# How Can I get the tack room clean! Help!



## BurningAmber520 (Jan 6, 2009)

So I'm going to be taking over the beginner lesson program at my barn (totally awesome!) and I would like to work on getting the tack room, office etc. cleaned up! Well the tack room is a Mess! I don't think its been cleaned and sorted since carol bought the farm in 1994. Theres tons of stuff that doesnt belong to anyone that needs to be sorted and thrown away or sold. Problem is we dont know what belongs to people and what doesn't.

My idea was to hang up a sign on the tackroom door that everyone needs to label their stuff by a certain date and anything without a name on it after that date will be sorted and disposed of accordingly. Do you guys think thats a good idea? Any other ideas? Thanks


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## StormyBlues (Dec 31, 2008)

Yea for you! That is really exiting! I think hanging a sign on the door is a GREAT idea! And if they can't writing on it, put a peice of electrical tape on it in their own color. When you do clean it out, good luck, and start early! our little tack room for 5 horses that I own and take care of myslef takes me a whole day!


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## horseoffire (Apr 7, 2009)

i would have a mandatory meeting for cleaning the tack room of a friday evening or a day after lessons or before lessons


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## ShannonSevenfold (Oct 11, 2008)

I agree with horseoffire. A mandatory meeting would get it done. =)


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Yep, mandatory meeting should suffice. Then you could clear everything out and maybe keep it for a few days for anyone who may have missed the meeting. My suggestion for organizing is to completely take every little thing out, decide where everything should go, then put it all back in. I do that with my tack room at least once a year but it is still cluttered. I have so much that I need to get rid of.


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## Joshie (Aug 26, 2008)

The barn owner will have to request this.


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## HorseLuvr (Jun 30, 2009)

At our barn we have boxes that have the horses name on it and they boxes are placed on the side of the walls with a bucket on top of the box and the bucket has all the brushes, hoofpick..etc. We also sweep our tackroom around 2 times a week. I think our stables tackroom is nicely set up so maybe you could get an idea out of it.


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## lovemyponies (Jul 26, 2008)

our tack room is similar. I went through piles of stuff and threw out all the stuff that was completely unusable. I put it in a pile first just in case anyone wanted to salvage anything. I would def talk to the barn owner about it as well. good luck!


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## StormyBlues (Dec 31, 2008)

If you have like two bottles of hooflex half full, pour it all into one bottle, it saves room!


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## Misfit (Jun 29, 2009)

Here's how I would do it:

~Post signs on the door, in the barn, pretty much everywhere saying "If you have stuff in the tack room, it MUST be put away by X date" (I'm assuming they have tack boxes/lockers, and aren't supposed to be leaving their crap out everywhere)
~On X date, there will be a tackroom/office/barn clean out party. Pizza will be ordered for people who are willing to help out. Someone will bring some speakers for an ipod, and you will have a party.
~Everything left over in the "I have no clue whose this is/what to do with this" pile will be put in a lost in found. New signs will replace the old signs saying that after Y date (about a week or so after the party) everything will be thrown out/donated. If something is yours, claim it now or forever hold your peace. On Y date, throw it out or donate everything. 

While cleaning the tack room, have people in different battle stations. Have one group cleaning all tack/leather, and sorting out stuff that is no longer useable. Have another group cleaning and sorting brushes. Have one group in charge of washing and sorting saddle pads/girths/other fuzzy things.


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## StormyBlues (Dec 31, 2008)

^Great great great great great advice!


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## RacePony007 (Jul 4, 2009)

Have absolutely every body take all of their stuff out and put it in their own pile! Then clean off anything and everything and sweep the walls and the floors as good as possible! Then one person at a time can put their stuff in and sort the stuff out that they don't need! Then at the end label every stand with the proper name! And throw away everything that can be, and have the rest of it tooken home or sold!


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## JadedEyes (Jun 26, 2009)

The tack room in the self-care barn (where I keep my stuff) is sooooo freaking gross. I don't even want to keep my stuff in there because it is so nasty. I feel like I'm going to catch something while I'm in there. The barn owner can't keep it clean like her other barn because the boarders simply don't care and put there **** everywhere. I can't stand it. I want to just dedicate a whole day probably more like two or three to just clean it out from top to bottom. But the people in that barn as just so bitchy and lazy that in a week it would be right back the way it was. No one cares about their stuff. I know that I have spent a lot of money on my horse care supplies and don't want it getting wasted or ruined because people were lazy and disrespectful of mine and their own things.

What the heck can I do?


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## lovemyponies (Jul 26, 2008)

best you can do is carve out your own personal area Jaded eyes. I would not keep my tack there, better to take it home in that situation. But for your other stuff I would get a really big sturdy plastic container and sweep clean the area around your box of stuff. Another option is to build a free standing tack box. You have to ask BO of course. My friend's hubby built one and it was really nice, there was room for multiple saddles, bridles, halters, etc. and all her grooming stuff. 

Keeps your stuff away from everyone else's mess.


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## Misfit (Jun 29, 2009)

At one of the old barns I was at, the owner posted a note on the door saying that we had 3 days to clean our stuff up. Anything left out after 3 days would be confiscated and we'd have to pay a $1 fine per item to get it back.


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## nldiaz66 (Jul 27, 2008)

I know if everything has a "home" its easy to keep it clean, I now use my old shed for my tack room and everything has a home, so its pretty easy to keep it clean, but I dont board either so I know its not going to be easy.
Misfit, thats a good ideal , charge everyone a dollar to get their stuff back, maybe that way they will learn to keep it put up where it belongs.


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