I have a theory that a well-organized garage is a critical component to an organized home.

 

As I’ve helped people organize their homes I have frequently found items stored inside hall closets or bedrooms that really belong in the garage. Typically this happens because people fill up their garage and find no other solution except to bring garage items indoors. The garage is usually full of items they no longer need or use but just don’t have the desire to sort through the clutter. Here are a few tips I can offer about organizing a garage: 

De-clutter. Pick a day, write it on the calendar, and go through every item in your garage. We did this once on New Year’s Day and our neighbors thought we were moving. It was embarassing to see how much stuff we had packed into our little garage. We knew we had to take action. So, begin by sorting through what you have and put it in three categories : 1) keep  it 2) give it away or 3) throw it away. Hopefully you’ll be able to realistically part with the majority of items so you’ll have to space to keep what you really need and use.

Create zones. Once you’ve decided which items you’re going to keep, you need to group them into several purposes or zones. Our garage has areas for the cars, sporting goods, food, gift wrap, holiday items, kids clothing and extra toys. Use large plastic bins and a label maker to keep like items together and then you can easily access all of your items as needed.

Maximize every bit of space. Our garage is not large and it’s also home to both of our vehicles. We installed overhead storage bins, wall shelving, bike storage systems, and hooks in our garage to use every inch of available storage space. There are a ton of great options out there for maximizing storage space. I have found great things everywhere from Target to Home Depot to help bring order to a once chaotic and crowded space.

Keep it clean. The garage can easily fall victim to becoming a dumping ground for random items. It’s an area that guests don’t see when they pop over for a visit so it’s easy to turn a blind eye to things being out of place. Resist the urge to do this or it will ooze into all other organizational systems in your home. As the seasons change and our need to access items in our overhead storage bins becomes necessary, we try to use that as an opportunity to straighten things up in the garage. We sweep the floor, replace misplaced items to their proper place, and sift through boxes looking for items to giveaway that we no longer need or use. It never fails to amaze me how much garbage we end up tossing out during our quarterly garage tidy-up sessions.

Spruce it up. I’ve seen people paint their garage fun colors or hang posters or artwork on the walls. We had our garage floor epoxy coated to make project clean-ups easy as well as provide a non-slip surface. Some people even use their garages for entertaining or as teenager haven. Regardless of what you use your garage for you may want to consider giving it a cosmetic makeover once you’ve completed your organizational overhaul.

Question: What zones do you have or do you want to have in your garage?