Daily Declutter Challenge #41 - The Little Shed of Horrors

We're very thankful for our home and we love our neighborhood and large backyard. One drawback though is that we don't have a garage or basement....but we do have a shed!  A tiny, dark, spider infested shed, but at least it keeps stuff out of the rain.  It's filled with painting supplies, garden tools, the lawn mower, ladder, and many other things we didn't even know we had.

Today we made it a project for the whole family, much to our children's horror.  NOBODY likes to go into that shed!

Can you blame us?

We decided to were going to pull EVERYTHING out, so we formed an assembly line and my brave husband went in there to pass items out.  He killed at least 5 REALLY BIG spiders.  We grow em big out here.

We placed everything onto the patio and decided what we should keep and what we could toss and what we could put in the garage sale pile.

 

Hard to believe that all fit in the shed.  It looks like a hoarder's backyard!


After it was emptied out I went in with a broom and a face mask.  (I'm not kidding - I didn't want to be breathing in whatever crap was in there.)  I pulled my hoodie on my head really tightly so I wouldn't get spiders in my hair.  I'm sure I killed at least 10 while I was in there.  *shudder*  And I really hate spiders.


After giving it a thorough sweeping out, I  sprayed the corners and walls with a homemade spider repellent of vinegar, eucalyptus oil, and peppermint oil.  I have no idea if this will work, but it made me feel a little better about being in there.  Now our shed smells all minty fresh!

After it was de-cobwebbed we put the large, not very frequently used items in first.  We put a bunch of nails up to hang things within easy reach on the walls.

  My hubby also put up some scrap pieces of wood as mini shelves to place narrow items.

 

We didn't have enough wall space for those fancy rake holder clamps, plus we didn't feel like a trip to Home Depot. Instead my handy husband just took a piece of scrap wood and nailed it across a corner and put all our brooms, shovels, rakes etc behind it.  Simple and free fix!

Mostly we just got rid of stuff though.  We put it all back nice and neat and here's the end of three hours of hard work.

 

Now we can actually get the lawn mower out without wrestling junk out of the way.  And you can't tell from the photos, but it's waaaay less cobwebby and creepy.

So to recap How to Organize a Shed that you haven't dealt with since the birth of your third child almost 5 years ago.....

1.  Pull EVERYTHING out.
2.  Get rid of junk you don't need or use.  Recycle if you can!
3.  Sweep it out - wearing a mask and hoodie will help!
4.  Put up nails for hanging, scrap wood for more shelves.
5.  Put it all back, nice and neat.
6.  Hug your husband and make him feel appreciated!  His love language is probably physical touch.   Mine is acts of service.  :-)  So I'm a very happy wife today!