can only park one vehicle now it it.
Later started using the attic of my shop.
and lastly, I have an RV garage. Hardly can fit the RV in it. It has a "lean to" portion, and it is literally stuffed. My RV 'barn" is 30' by 32", and the lean to is 8" by 32'.

Most locales allow you to build a small shed like structure, usually 10' by 12', without having to get a permit.
Rubbermaid makes small sheds that are easy to assemble, and you can get them sometimes on sale at Home Depot and Lowes.

[gerald sundberg]

There are some nice storage units for like you would store a car in, they aren't too high priced. I bought a used shipping container for our Christmas stuff for $1900, cheaper than I could build one.

[Guest Don Gillespie]

Well the storage issue is a dilema however if you are handy with a cordless drill and a skillsaw you can build extra sheds as required,after exhausting all of the space in my double car garage it was nessacary to build an extra 20 x 20 shed, of course that lasted for 1 season as I forgot about all the Christmas light sales when christmas was over so that prompeted me to build a second shed 20 x 20, word is out on the street that if I build another shed my wife is going to divorce me if that happens there might be a big blow out sale on lights and light o rama paraponalia ha ha ha like thats going to happen I could see everyones eyes tearing up hoping I would build that shed so they could get their hands on my stuff, tricked my wife and am now storing a lot of it in the warehouse, thats right a warehouse that I bought last year has a work bench and a lot tools hoping wife doesn't find out anytime soon lol

By the way Ralph I loveyour driveway arches

[Anthony in Houston]

I have nearly 100 of the 18 gallon Rubbermaid Totes and they occupy the entire attic space in my shop which is 18 by 32. I built a track system to scoot the totes back and forth and I am able to stack them 3 high in several rows and then two high in one and a single stack close to the eve.

I still have several shelves in the shop that have more items like wire and sockets, extra controllers and boxes, spare extension cords and lights.

Anthony

EDIT ..... What ever method you use be sure to inventory each container. I do this and it makes it easy to get what you want and if you need to repair or modify anything you can go to the right container.