6 Steps to a Clean and Clutter-Free Pool Shed

It’s easy for these objects to clutter up a storage shed and make it an irritating process to clean the pool or find the kids favourite toys.

However, with some simple, practical tricks, you can organise your storage shed in such a way that everything is kept tidy and, more importantly, the shed will be safe to use.

Consider a separate shed for your pool supplies

One of the easiest things that you can do to keep your pool supplies properly organised is to keep them separate from the other tools and equipment that you are storing in your garden shed or garage. A small storage shed should be enough to house all your pool equipment, and the added benefit to doing this is that you’re able to locate it close to the pool itself, making carting the equipment around far less of a hassle. Additionally, a good one will allow you to lock up afterwards, preventing unwanted access and protecting any young ones in the family from sneaking into the shed and potentially getting access to cleaning chemicals or other dangerous objects. A storage locker shed can be a great option for this.

Give everything a good spring clean

One of the most common causes for clutter in a storage shed is the infrequency with which people clean it out. So, once a year, go through the process of pulling everything out of the shed, inspecting the insides for any signs of damage (for example, leaks or pest infestations), and then throwing out anything that you no longer need. You’ll find that immediately the amount of space you’ll actually be using in the shed will be far less, once the unwanted pool toys, broken and damaged objects and empty cleaning chemical bottles are gone.

Make better use of the space

Given that you’ve just pulled everything out of the shed, now would be a good time to start working on a plan to make more efficient use of the space. Putting in a set of shelves or two is a good idea, and will help you to store pool toys so that they’re not cluttering up the place, or put chemicals out of reach of children. Putting up tool or hose hangers on the walls is a good idea too, as these will allow you to better organise the shed without relying on leaving things on the ground. In short, the better use you can make of the vertical space in the shed, the less of the floor space will be taken up with clutter.

Put things in containers

Nothing is worse than trying to find something small lost in a pile of clutter in a shed; it’s a nightmare needle-in-a-haystack scenario. One way to address this is to make good use of boxes and jars. For large objects, place them in properly labelled boxes when not in use (it would be a good idea to allow them to dry first, after use in the pool). Label those boxes so it’s easy to find them quickly. For smaller objects, set up a table of jars, and store each object (be it nails, or small pool toys) in those jars, which should be similarly labelled. It’s a good idea to use see-through or glass jars for this purpose, so that you’re not ever going to need to put a hand into the jar blind.

Some basic rules about storing chemicals

Because you need to be careful with pool chemicals, it’s also important to store them properly. Apply the following basic rules when storing whatever chemicals you’re using in your pool:

• Only buy enough chemicals for use through a single year. Chemicals can be corrosive to their containers, or can go off, and you don’t want to have to try and dispose of them in those circumstances.
• Keep powder and liquid chemicals separate to prevent the risk of them mixing, and the potential chemical reactions that could occur as a result.
• If you can, store the chemicals in a robust box or safe that can be locked. This further reduces the risk of pets or kids coming into contact with them.
• Always store chemicals in their original containers. Often these containers are specially designed to house that chemical, where other containers would corrode from the strength of it.

Keep an inventory

For people really committed to keeping their pool gear neat and tidy, you could also set up an Excel spreadsheet to keep an inventory of everything you’ve got stored in the shed. That way, after kids are done playing with the toys, you’ll know exactly what needs to go back to the shed, and if anything has gone missing, you can keep a track of it.

Handy tips for pool shed organisation

None of these tricks are overly complex (and are indeed just common sense), but if you’re planning on getting a lot of use out of your pool, going through the process to properly organise the storage of the pool equipment and toys will save you a lot of money and time over the long term.