The seven deadly sins of garage disorganization

I must confess to being one of those people who likes their spices alphabetized and their mail sorted and filed upon opening. But even I have trouble keeping my garage organized - it's certainly closer to this messy state than the orderly one below!

And apparently I'm not alone in this struggle. According to a recent survey by Gladiator GarageWorks, conducted online as part of the Ipsos Omnibus in February, only seven per cent of Canadians say their garage is truly organized. To put that in perspective, the majority of Canadians in the study - 76 per cent - say they've tried to whip their garages into shape.

That may be due to just how much people hate this task. More than a third - 38 per cent - of Canadians said they would rather pull weeds than tackle their garage, 16 per cent would rather do their taxes and 11 per cent would rather go to the dentist.

But while we may not want to actually do the work, we do know what we'd like to see there: dream garages include "organized oasis" - for 56 per cent of women and 33 per cent of men - a "wicked workshop", 27 per cent of men, and a "gearhead garage", 22 per cent of men.

Here's the "seven deadly sins" of garage disorganization, to help inspire and motivate (or at least entertain) you!

1. Procrastination: Almost one third (29 per cent) of Canadians are garage organizational procrastinators. Ontarians (35 per cent) and Atlantic Canadians (31 per cent) are the most likely to put off the chore, while 47 per cent of Ontarians and 56 per cent of Atlantic Canadians say they don't have the time to clean. 

2. Frustration: Almost a quarter - 25 per cent - of Canadians get annoyed and frustrated when they can't find things in their garage.

3. Abandonment: More than 20 per cent of Canadians say they use their garage as a dumping ground for unwanted items.

4. Envy: Seventeen per cent of Canadians admit to being envious of their neighbour's garage.

5. Hoarding: Seventeen per cent of Canadian males fess up to keeping so much stuff in their garage that there isn't even room for their car.

6. Despair: One in 10 Canadians have given up on having the garage of their dreams, with 35 per cent of Ontarians saying it would take more than a weekend to get theirs organized.

7. Stink: Only two per cent of Canadians admitted to finding an unidentifiable foul odour in their garage at some point (we can link ours to the garbage strike!).

Get more seasonal inspiration in our spring cleaning guide.

Comments

[Scott Jarvis]

That's too funny. The before and after photos look almost exactly like my garage! I even had the little green kiddy push car. The plastic wheels were so noisy I dipped them in liquid rubber to quite them down. Those are some interesting statistic you present in the article. I used the Gladiator GarageWorks products to organize my garage and I really enjoy being organized and finding my garage gear in a quick order.

[Tom Cross]

In my blog, I've tried to bring some understanding to the process that gets us to a garage that's out of control. There's usually some emotional component but I've never seen them identified so clearly.

Thanks for posting the survey results. I've can't find them on the website so perhaps they put them out as a press release.