You know when you’re busy working on house projects and other areas get trashed as a result?  I do.  Usually our garage and laundry room are the victims.  So are we because it takes an eternity to find tools and supplies.  Like the electrical box covers for the sconces.  First I looked in the laundry room, then the garage, then my office, then our tool stash in the pool house and still came back empty-handed.

Knowing they were in the house somewhere, I brought a chair in the laundry room, dug around the higher shelves and found the bag with covers buried under paint rollers. Right then, I had an organization intervention with myself, vowing to clear the crap sometime this week.  We’ve got plenty of storage space, like this catch-all cabinet.

Light bulbs, caulking, batteries, tape, and more.  Half used cans of spray paint and test pots.

A variety of screws, nuts, bolts, and miscellaneous hardware.

Across the room, we have a paint cabinet.  Not in as bad of shape, still not great.

After sorting through containers of screws, boxes of nails, and moving all supplies to the laundry room, things are easy to find.  More importantly, all in one place so we’re not searching several places.

Same for the paint cabinet.  Everything paint related is stashed behind one set of doors.

And all paint cans, test pots, and stain stays in the neighboring cabinet (which previously held cleaning supplies).

Speaking of cleaning supplies, I condensed everything cleaning to one cabinet.

 

Just for fun, how many different brands of laundry detergent can you count?

The answer, seven, plus one sitting on the washing machine.  Of which, we’ve purchased only one (number 4).  Handy Sammy has a few (1, 5, and 6).  Tenants have given Ben the rest when they’ve moved.

For now, everything is grouped and easy to find.  Until it gets used, neglected, and we start the process over again.  I’m thinking bins would be great.