Garages are often neglected and abused, so take advantage of that space and create a functional garage.
We are in and out of garage spaces so quickly that we rarely take the time to organize them or keep them clean. This creates a nonfunctional, cluttered area where you can’t always find what you’re looking for. When you can’t find what you’re looking for, you get frustrated, right?
This is why garages tend to get cluttered:
- The garage is where we store all the fun, oversized, outdoor stuff: balls, pool toys, bikes and camping gear.
- It’s where we store all the bulky but necessary, home-maintenance gear: lawn mowers, shovels, power tools and garden soil.
- Out of sight, out of mind is a big culprit of garage clutter. It’s easy to close the garage door and ignore all the clutter.
- It feels separate from the rest of the home, making it feel like a storage unit where we store unused furniture or items that we “may need someday.” I hear that one a lot.
Does any of this sound familiar? If so, you aren’t alone. Luckily, you don’t have to live with a cluttered, nonfunctional garage.
There are a few things you can do to whip your garage into shape.
Try to get as much off the floor as possible. Especially, if you plan on parking your car in the garage.
- Hang shovels, rakes, and other large, lawn tools on the wall, or you can store them in a sturdy, unused trash bin. Just make sure you keep them grouped together and out of the way.
- Give yourself enough room to walk around comfortably by adding shelving units to store items that would otherwise be thrown on the floor.
- Use fun, colorful paint chips or painter’s tape to label shelving and cabinets.
- When storing anything in boxes, always label boxes with a list of the contents.
- Create zones. Group like items together and keep these items in their designated zones.
- Use blue or green painter’s tape to outline “parking spots” for bicycles, scooters and even the lawn mower. This is a reminder to always park these bulky items where they belong and out of the way.
- Only keep what you actually use. Donate or throw away as much as possible.
Sometimes, the hardest part of getting the garage organized is getting started. There are a few things you can do to make garage organizing a little less tedious, so find what motivates you and create your own functional garage space.
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