How it Started

How We Finally Tackled Our Messy Garage (With a Little Help from Family and Tech!)

Let me take you back to the one area in our house that always seemed to be a complete disaster: the garage. It was the place where all good intentions went to die. To me, it was fine…until I actually needed to find something. Classic.

We “cleaned” it countless times, but it would always end up looking like a tornado hit just a few days later. In a desperate attempt to be organized, we bought bins. That helped a little—until we realized we had no idea what was in each bin. My list of items taped to the bins would fall off, and when I returned my items, I'd be constantly crossing off and rewriting what was inside. It wasn’t just messy; it was chaos with a bow on top.

Building the Shelves: A DIY Challenge

One day, I was mindlessly scrolling through YouTube (as one does) and stumbled upon a video of this lady casually building shelves that looked so easy, even I felt confident. I convinced my husband we should give it a go, because how hard could it be, right? Spoiler alert: something was definitely off. After a lot of “I think that’s supposed to go there,” my husband announced he’d finish it after his trip. (Uh-huh.)

Enter my brother-in-law, who is basically MacGyver in our family. He can build or fix just about anything with whatever random tools he has on hand. Plus, he’s patient—which is one of the reasons he’s amazing (and also because he puts up with my sister, but that’s another story). Anyway, he graciously stepped in, took one look at our “shelf,” and, of course, had to take it all down. Turns out, our garage floors were uneven, and there were a few other surprises causing issues. Who knew?!

Within no time, my brother-in-law fixed everything and got the shelves up and running. And let me tell you, they were perfect! The bins fit just right, and I even got fancy with labels. My husband, on the other hand, went with a more... let’s say, "broad" approach. His bins were labeled “Camping,” “Summer,” and “Tools.” Meanwhile, I had every single item listed on my bins like a proud organizational queen.

For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned.

- Benjamin Franklin

We vowed to keep the garage neat forever! (Guess how long that lasted?) Pretty soon, we were back to rummaging through bins, pulling them down, and guessing what was inside. It was like a treasure hunt, except there was no treasure—just frustration.

The Game-Changing Organization App

One day, after pulling down the wrong bin for the tenth time, we thought, "There has to be an app for this!" An app that keeps track of what’s inside each bin, so we wouldn’t have to play this game every time we needed something. We looked at a few options, but most were either expensive or overly complicated. That’s when Steve—my husband, a software engineer (not a carpenter)—decided to create an app that would work for us. He started working on it, took a long break (as you do), and finally got back to it. After a bit more time, boom—the app was ready!

Of course, I was the first to test it out. My Christmas bins were organized like never before, and I knew exactly which bin to pull out when the holidays rolled around. No more guessing games, no more taking down bins just to find out they were the wrong ones. And when it was time to pack everything away, the app showed me exactly where to store each item. It was a holiday miracle!

The more I used the app, the more I realized how useful it was beyond just Christmas. As someone who loves hosting events for family and friends, I have a ton of decor. Now, I can see what I have without pulling down heavy boxes, and when I take my decor to events, I know exactly what's in each bin. No more forgetting or losing track of items!

So, here we are—our garage is still a work in progress, but with our new app, it’s way easier to keep it organized. And hey, if you find yourself in the same position, maybe our app can help you.

Read our blog for more organization tips.