12 Weeks Until Christmas: Week 6 Garage Week (GIVEAWAY)

I'll admit, the garage is my final resting place for many items. After removing items from my black hole closets a few weeks ago, several boxes ended up in the garage where they're still waiting to be moved to Goodwill or some other place outside of my home. But many items in my garage have been waiting an awful long time for a new home, making the garage a purgatory for clutter, awaiting the final judgment.

While the clutter is annoying, it's also keeping me from getting my car into the garage.

So while the weather is still not yet freezing, I'm going to take some time to get my garage in shape to park at least one car in it. If your garage could use a little help, too, here are some tips I'm following to organize this space:

- Start by getting rid of the space wasters. Have you touched it in the past two years? If not, then get rid of it immediately. Have you used it in the last year? If so, then take a careful look at it and decide if it's worth the space it occupies.

- Next, get tools and sports equipment off the floor. Think vertical and use your wall space to your advantage. Use tool organizers and bicycle hooks to organize equipment and keep your most needed tools easy to reach.

- Sort holiday decorations into bins by season and store them on shelves. Again, think vertical when planning out your space to leave you with the most floor space available for your vehicles!

- Finally, clean up the floor. Make sure bags of fertilizer, mulch, and pesticides as well as gas cans are properly sealed and stored away from electrical or heat sources. If a bag is torn, transfer the contents to a plastic container that can be sealed.

Be sure to visit Kelly, Heather and Lisa for more tips this week!

GIVEAWAY!

To help you in your garage clean-up, I've got a $50 gift card to The Container Store to give to one lucky reader.

To enter, leave a comment below sharing what (other than your car) takes up the most space in your garage! (mandatory entry)

For additional entries:

2. Leave a comment here with your favorite organizational tool for keeping your garage and shed neat and tidy. (one entry - separate comment)
3. Follow me on Twitter @mommystory and tweet this contest leaving me a link here in the comments. (one entry)

4. Write a blog post about how you plan to (or already are!) getting your garage organized and ready for winter and link back to this post. (1 entry - leave a comment here with your link)

Giveaway will close on Friday, November 26 at 11:59pm ET. One winner will be selected by random drawing to win the gift card. Winner has three days after being contacted by e-mail to respond or another winner will be chosen in his or her place.

Good luck!

Full disclosure: Gift card to The Container Store is provided fully by myself. I was not approached by the store and received no compensation at all for this giveaway. Links to Amazon do include my affiliate code, meaning if you purchase something at Amazon after clicking that link, they give me a small percentage of that sale. Win-win, everyone.