Controlled Chaos: A Spring Cleaning Guide for Shed Owners

If you're anything like me, everything gets put in the shed. It was an evolution, of sorts - When I lived with my parents, I had a junk drawer in my room. When I got an apartment, I graduated up to putting all my excess belongings in the spare room. So, now that I'm an adult, I've managed to accumulate an entire shed's worth of stuff... and I'm pretty sure that it's breeding in there, because it seems to just keep growing and growing.

Rather than risking the contents of my shed reaching epic blob-like proportions and consuming everything in its path, I perform a yearly ritual which helps to keep the beast under control - Spring Cleaning.

Sound like a daunting task? Well here's a few tips I've learned, that help make the job a whole lot easier:

Dress for Success

Before you get started, make sure you're dressed for the occasion. I usually like to don layers, so I'm not chilly when I start out, but I can take things off if I start to get too warm. I also wear a good pair of comfortable shoes and I take a pair of gloves with me. This is important if you live in an area with spiders, like I do. No brown widow bites, thank you very much!

If you have long hair, you might want to pull it back into a ponytail and get it up off your neck to help you keep cool. We're going to motivate here and take this shed by storm - getting overheated means stopping to get drinks or take 5-minute breaks... and those tend to lead into other excuses not to finish the job. Okay, maybe that's just me, but if you have the same bad habits, don't give yourself excuses to stop the forward momentum.

A Little More Prep Time

There are also a couple of other things that I like to bring with me, when I go to start this task. For instance, something cold to drink is always handy, but avoid sugary drinks and soda pops - These give you a burst of energy, usually followed by an annoying crash. Water is usually the good and safe alternative. Save the cold beer till the end, when you can celebrate a job well done.

Bring a radio. I don't care what your music preference is; oldies, rock, country or classical - Music tends to make people work better and it's something fun to occupy your mind with while you work. I even find talk radio interesting during times like this. It all depends on your personal tastes, but it generally helps the work fly by.

B.Y.O.B. - Bring Your Own Boxes

I always like to bring some boxes along too, as they help me to organize a little bit as I go. If I'm not sure about something, it goes in a box until I get things sorted. If I don't know where to put something yet? Into a box. Bringing a few boxes not only saves me time but prevents me from losing a lot of things that I'm sure I would misplace otherwise. I am always misplacing things as soon as I lay them down somewhere!

Getting Started Cleaning Your Shed

Now that you're ready to start cleaning (hopefully you remembered the trash bags), turn your music on and let's get started. If you've the liberty to do so, I highly recommend pulling everything out of the shed and starting with a blank slate. Getting everything out of the shed gives me an opportunity to clean in there, take the dust and cobwebs down and spray for spiders and other creepy crawlies. I also like to take this time to grab a bucket, some degreaser or Pine Sol, and wash down my walls and floors with an old string mop that I have. The trick to doing this is to wring the mop out well before you wash with it. This way, things will dry quickly - a fan placed at the door (out of any wetness, of course), can be pointed inside to help circulate the air and dry things even quicker. If you find it's taking a bit to dry, go ahead and start going through some of the stuff you brought out of the shed.

Organizational Renovations

That makes it sound all high-tech and important, doesn't it? Honestly, however, all this means is making a few changes that will help you to better organize your shed. You might want to add some shelving or perhaps a new work bench. Personally, my favorite is installing a couple of sheets of pegboard. This is a wonderful idea for helping to organize your frequently used tools and you'd be amazed with what you can do with a couple of sheets of pegboard. Pegboard can be purchased at your local lumberyard or at many hardware stores. Generally, a 4'x8' sheet runs about $20 or a little less.

Easy to install, pegboard can be cut to fit just about any area, so it can be put up behind your workbench, along an entire wall, or used to line a hallway that you couldn't otherwise use. There are two main things to remember as you install your pegboard - ensure that it's mounted sturdily to your wall and make sure that you have it mounted with enough room to be able to fit the hooks into the pegboard, once it's hung up. Once that's done, have fun! Pegboard hooks come in all shapes and sizes - you can even purchase small mountable storage boxes that you can keep small pieces in, like drill bits, etc. Talk about handy!

Divide and Conquer

The rest of your shed cleaning is simple! Now all you have to do is divide things up into separate sections. Gardening supplies over here, painting supplies over there, tools over here. When you have that part done, you'll find it's much easier to deal with a small group of things, rather than trying to take on the whole project at once.

I like to suggest, not only shelves, but also storage bins for use in the shed. The ones with the open tops and open sides (often seen being used at hardware stores) are handy and easily accessible, especially if you stack them to save space. You can buy all different sizes of them, though you will want to go with the heavier plastic ones, as opposed to cheap bins bought at the local dollar store - Especially if they will get a lot of use, spending a little more will prove to pay off in the end.

You can also employ various sized totes, which can further help organize your shelves or, if you have rafters overhead, can be slid up into that space. This is wonderful for storing things that are only used seasonally (like artificial Christmas trees or lawn ornaments). My father often slid planks of excess wood or pegboard up into the rafters for safe keeping - no space was wasted with my father!

Don't be afraid to put in some heavy-duty hooks either; these can be very handy for storing large items or bulky things. I also like these big hooks for hanging up electrical cords and garden hoses, to keep them from tangling.

And if you don't have a lot of money to go out and buy new bins and totes, get creative! Old coffee cans are great for helping to organize nails or bolts, and empty butter tubs can be washed out and used to hold screws, washers, nuts and bolts - You can even write on them with a Sharpie marker and then wash it off and re-label them again if you need to. Before you know it, the mess in your shed will have shrunk down to a manageable amount and you'll be ready to start collecting once again! The most important thing to remember is to ask yourself - "If you haven't used it in the past 6 months and you don't expect to use it in the next 6 months...why are you keeping it?" Don't be afraid to get rid of the junk and give yourself some breathing room!