BoomerGirl Diary

I tend to concentrate on the inside of the house. I take pride in making sure everything is clean and clutter-free for the most part. Cleanliness is definitely a factor in maintaining a comfortable and livable home.

I recently visited one of my girlfriends. As I traveled through her garage to the backyard I noticed how easy it was to walk through the space without bumping into anything, or banging into her car. Everything had a place. It was probably one of the cleanest garages I'd seen in a while. When I inquired about how organized everything was she told me that her husband was in charge of maintaining the garage. He obviously took his job seriously.

I began to wonder how I could encourage all of the men out there to clean out their garages and help their wives, who are undoubtedly and subconsciously affected by garage clutter and downright filth.

Our garages seem to be the last stop for most of the junk we own. I'm still waiting for my husband to get rid of a set of rims that don't even fit the car he's currently driving. I have even threatened to make end tables out of them, but they're still stacked up the corner.

Let's face it, our garage is usually the last thing we see when we leave in the morning and the first thing we see when we come home at night. When you think about it, the garage sets the tone for the entire house. And there is nothing worse than getting all dressed up to go somewhere and bumping up against a dirty car or an oily wrench.

With all of the new gadgets available for garages these days maybe our next purchase should be a garage makeover for our husbands.

New shelving, floor liners, refrigerators and even a flat-screen television would be fine with me if I could have a spotless garage to come home to every day.

Garages can also be dangerous. According to www.garagetek.com some of the dangers in our garages revolve around grease spills, poor lighting, improperly stored chemicals and poorly mounted storage units. Check out the Web site for more tips on organizing your garage space.

— Mi-Ling Stone Poole is the author of "Ask Mi-Ling! When you Want the Truth About Decorating." If you have a decorating dilemma, visit Mi-Ling at mi-ling.com.