Step Two: Sort Your Stuff

Turn your attention now to the things that you want to keep in your garage. Give yourself plenty of room for this step--leave the vehicles outside temporarily. Start putting like things in groups. At this stage, don't make it too micro! The important thing is to see what you have. So, for instance, here are some possible categories. Which ones apply to your situation?

• landscaping and gardening
• home maintenance and repair
• sports equipment
• toys 
• hobbies
• hazardous materials
• food storage 
• grilling
• camping and recreation
• crap belonging to _________ (fill in name of family member)

If you can, assign every item in your garage to a group. You might start to notice that you have some duplicates or some items you haven't used in a long time. Maybe there are some things that represent activities you've left behind. One of my personal goals in decluttering is to live by Victorian designer William Morris' adage: "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." There may not be much that's beautiful in your garage (unless you love your lawn mower), but there are plenty of things that are useful. Identifying what's truly useful is tomorrow's step ... so stay tuned!

Junk I removed from my garage that needs a new
home. Preferably not my home.

How many trowels does one gardener need? Hmm.
And why is that bicycle pump sitting there?

How have you grouped things in your garage? Any unusual categories? One of my unusual categories is Ironman triathlon (cross-referenced with crap belonging to). And how did you do with Step One? 

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