Your garage can easily become a catchall for everything that is overflowing from your house. I know in our family everyone puts things in the garage but I find that it’s myself that is constantly organizing it so I can find and work on things. Your garage can easily become crowded and a disorganized mess so fast! I don’t know about anyone else, but I love being able to find things easily in my garage and be able to work on projects efficiently with the tools and supplies I know I can find in my garage.
I never knew that the vast majority of people don’t store their cars in their garage because there isn’t enough room. So, we offer some easy, simple, and inexpensive ideas for creating more space in your garage and keeping it organized easily! Organizing your garage is a great winter project when it’s raining and snowing.
I want you to start with a plan of how you would like the interior of your garage to look, what you need to access how often, and what only needs to be accessed seasonally. The best part of the project is the planning starts in the warmth of your home at your desk or dining room table. So, we are going to have you start with drafting a plan of how you want your garage laid out. Optimally think of how often you use certain items and what items need to be used on a regular basis. A good example is camping equipment is generally only used in the summer, but getting access to your chest freezer in the garage is something that happens weekly.
A real good planning idea is to list everything that is in your garage and then have two columns on your planning sheet; weekly or daily access and seasonal access. This will help you so much when we get to the segregating process which comes next.
As much as possible keep things off the garage floor. It will make keeping your garage organized that much easier.
You might need a full day or weekend to get this task completed. The whole idea is to get rid of what you no longer need and free up space, to begin with before we start with a new layout for the interior of your garage. Depending on how crowded and messy your garage currently is this could be a couple of weekend projects, but it will make all the next steps that much easier.
You will end up with three areas: keep, donate or sell, and garbage. We laid out tarps on our driveway for the three different piles. Once we got into the project it went pretty quick. We had a large donation pile, some that went to the dump, and a pretty good size group of items that we posted to Facebook Marketplace.
We netted donation write-offs and also some cash from our found tressures that found a new home. If you live in a suburban area a garage sale is a quick way to move usable items and net some cash. Also, if you don’t want to take your donation into town Amazon has their Give Back Box, just use a box and print the label on their site and take to a drop-off mailing site or have your box picked up at your home.
Everyone has their best-loved organizing tools and systems and we share the ones that have saved us time and money below. Our criteria for our choices for organizing our garage, the tool or system must be reasonably priced, and have good longevity.
Garage lighting is a must and can make or break keeping things organized and also how easy it is to work on projects. We have overhead fluorescent lighting in the garage and over my workbench. If I had to do it again, I would definitely add garage door windows, both because they add curb appeal, but more importantly, they let light naturally into your garage. Shed Windows and More has a wonderful selection of garage door windows to choose from that will enhance the look of your garage while letting light into your garage area also.
One of my favorite things I just added to my workbench is a high-intensity telescoping light that can be mounted to the wall or in my case it is attached to the workbench with a C-clamp. This has been a wonderful addition for small precision work making the task so much easier and enjoyable. Be sure to send us photos of before and after of your garage organization, some of our best ideas for new products come from our customer’s suggestions or questions.