“You can put them in the garage.” This is one of the most common answers that you hear every time you do a spring cleaning or reorganizing of your belongings at home. Most often than not, we usually hesitate in throwing away our precious items. And because you know that, you have a few spaces left in the garage, this is where these items usually go.
However, your garage shouldn’t be just a place where you toss any items that don’t have a place in your house. What most people cannot consider is that your garage is not a storage unit, it’s actually your home’s annex that should also be treated the way you treat the other rooms in the house. In this article, we will give you garage organization ideas to help keep it in order and presentable at all times.
1. Give time for your garage
When was the last time that you organized your garage? If it’s more than a month and you constantly add new items there, stop calculating. To keep your garage in order, allot about one or two days, depending on how big it is and how many items are there, to clean it up. It’s necessary to have enough time to make sure that you will not rush it.
The best way to clean your garage is to take everything out and do a quick sweep. In that way, you will have a better look at the total number of items you have in store and how much space you can work on. It will help you estimate how much time would you need to organize the entire place. If you think you’ll end up with more rubbish than you expected and have trouble getting rid of it, then it might be easiest if you just rent a dumpster in ewmdumpsterrental, if you haven’t already.
2. Arrange every item based on category
Once you have all your items out of the garage, you can start grouping them based on category. In that way, it will be easier for you to locate some items in case you need them, plus you can conveniently stash new things inside when you need to. You can start with your small belongings, then work your way up to bigger items such as tools and machinery.
You can also consider using boxes as temporary containers while consolidating them. This will make it easier for you to drop items of the same category into one corner. The categories do not necessarily be based on how you use them. If you have other ideas in mind, such as grouping them based on size or color, it will work too.
3. Trash or donate what’s not needed
While you’re categorizing all your garage items, put a separate box for the things that you no longer need. You can choose which ones to throw away and which can still be donated. If you can’t decide which items should go, just think of Marie Kondo’s philosophy. Think if you have used the item in the past year, and if not, you can consider giving them away.
Once you have selected all the things you want to donate or throw, put them in better containers for proper disposal. You can also group them based on your preferred category. For instance, if you are throwing away old paint cans or other hazardous materials, do not forget to label them accordingly. The same goes for items you want to donate, put a label on the box so the recipient will have an idea of what’s inside.
4. Utilize cabinets and shelves
Now that you have segregated the items you want to keep versus the ones you want to give away, it’s time to install or utilize your existing cabinets and shelves. Using these can greatly help in organizing your garage, plus it will give you more floor space.
There are different shelves and cabinets to choose from. If your garage is small, consider using hanging shelves and cabinets for smaller and lighter items. However, as much as possible, avoid using these types of cabinets for heavy equipment. It’s best to use a sturdier shelf made with heavy materials to contain its weight. Nonetheless, cabinets and shelves are truly a great help.
5. Use the same interior decoration techniques
If you have used up the spaces on your cabinet and shelves, it’s time to apply some interior decoration techniques for the remaining items. Ideally, you should not place any large items near the door so it will not block the entrance and exit way into the garage. You can also utilize the corner and fill it with whatever item fits in there.
If you’re having trouble deciding how to arrange it, just think if you decorate a living room or your bedroom. You can maximize all the corners and leave some space in the middle to serve as walkways. You can also consider stacking some boxes to save the floor area, or you can also use them as temporary tables.
Explore more garage organization ideas
If you want to have some ideas on how you can organize your garage, you can take a look at storables.com. They have a collection of different items that can be helpful to keep your garage neat and well-maintained.