6 Thrifty Garage Organizing Ideas

A messy garage is like a black hole. It sucks in everything in its path. To bring order to the chaos of my garage, I harnessed the help of my whole family. With a few simple garage organizing ideas we tamed the madness on a budget. Now I can park my car in the garage again and enjoy having extra storage space all around me.

#1. Cheap Wall Shelves

Using cheap metal shelf brackets and wood planks, you can mount shelves all along the back wall of your garage. It's much cheaper than buying metal shelving that can run you several hundred dollars. Just be sure to use toggle hooks for hardware, so your shelves will be sturdy. And add a middle shelf bracket under long shelves for extra support in the middle.

#2. Tool Shadow Rack

Lay all your tools in an ordered fashion on a piece of plywood. Draw their outline with a pencil then fill in the outline in a dominant color. Mount the shadow rack on the wall. Place each tool over its outline and drive screws beneath it until the tool can hang by itself. In this way, you can create a cheap tool rack, which is easy to use because the outline helps you see which tool belongs where.

#3. Hanging Shelves

Using zinc (lighting) chains you can put together cheap hanging shelves. Start by driving two heavy-duty screw hooks into your garage ceiling beams at a distance of five feet. Hang a long loop of zinc chain (lighting chain) from each screw using a cheap spring link (3 for $1.00). Insert a six foot long wood shelf into the loops on the right and left to create a hanging shelf. For safety, attach the shelf to the chain with small cup screw hooks.

#4. Garden Tools Rack

Using coat hooks you can mount a wonderfully cheap tool rack on your garage wall. Attach a long plank of 2x4 lumber firmly to your garage wall. Then affix a horizontal line of coat hooks all down the length of the wood to create a long rack for hanging your broom stick, rake, shovel, shears and other garden tools. If your tools come without a hole in the handle, drill one and thread a piece of rope or rubber band through.

#5. Rope Shelving

By threading ropes into the corners of wood shelves you can build another type of hanging shelves. Knots in the ropes under the shelf will keep it from sliding down. Create a stack of a few shelves and suspend it anywhere from your garage ceiling beams. Just be sure to use strong enough hardware to support the weight of the shelf.

#6. Utility Clothesline

Nail strong clotheslines along your garage wall. Use laundry pegs to suspend small items like sandpaper. Use clothes hangers for larger items like coils of extension cords. Just be sure the hardware with which you attach the clothesline to the wall will support the required weight.

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