The Shed Cleanup 2023

Short Post

A Place for Everything

A few hours of organizing, a little trimming, and one orange snow fence that's overstayed its welcome.

Fair warning - this is one of those less-than-exciting posts.  Okay, let's be real - it's gonna be pretty boring.  But - write I must!  Even if it is just about cleaning out the shed.  

Time for Another Shed Cleanup

There really wasn't much of a "situation" here.  The last time the shed had been cleaned out was back in 2019 when the shed got a nice little makeover.

Of course, the shed was real clean when I first built it, probably sometime around 2002 or so:

But, like things often do as we acquire things and make more use of our structures,  over time things get a little sloppy.  Maybe not a complete mess, just stuff out of place, or added to the shed but didn't yet have a place. 

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. - Niccolo Machiavelli

I've learned over the years that a clean shed doesn't necessarily save time on the day you organize it, it saves time every other day. When every shovel, rake, and hand tool has a home, projects start a little sooner and end a little easier because I'm not spending the first ten minutes hunting for something I know I own.

The Cleanup 

Obviously, the first step to any good cleanup is to get stuff out of the way.  It was a beautiful June day so we just started tossing things into the yard... 

Curse of the Orange Snow Fence

And in the carport.  See all that orange snow fence.  Bought a roll of that stuff to fence off the front yard back in 1999 when we had to re-sod the front yard after the sewer pipe was replaced.  That stuff has been in the way ever since!

This was the very start of that project that ended up bringing the curse of the snow fence upon ol' 173.

As you can see, it ended up much worse!

Nonetheless, after all that digging, the front yard had to be completely re-seeded for grass.  And, to help keep people, or more accurately, to keep people's dogs off the lawn while the grass was growing, the orange snow fence went up.  That was a thousand years ago and yet - all that fencing is still here - cluttering up the shed!  Whew! Off my soapbox now...

Everything Back in Its Place

And just like that - the task was complete.  Turned out, most of the stuff in the shed was in the right place, and there was order, so not everything had to be pulled out.

All the tools were put back in their proper place.  Oh, and that yard tool rack you see, well I made that several years before we built the shed.  I made it out of scrap 2x4s and some furring strips, and was kept on the back porch in those days.  

One Small Improvement

But, before putting it back into the shed, I cut off about 4 inches from each leg.  This made it easier to pull tools out of the rack - the ceiling of the shed being much shorter than the ceiling in the back porch. 

And here's a quick shot of the tool board in the shed.  Everything in its place! 

Thanks for stopping be and hanging in there with this post.  Sometimes it's just fun to post even the most menial of things!

I laughed when you apologized in advance for writing about cleaning a shed.

Here's the thing: I've been reading House 173 long enough to know this isn't really about the shed.

It's about taking care of a place.

Most people only show the glamorous projects, the new porch, the restored furniture, the freshly painted room. You also show the sweeping, sorting, trimming four inches off a tool rack, and finally deciding where that ridiculous orange snow fence belongs (which, by the way, is apparently everywhere except the landfill).

Those are the posts that make your blog feel honest.

Besides, I guarantee every homeowner reading this has one item they've been stepping over for twenty years while insisting, "I might need that someday."

Mine isn't orange snow fence.

But I know exactly what you mean. - The Neighbor

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should a garden shed be cleaned and reorganized?

There isn't a strict schedule, but every few years it's worth emptying the shed, sweeping it out, checking for items that no longer belong there, and rethinking the storage layout.

Even if things aren't terribly messy, it's surprising how much easier it becomes to find tools once everything has been returned to its proper place.

Why remove everything from the shed before organizing?

Taking most of the contents outside allows you to see the space with fresh eyes. It also makes sweeping, inspecting, and reorganizing much easier than trying to work around piles of tools and supplies.

In this case, it also reminded me just how long I'd been storing things, especially that infamous roll of orange snow fence.

Why shorten the legs on the yard tool rack?

The rack had originally been built for the higher ceiling of the back porch. Once it moved into the shed, the shorter ceiling made it awkward to lift long-handled tools out of the rack.

Removing just a few inches from the legs lowered the entire rack enough to make every tool easier to remove without changing the rack itself.

Sometimes the simplest modification makes the biggest difference in everyday use.

What makes a shed easier to keep organized over time?

Good organization usually comes down to giving everything a permanent home. Pegboards, wall racks, shelving, and dedicated holders make it much easier to put tools away after each use.

A perfect system isn't necessary. A consistent one is.

Keywords

shed organization, garden shed cleanup, organizing garden tools, shed storage ideas, DIY tool storage, garden tool rack, shed maintenance, pegboard tool storage, House 173 shed, spring shed cleanup