Ideas for Organizing Your Garage

The average American's garage is a chaotic clutter of bikes, tires, cleaning supplies, and countless other useful tools and gadgets. I imagine that your garage suffers from a similar fate as well. Although organizing your garage would be an overwhelming chore to undertake, do you realize how much space you could potentially free? The whole process of organizing your garage would involve finding appropriate places for items, throwing out useless junk, and sweeping and mopping, of course. To aid you in your quest, here are 5 tips on how to best organize your garage:

Sort and Categorize

The first thing you must do is sort and categorize everything in your garage. You must use separate categories such as sporting goods, automobile supplies, electrical equipment, junk, etc. As you begin to categorize everything, you may discover that there is a whole heap of useless junk scattered throughout your garage; don't be afraid to dump it in the trash.

Once you have properly sorted through everything, determine a suitable location for each category of items. You may want to consider purchasing a few storage bins, as this will definitely simplify the process. For example, sporting goods (e.g. gloves, bats, tennis balls, etc.) can go in one bin, whereas automobile supplies (e.g. oil, windshield wiper fluid, car cover, etc.) You may also discover that some items shouldn't even be in the garage to begin with. For instance, childhood belongings might be better suited for the attic. Ultimately, it is your decision where everything goes.

Make Seasonal Items Accessible

You may want to consider designating a specific shelf to be used only for items pertaining to the current season. These instruments need to be accessible without getting in the way. The next time that winter comes around, for instance, it would be helpful to store all associated items (e.g. snow shovels, window scrapers, etc.) on an easily accessible shelf or rack. In fact, you should prepare the shelf as soon as a specific season begins to approach.

Extra Shelves and Cabinets

In addition to storage bins, you may also want to consider purchasing some extra shelves and cabinets. It never hurts to have more storage space in your garage.

Bench or Table

If you utilize your garage as a working area for household projects, then you may want to consider installing a bench or table. It would make it easier to work if your tools are readily available on a tabletop.

Trash Bins

The biggest reason that junk gathers in the garage is because people don't keep a trash bin nearby. Most of us are just too lazy to carry these useless items to the nearest trash container. It for this reason that I highly recommend keeping at least one trash bin and one recycling bin by the entrance to your garage. It may help you keep your garage more clean and organized.