My parents built the house I have in 1964 and Dad actually had the garage widened an extra 2 feet at that time. Great decision on his part.
So growing up, 2 cars were always kept in the garage. When I started driving and they got me an older car, it sat in the driveway about half way down so the car it was behind could still get out without moving it. After I moved back in with them (after 12 years away), Dad parked in the driveway and my car was in the garage. Then when Mom stopped driving, they sold her car and we only had the 2 cars in the garage.
We have a full basement so the junk went there and all the lawn stuff went into the shed Dad put up. When Dad moved to NC after Mom's death, it was only the 1 car in the garage and I still parked on the side as if there was going to be another car in there. There was some mess in there but it was usually just stuff like boxes to be recycled (actually have some of that now).
After Dad passed away and I decided to clean out the junk in the basement, a lot of it went into the garage until it could be disposed of whether it was recycling, donation or trashed. When I remodeled the kitchen/dining room, I had furniture out there until it could be picked up and taken away (I sold or donated it). When I had the dumpster for the last of the basement stuff, I also took time to clean out the shelves in the garage that Dad had stuff on. Had to laugh because I found an attachment for a piece of lawn equipment that had not been around for about 25 years.
So right now, my garage is relatively clean and I can get my car in there. There is space for a 2nd vehicle as well. I have a pen setup for the dog for when I'm gone during nice weather. She can get to the fenced in patio or be in the garage. I probably should put some of the boxes that have built up out for recycle but they aren't in the way so I haven't done it.
About once a year (sometimes twice) I will move the car out, move things and sweep the garage floor to get the grit and leaves that accumulate out. Next month should be a good time to do it.
The only times I can remember not even being able to park in the garage was the 2 times I was having remodeling done and each time was about 2 days since the company doing the work put all their tools and the new cabinets in there. The other time was about a week and it was when the old driveway was torn out and a new driveway was put in. Had to park in the yard so I could go to work. Other than that the garage has always been used for its original purpose.
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