Off-Season Garden Organization

So last night I was telling my mom how I needed an organization project.

Everything in my room/area is fairly organized and I needed a new space to take reign over. She suggested that I could help her in our basement. Our basement is home to a ton of things. It serves as outdoor furniture storage, our home gym, pool supplies, gardening supplies, and a ton of other items that have claimed it their home throughout the past 10 years. (Including parts of a car that my dad will *someday* finish- don't even get us started on that one!)

For this project I decided to focus on the gardening supplies. There is quite an array of items in the basement for gardening; tools, flower pots, garden decorations, random hardware that I'm not sure where it goes to.... An insane amount of stuff all squeezed into a tiny little corner of the basement.

This is what my starting point looks like:

Yup. Do you see all that stuff?! There is a ton of stuff shoved on that shelf. My mom also said she didn't want to keep any of the plastic pots or trays that come with plants, she only wanted the ceramic ones left when I am done with the project.

Also, something that drives me crazy in this project is that there are no categories. Everything is just randomly placed on the shelves. Garden decorations are shoved inside pots, every bin has tons of random items inside- no organization = one stressed girl!

Here's a closer look at the shelves:

You can see how everything is just randomly placed on the shelves....

What's the first step of any organization project? If you have been reading this blog for any length of time you should know that answer by now...Clear it out!

Every single of item needs to be cleared off the shelves. Every last one. Once everything is removed you can start with a clean slate. A clean slate changes everything in the organization world. Now you can figure out exactly how to use the space in a way that works for you.

I did leave two items on this shelf, breaking my own rule. I left the netting on top of the shelf since I am too short to reach it and untangle it. I also left an extremely heavy fountain on the bottom shelf. I was not prepared to move these items and since they both belong on the shelf anyways, I just left them.

Once everything is off the shelf it's time to wipe the whole thing down. My favorite item to use during cleaning? Lysol wipes! They work great and really wipe all of the scum away from the surface. Even though this is technically outdoor items on this shelf, and I'm sure it will get dirty again within a few seconds of putting everything back on the shelf, it is an indoor space and I want to keep it as clean as possible!

Tomorrow I'll be back with a post on how I sorted all the items, placed them back on the shelves nicely and some before and after pictures!