How to Organize a Messy Garage

Midwesterners have more items in their garage than most—collecting summer accessories, fall rakes and blowers, and winter snow gear, in order to be prepared for every season. With a large assortment of stuff to sort through, it’s no wonder our garages are constantly a mess, making it hard to find what we’re looking for. At Uplift Garage, we want to help get your garage in shape for the winter by sharing a few organization tips, so the inside looks as great as it does on the outside.

GET INSPIRED

It’s time to do a little homework and create a vision for your garage. Gathering inspiration from other garages is a great way to make sure your space is not only functional, but also attractive. Every garage is different, so use inspiration sites to search for specific ways to use the space and storage units you already have efficiently. A great place to start is the wonderful world of Pinterest. There are so many ideas bouncing around that you’re bound to find something that will catch your eye and make your gears start turning. You can also consult an organizational expert to learn from a pro and let a fresh perspective help find the best system for your possessions and lifestyle. Any tool to help you break out of the confines of your current storage system and make the most of your space should be utilized!

EXPLORE GARAGE ORGANIZATION STRATEGIES

As you may find during the “research” phase of this project, some styles or organization types may not work for you. Different methods work for different people, and approaches that function the best for you will all depend on your lifestyle, and how your mind works. For instance, you can choose to organize your garage by season. In this fashion, you can tuck away all of your spring and summer gear and put the fall and winter supplies into now easily accessible spots to be used more frequently in the seasons to come. Once winter passes, you can use your “spring cleaning” day to reverse the setup and make spring and summer equipment readily available. Or, you can organize the items you have by activity or category. Again, each category can be determined by your lifestyle and how you operate daily. Typically, in a categorically organized garage, you would find bins or sections labeled in groups such as tools, athletic gear, storage, toys, and maintenance (vehicles or devices).

SPRING AND FALL ORGANIZATION DAY

Sometimes we can be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of “stuff” we have hidden in our garage, and it throws us off our organization game. To help combat this, it’s helpful to host not only a spring-cleaning day but to set aside a fall day as well. You don’t want to move into winter and the cold weather that comes with it filled to the rafters with clutter, so dedicate a day or two to clearing out all unwanted junk from your garage. When you’re able to see everything you have, and trim the “fat” off your possession bank, your garage organization venture will be infinitely less stressful. Selling or donating your unwanted items is not only a way to promote cleanliness in your own home, but they’re also practices that will help the environment through the use of reusing and recycling!

WORK VERTICALLY

Keeping your floors uncovered by storage boxes and equipment is vitally important all year long. It’s much more difficult to blow out debris and leaves or clean up melted snow from your vehicle if you don’t have space to move around your garage. Keep a 2-3 feet radius clear around your vehicles to allow space to open your doors fully without hitting other cars, storage units, or lawn equipment. By using your wall space efficiently, you can take advantage of your vertical space and still have ample room to store one or two vehicles in your garage. And of course, depending on if you have a shed for storing off-season equipment, you may need to rearrange what you keep in your prime space. Your garage storage is limited so be sure to prioritize which items you will use more frequently and can be stored in easy to reach places.

CONSIDER THE KIDS

Store all the kids’ toys, sports equipment, and safety gear in one convenient location. Not only will it help prevent your garage from looking cluttered, but it helps protect your kids from maneuvering around other equipment or tools that may be dangerous. What may be of significant help is putting all the kids’ items in a specific cabinet or container, so they know exactly where their toys and athletic gear is and they won’t have to scour the garage or enlist your help to find it. Choose a storage cabinet with plenty of space to organize the different types of toys and equipment on different shelves. No more looking all over the garage for the knee pads, baseball mitts, or chalk.

EXTRA-CREDIT TIP

Gone are the days where your garage ceiling is solely used for your garage door tracks. However, as your garage door experts, please be careful as you hang overhead storage containers. You want to make sure you leave plenty of room for your garage door to operate smoothly without impediment from other storage tracks. Overhead storage units are ideal for storing off-season items such as winter coats, swimming gear, and extra sporting equipment.

Your garage is the landing zone for your life. Whether you’re a soccer mom, a stay-at-home dad, or an adventure junkie, we want to help you get back in gear and prepared for the seasons to come. Offering organizational tips isn’t all we do, we also provide garage door services including roller replacement, doors off their tracks, installations, and sales. Give us a call for your garage door repair needs or visit our website for coupons and other helpful garage door tips.