Reprinted from The Austin Homesteader, 2002

The garage. Just the mention of it brings groans, gasps and the rolling of eyes. Even the most fastidious people have been revealed to be closet-messies when it comes to the garage. In private consultations, people have been know to throw their bodies across the door to the garage – “Oh NO – your CAN”T go into the garage!”

Does the Garage Count?

I’ve consulted in many high-dollar, beautifully appointed homes – meticulously neat in the public quarters, but total chaos in the garage. In a few, the garage door couldn’t be closed because it was full from top to bottom and front to back. Several hardware stores could have been stocked with the contents. Things were so well packed-in, there was no hope of finding anything without emptying everything. So, whenever someone needed a tool, they would go buy another.

THNEEDS

Sound familiar? You’re not alone. Somehow the garage has become the repository for not only all the seasonal-gear, tools, yard stuff, and hand-me-downs, it also contains trash, recycling, and the unredeemable. Finally, it houses things we no longer need and things NOBODY needs. Dr. Suess said it best. He called them THNEEDS (things nobody needs).

It’s not the garage that’s the problem. In fact, it’s a very useful part of the house – some people even park their cars there! It’s what happens when we treat it like a land fill. Anywhere there’s clutter, especially broken, dirty and unused items collecting critters – the energy gets stuck and it effects the way life is lived by those who reside in the house.

The garage nearly always appears in one of the corners (Guas) of the house, making it – in Feng Shui terms – a big deal. Let’s pretend that the front door is in the center of the house on the same parallel as the front edge of the structure.

Navigating Around the Corners: the Bagua Again…

• From the center front of the house, navigating in a clockwise direction the first corner we come to in the 7:00 position represents the life aspect known as Knowledge and Spirituality. Clutter in this area slows down the initiation of new projects, interferes with feeling grounded, inhibits personal growth and limits the wisdom we bring to bear in life situations.
• The next corner moving up and around into the roughly 10:00 position represents Prosperity or Manifestation and has to do with our ability to create the kind of life we want for ourselves. Clutter here can interfere with finances, projects coming to fruition financially, and the safekeeping of resources,

Detached Garages

Wait! What’s that racket I hear? It’s dancing in the streets! I think it’s coming from those folks with detached garages. Turn off that music! You’re not exempt – because the garage is still part of the energy of the property. Sorry….To determine where on the property the house falls, use the point where the driveway comes in as the “front door” to the property.

Coming and Going

On the more mundane level, here’s something else to think about. If you’re one of fortunate few who can actually get your car in the garage, you also probably enter and exit your house via the garage. If you do, the garage is the last thing you see in the morning before heading off to work, and the first thing you see returning home. So – if your garage is neat and brightly lit, painted and things are in order – you’re more apt to start your day feeling “together.” If, on the other hand walking into your garage constitutes as act of bravery, then you are probably reminded of all the stuff you need to do and what a mess things are. It permeates the entire day.

Coming home after a long, possibly frustrating day at the office, wanting nothing more than to get home and relax – you drive into the “little shop of horrors.” Your mood plummets, your energy is zapped and any joy you had about coming home is vaporized. Instead of greeting your family with a smile, you offer up a scowl and it sets the mood for your evening at home. When you look at the garage this way, it becomes a very important room.

Jettison the Junk

OK – so we’ve got the landscape of how important it is to get the garage in order, but it’s so overwhelming. Where to start? Here’s an automatic toss list for getting started. In other words, these are things you can get rid of without a second thought and without having to think about recycling – with the exception of some tools that may be rehabilitated via Goodwill.

• Mildewed items
• Rusted nails, screws, etc.
• Broken tools with missing parts
• Old paint that has ever frozen (toxic waste recycling)
• Broken rakes, saws, lawnmowers, whirligigs scooters…
• Flat tires
• Oily rags

Storage

Next, look at storage. By far the quickest way to deal with storage in the garage is to use vertical shelving or racks. Most garages I enter have piles that go up to about four feet, because that’s about as tall as you can stack before things begin to fall, slope or slowly tumble into small pyramids. This is not what is meant by “pyramid power.” Consider these options:

• Vertical storage: Any home improvement store will have their version of sturdy, industrial strength vinyl or plastic shelving. The ones I’m talking about are 18”to 24” deep and 36” wide with shelves placed at least 12” apart. You can stack boxes, store large tools, fake Christmas trees, saddles, or a rack of antlers on the shelves – safely. They’re easy to assemble in multiple configurations, solid, and inexpensive. I’ve seen many a garage transformed quickly merely by using these shelves.

• Pegboard or a section of rod with hooks, to hang yard tools, mops, hoses, extension cords simplifies putting away tools and it keeps the rake from falling on your head while you trying to get to the weed trimmer. Be sure to use a spacer to attach it to the wall so the hooks have space to attach.
• Vertical bike racks for larger bikes or small metal parking slats for kids can hold multiple bikes. These save space and the frustration of moving a bike before you can get into the garage, not to mention the tangle that ensues when they all fall down in a mass of spokes and handlebars.
• A small table or shelf unit next to the door entering the house serves as a parking place for an errand box, removes clutter from the house, and can make for a smoother morning exit. A lamp on top the unit can also make the difference in your mood when entering the garage.

Paint what?

Garage maintenance is never at the top of anyone’s list. That why it’s important to make it easy to do. While I’ve had people giggle and gasp at the next suggestion, it’s actually a feature in new upper-end construction.

Painting the floor with one of the new epoxy paints that come in spatter colors makes cleaning up oil spills of paint a breeze. It also looks great and actually makes you want to keep the garage clean. Painting the garage interior with a semi-gloss or high gloss is actually high on my personal list because it makes it lighter, smells are not absorbed as easily into painted surfaces and finally, it’s easier to clean.

Just for Fun

Finally, for an extra pick-me-up when you drive into the garage, put a fun poster right in front of your car or on the garage side of the door entering into the house. You’d be surprised how nice it is to come home to a cheery image.

The bottom line on garages is this: if your mood drops when you walk into your garage, it a signal that it’s not working for you in other areas f your life. This is a great time of year for this; it’s cooler, bugs have slowed down, and it’s about time to find those holiday decorations. Kids are forever wanting money and are therefore usually eager to help if you let them keep any funds they earn from the re-sale or garage sale of old toys. EVERYONE enjoys and gets better use of the garage when it’s organized and clean.

So enjoy your new project. If you start it now, you’ll actually be able to find those Christmas or Hanukah decorations, clean out the “white elephant” presents you received last year and make room for more! Now that’s a cheery thought…

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