Incoming!

Your garage looks like a bomb went off, and then a pack of wild hyenas moved in for a month.

Due to this series of unfortunate events you don’t want to get your garage organized.

A cluttered garage can happen for a myriad of reasons, you downsized and don’t have as much storage in the home, a parent died and left you a bunch of stuff, or you just love collecting miniature gnomes.

Whatever the case may be here’s how to get organized using habits you already have to get your garage organized.

Anchors away!

Starting out, you just don’t want to get organized. The task feels way too daunting, unmanageable, and overwhelming.

Luckily you already have habits that can help you overcome those overwhelming feelings and get it done.

Use a habit you already have to get started each day or weekend. Let’s say you go for a workout every day at 2:30, a way to anchor the task of getting organized is to commit to 10 minutes of sorting right when you get home. It’s great because you’re already in workout clothes and sweaty so being in a hot garage, won’t be a big deal.

You’ll often find that those 10 minutes you commit to turn into 1-2 hours, which is awesome! pat yourself on the back, but if you only get 5 or 10 mintues done, still give yourself a butt slap because you did what you told yourself you were going to do.

Don’t feel like it one day, or are just too busy? Don’t sweat it! That happens, don’t beat yourself up, just commit to doing it tomorrow, but make sure you do it tomorrow.

…Or else the boogie man will get you.

Know they self

There are certain things we just won’t do. Even if the perfect system is built around it, you won’t do it.

…like fold laundry or empty the dishwasher right when its done.

It’s okay, just know that you’re not going to do these things, and find other solutions to getting them done, like hiring someone to do or making a deal with the kids or husband to have them do it.

In the instance of the garage, maybe you just never put the drinks away and put the in the garage refrigerator after you take them out of the car.

While on the other hand, you love to keep all the gardening tools tidy because you love gardening so much and need each item accessible!

When you know what you will and won’t you, you can figure out how to solve the problems that are within and without of the habits you already have or do not have.

Make it fun?

Let’s face it. Sorting isn’t fun. It’s tedious and takes a lot of time, although not as long as you may think.

Nonetheless, it’s nice to spice it up a bit. A great way to go about doing that is to watch a TV show or listen to a podcast while you get after it. This way the organizing goes by more quickly, and you get to do something you enjoy doing while you’re doing something you don’t enjoy doing.

It will also help train your brain to look forward to getting organized, especially if you set a rule to only watch tv while you organize. And who knows, you may even end up enjoying organizing more than you enjoy watching TV if you stick with pairing them together long enough.

How to get organized using habits to form new habits

Let’s say you want just got a new stroller for the kiddo, and decided to get a rack to mount it on the wall.

The issue is you now need to get in the habit of mounting the rack on the wall.

Let’s use a habit you already have to do this. If you tend to get out of your car and grab your backpack or purse from the back seat, then instead of grabbing the backpack or purse go to the trunk and take out the stroller and hang it up, then go back for the backpack.

If you tend to forget just write a note on a sticky note and stick it to the inside of back window as a reminder until its a new habit!