I made a classic decluttering/organizing mistake as I started to work on my shed: shopping for organizational products before actually knowing what I needed. I know better than that! Thankfully, I didn’t actually buy anything beyond the workbench materials, which I did need.

This morning’s project was to make sense of the gardening/yard side of the shed, empty out the RV basement compartment full of ‘stuff’ that could be stored in the shed, and continue to organize the workshop side. Now that I had a large stable worktop, I could start arranging things by categories and figure out how best to containerize or otherwise make them accessible.

So here was the gardening/yard side when I started this morning, a jumble of tools and materials. Things that I need to be able to take out easily, like the mower, ladder, and wheelbarrow were stored at the back.

It didn’t make long to build a simple support for my gardening implements at the back of the shed and then move the ladder, wheelbarrow, and mower to the front.

Then, using what I had for containers, I sorted through my things and arranged them neatly either on the workbench or under it. I put my wrenches and pliers into old coffee canisters I’d saved and added screws to hold things like a hand broom, bag of tie wraps, levels, and squares. I hung my hammers from the same backer board as my screw drivers and clamps (and boy do I have a lot of clamps!). Does it look as pretty as a pegboard on Pinterest? No. But it’s just as practical and, best of all, it didn’t cost me anything. One my favourite bits is that I hung my tool belt from a hook and then clipped my tape measure to it because I’m always looking for it!

I macro organized hardware, with one tub for miscellaneous screws and another for everything from washers to eye hooks. At some point, I’ll find cubbies or some other organizational product that will let me sort these bits at the micro level. One thing I don’t have that surprised me were any nails! It would have been nice to have some big nails to use as hooks, but I have so many deck screws that it didn’t hurt to use a few of those instead.

Now, check out the other corner!

Wow, I didn’t expect to be left with so much room! I’d rather not fill it up since it gives me room to really spread out a project and to use my table saw. One of my next projects will be to come up with a platform on casters so I can roll it around. I also want to build a ramp to more easily take heavy wheeled things outside.

Well, I had a productive long weekend and managed to get away from my computer. Back to work tomorrow! And I may be off to Montana again on Wednesday afternoon, which would be a fun way to break up the week. That will allow me to finish up the booster project so I can post about it! The post is written, but needs some final photographs.

I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do next with myself. Work on my Mexico packing list, I guess! 😀