Organizing Your Garage

Is your garage a well-organized haven where you go to enjoy activities beyond parking your vehicles? Or is it the place where everything you couldn’t bear to part with ended up after you decluttered the rest of your house?

There’s no need to feel bad if you fall into the latter category — you have a lot of company.

• In a poll Garage Living conducted across North America, 20% of the 1,500 respondents said they had no room to park in their garages.

• According to a U.S. Department of Energy study, a quarter of people who have 2-car garages don’t park in them at all, and a third have room to park only one car — largely because of clutter.

• Half the homeowners in a study by the National Association of Professional Organizers said the garage was the most disorganized area of their house.

• Only 11% of respondents in a Wall Street Journal survey said they were satisfied with their garages, and removing junk was their top answer for improving them.

• In a survey by Impulse Research, 24% of respondents admitted they were embarrassed to leave their garage doors open.

First, Clear Out the Clutter

As when tidying a closet or pantry, garage organizing is most successful if you begin by hauling out everything you’re keeping in there. The good news is that once you have a clear view of all that empty space — and can measure it to see exactly how much space there is — you can plan to repurpose some of it for activities you enjoy. Many people use at least part of their garages as gyms, hobby rooms, music rooms, vehicle maintenance shops, home offices, and lots more.

Take time to look closely at everything you’ve stored in your garage and decide how much of it you need to kick to the curb. If it’s a sizable amount, hire someone to pick up the junk, and/or rent a dumpster to stash the trash as the cleanup proceeds. It’ll be well worth it to help you conserve your energy for the tasks ahead. When you’re free of debris, you’ll feel so much better that you might even start looking forward to the rest of the project.

Next, you’ll need to decide where to stow things you’ve removed from the garage to clear space for organizing but will want to put back there when the project is finished. If you don’t have a storage shed, don’t want to leave everything in your driveway, and don’t want a house full of garage refugees, there are a few solutions. You could borrow shed or garage space from a neighbor; erect a big, waterproof tent to give the items temporary shelter; or rent a storage unit for a month. Any of these alternatives beats re-cluttering the garage you just decluttered!

Now, what about things you no longer want or need that someone else might be able to use? Gather them all together, and divide them into two groups: worn but usable items to donate to charity, and nicer things that people would be willing to pay for, helping to fund your organizing project.

Depending what kind of salable goods you have and how much time you can spare to unload them, you could hold a garage sale or list items on eBay or niche sites like Etsy, Poshmark, or Offer Up. There’s even one called Decluttr — great name — that’s an online consignment shop for used technology.

When all those belongings are out of the way, the garage will be ready for a thorough cleaning. This is great exercise if you choose to do it yourself, but it's also something you can hire a pro to do.

Embark on Your Organizing Adventure

Once the cleaning is complete, you can create zones in your spotless garage for things you’ll continue to keep there, for example:

• Tools and supplies for vehicle maintenance and home improvement

• Ladders and stepstools

• Craft and hobby items

• Gardening supplies and lawn care equipment

• Holiday decorations and lights

• Bulky outerwear and/or out-of-season clothes

• Adults’ camping and sporting gear

• Kids’ toys and sports equipment

• Pets’ toys, supplies, and carriers

• Bicycles, scooters, and skateboards

• Garbage cans and recycling bins

This will help you envision your soon-to-be-organized garage, see how much space will be left over, and plan how best to use it. Then, figure out what containers, gadgets, and tools you’ll need for storage and what furnishings you’ll need to convert whatever part of the garage you plan to use for another purpose.

When you consider the storage potential of each surface of your garage, you’ll be surprised how many things you can store neatly and still leave room for a car or special-purpose space. Organizing solutions that professionals love include:

• Installing space-saving pegboards and hooks for easy access to items like small tools and rolls of tape

• Building slat walls to create flexible storage space for heavier items

• Investing in a sturdy workbench for DIY projects, with magnetic strips in front to keep most-used tools at hand

• Stocking a tool chest so that you’ll never have to chase down a wandering screwdriver or wrench

• Treating the garage floor to a stain-resistant, easy-to-clean epoxy coating

• Using tall cabinets or rows of wall-mounted shelves to make the most of vertical space

• Hanging ladders horizontally from raised shelving

• Using overhead racks to store bicycles, kayaks, surfboards, skis, tires, patio furniture, and more

• Grouping similar items in stackable, labeled plastic bins, tubs, and totes — as many clear ones as possible to keep the contents visible

• Using retractable cord reels to keep extension cords from running amok, taking up space and creating safety hazards

• Storing paint cans on metal shelving units to keep paint from dripping on the floor

For the Ultimate Solution, Choose Custom Garage Spaces

Going on scavenger hunts for all the bits and pieces you need to put your perfectly organized garage together could spark a series of fun family shopping trips. Or it could result in weeks of frustration as you return or exchange all those products that turned out to be the wrong size or shape, had missing parts, or just didn’t work the way you wanted them to.

If you lack the time or patience to oversee a long, drawn-out process, the Elfa Garage+ system, available through The Container Store, might be the organizing pal of your dreams. You can purchase one or more predesigned spaces with components like shelving, hanging drawers, cabinets, workbenches, and LED lighting in various combinations. Or you can work with Creative Organizing Solutions to develop a custom garage space design to optimize your unique garage space. Once you’ve purchased exactly what you want, professional installers will put it all in place for you.

Whether you make garage organizing a DIY project or turn to the pros for a personalized arrangement, you can create an attractive, functional space that has far more potential than you thought. The only problem is that you might start spending so much time there that your living room gets jealous!

If tackling it alone feels overwhelming, Creative Organizing Solutions is here to help streamline the process with expert guidance and customized solutions. Let’s transform your garage into a space that works for you—without the stress!