Nothing feels better than a good junk purge. Check out these great tips on how to organize your garage.

If you’re like most of us, your garage isn’t just a haven for your car. From bikes to tools to random bins and boxes you never got around to unpacking, your garage may also be doubling as a storage shed for everything you don’t have a place for inside your home. That doesn’t mean it has to inspire anxiety and leave you scrounging for a way to avoid tripping over your roller blades from 1996 as you try to open your car do in the morning. Follow these simple tips to get your garage back in order.

  1. Dedicate time: If you really want to conquer your garage, carving out a time to tackle the project in it’s entirely is essential. While the current state of your garage is huge factor in determining how much time you will need to complete the space, it is safe to say that you will need multiple weekends to finish the project. Not looking to drag it out? Plan a staycation and use some of your vacation or PTO from work and dedicate it to the cause.
  2. Gut it: The easiest way to tackle organizing your garage is to bring everything, yes EVERYTHING, out and begin sorting. We recommend three piles- keep, donate and garbage. Not only does this help you take an inventory of everything you were hoarding but it also allows you to survey what you actually use the most versus the “I may need this one day” items that have been collecting dust in the corners
  3. Get it off the floor: Wall slats and peg board can be your biggest weapons in fighting against clutter. Turning a wall, or even a portion of a wall, into hangable space can do wonders for getting things off the ground and in to order. Take the traditional route with hooks or go a more modern route and mount baskets and shelves to organize tools, cleaning products and holiday decorations.
  4. Mount cabinets: Much in line with getting things of the floor, mounting cabinets can be an efficient way to get things off the ground, allowing for more room for your car(s). Not only can adding cabinets can make for more floor space but it also provides for a barrier between the environment adding an extra layer of protection from dust and cobwebs.
  5. Add magnetic strips: Need easy access to some of your more frequently used smaller tools and drill bits? Adding a magnetic strip to the front of cabinets or shelves can be a great space saver and organizing tactic.
  6. Install a workstation: Having a dedicated space for projects can do wonders for productivity and organization. You can invest in an official workbench or, if you more of the DIY type, transform an old dresser or sideboard into one.
  7. Go vertical with bikes: Bikes can take up a lot of room but they don’t have to. Rather than parking bikes next to each other, use bike mounts to stack them vertically along wall.
  8. Install a tool rack: Adding a rack to the garage is a great way to clear out your corner of random tools like rakes, brooms, shovels and the likes. Taking up a fraction of the square footage (aka virtually NONE), racks also bring the additional benefit of not having to rummage through a corner for a rake when fall hits and the leaves start to fall.
  9. Invest in bins: 18 gallon bins can be another best friend when trying to conquer garage clutter. They are big enough to store some of your larger items and can allow you to group items in a way that fits your life. Plus you can stack, stack, stack while keeping a small footprint in your garage.
  10. Don’t ignore the ceiling: It’s definitely a project but ceiling racks can almost double your square footage. Not wanting to do something as labor intensive? You can always install a cargo net to keep miscellaneous things contained.
  11. Not everything is best kept in the garage: Things like propane, pet food and paper products may be best kept elsewhere for safety and sanitary reasons. Keep the propane by the grill (or really just out of an enclosed space) and move the items your family uses, furry and otherwise, inside away from insects and the elements.

Have any space saving tips your swear by? We’d love to hear about them! Let us know in the comments below.