Here's a tip... "Keep it neat. Keep it clean. Keep it organized."

Now, doing all this is often easier said than done, especially if you get into major or extensive jobs. Being involved with so many projects, my garage did not live up to my own advice. As I have been redoing my floors with Rust-Oleum's Garage Floor Coating system, I have taken this opportunity to reorganize and restructure how I have been working in my home garage. I want to thank Rusto-Garage for giving me the motivation to tackle such a large project.

It's a lot easier to "Keep it neat. Keep it clean. Keep it organized." if your possessions are few, but that isn't me, and it probably isn't you either. Since we all love to accumulate stuff, we have work ahead of us. If your garage is packed, you may need a temporary storage tent or structure to hold your stuff to create some room to move - just remember that most of the stuff will need to go back.

So why even try? You may think "I don't have time for that" or "I will get back to it later when I have time" (6+ months later!)... Well, keep in mind the old adage "a stitch in time saves nine", and consider dividing a big project into small, achievable tasks.

With that in mind, let's consider each of the three points I raised separately, and see if we can make better progress that way.

Keep it neat.

When you Keep it neat, especially where you work, you are less likely to misplace parts and pieces. If you just rip stuff apart and toss it in a pile, a minor task turns into a major project, and too many major projects become overwhelming in combination. When you become overwhelmed, projects will often not be completed and will either be sold off or scrapped - and no one wants that.

Keep it clean.

If everything you do or handle is kept clean, you will often solve problems before they can become catastrophic failures. Ask any engine builder: dirt will destroy an engine, and anyone working with carburetors knows how an engine runs better when the carburetor is clean. Another situation I recall involved the greasy frame of a car chassis. As I cleaned the grease, it exposed a cracked frame, which is a safety issue on any vehicle.

Ultimately, if what you are working on is clean in appearance, painted, in acceptable tolerances, and is as detailed as it was when it was originally assembled in the factory, then what you are working on will (probably) perform as it did when it was new. Food for thought. Heck, even keeping the floors swept in your work area will help you find a nut or bolt when it is accidently dropped.

Keep it organized.

This is important on so many levels. How feasible it is over a long period of time, and how exactly it is accomplished, depends on what you are working on.

Keeping your tools organized will allow you to keep track of your 10mm sockets and allow you to get exactly what you need when you need it. If each tool has its own spot, then you will know exactly when you are missing a tool and which one. If each tool is put back as you are working, you become less likely to lose them.

Task organization will help you complete a complicated job. When I rebuild a carburetor that has many complex parts in it and I may not have a manual for it, I will set up a camera and have it focused on my work area and set it so it will take a picture every 3 seconds. I then can see where every screw and piece comes from. When I'm done, I watch it in reverse to see how it goes back together. I also set up a special table, and a cloth area, to help prevent pieces from rolling off the table.

When restoring a car, I label everything. I put all those pieces into bins that I also label and take photos of the contents of each, so I can search for the parts on my computer before I start a physical search. Because I am working on multiple cars, I try to keep bins with their respective cars.

Ultimately, we are not going to live forever. If you passed away, and someone came into your "space" and had no clue as to what you were doing, would they be able to make sense of things, or would everything just be tossed into a dumpster? I am presently attempting to label and tag everything – not just for me, but so that my loved ones can tell what each item is, what it is for, and its approximate value at the moment I tagged it. One day, when my story ends, my family will have an easier time selling what I have, and will be able to identify what they want to keep or send to a new home.

So, in conclusion, do it for yourself, do it for your loved ones, do it for posterity, do it because it's the right thing to do, but, above all, just do it!!! "Keep it neat. Keep it clean. Keep it organized".