Organize Your Garage in 5 Easy Steps

Every year around this time, we experience an increase in people calling for help with organizing their garage. If you’ve ever had to scrape your windshield, you know why! Here in Michigan, we had our first burst of cold air over Labor Day weekend. If you want to finally store your car in your garage, follow these 5 easy steps:

1. Prepare Ahead of Time – Set aside a day when you are expecting good weather. Make it a family project and get everyone involved. Have plenty of boxes for donation items and garbage bags for trash. Schedule your favorite charity to come and pick-up your donation items a couple of days later.

2. Empty EVERYTHING out into the driveway. As you remove each item, make a decision – toss, donate or keep. If it is toss, put it right in the garbage. If it is donate, put it right into the box, and if it is keep, put it on the driveway.

3. When you have removed it all, clean the garage.

4. Now you are ready to return the contents to your garage. Determine how you plan to use the space in the garage. Designate areas, or zones, for your various categories (e.g. sports equipment, tools, gardening, lawn care, car care, etc.). The saying “a place for everything and everything in its place” applies to every room in your house…including the garage. Consider the following:

Ultra-Hold Yard Tool Rack

• Utilize wall space to maximize floor space.
• Think vertical. Shelving, StoreWall, or grid systems allow you to take advantage of the vertical space, and gets things off the floor.
• Hooks are great and very inexpensive. They can be used for such items as shovels, rakes, bikes, cords, ladders, hoses and lawn chairs.
• Explore specialized garage organization products for things like sports equipment, golf clubs, skis, bikes and lawn & garden. These products will make your life easier and help protect your belongings.


Standing Bike Rack

• Don’t ignore the ceiling. You can hang a rack from the ceiling to hold off-season items such as Christmas decorations, boats, picnic tables, etc. You can also hang bikes or ladders from the ceiling.
• If you have kids or pets, store chemicals up high or in locked cabinets.

5. Put It All Back Together – Shop for any needed garage organization products and install if necessary. Return the remaining items to their new designated locations, and label any boxes or containers.

Now that you have completed your garage organizing project, put the donation boxes out for pickup, the trash bags in the bin, and pull your car into your garage. Go inside, put your feet up and have your favorite pizza delivered.

-Donna Lindley, Certified Professional Organizer and owner of Rochester Hills, MI-based Organize Your World, Inc.

For more garage organization ideas visit Organize-It.com.

*Photo shows Classica garage system, courtesy of Organized Living.