Hands up if your garage is full to the brim with junk? Chances are, there isn’t even a car in there. A study by Admiral Insurance showed that 45% of people in the UK didn’t use their garage for their car. Of these people, 54% stated it was because their garage is used to store other things.
Garages are a great space to store gardening equipment, tools, decorating supplies, toys, and anything else we can’t find space for in the house.
But most of us aren’t using that space wisely. Just pile it high with disorganised and unwanted items.
Organising your garage can provide you with more space than you ever realised. It just takes a bit of planning, have a good cleanout and get some handy storage pieces.
Clear it out
Modern housing is getting smaller, which is why more people than ever are seeking an alternative local storage solution. Many people disregard garage shelving altogether when it comes to running their homes. You need to get the lay of the land when it comes to just how much space you have. It’s time to get everything out of your garage. Be ruthless when sorting through things. Have three piles, one to keep, one to throw away and one to donate or sell.
When the garage is clear, sweep out all of the debris on the floor, dislodge any spiders that might be lurking. If your walls are a bit dark and cave-like, add a quick lick of white paint to the walls.
Ensure that you’re garage is secure, as you’re going to be keeping a lot of potentially valuable items in there.
Now you have your blank canvas.
Start arranging from front to back
How do you usually go into your garage? Is there an internal door you can access from your house, or do you need to access it from the main garage door?
Whichever door you usually use, is the place that you should start placing your most used items. For example, if you keep your cleaning supplies in there, and you use them every day, then having them close at hand and easily accessible is best. The Christmas decorations that come out once a year can be stored further out of the way in a less accessible space.
Create zones
Your garage was probably arranged by the date order you put things in there, rather than any particular order. Create zones within the space for things like cleaning supplies, sporting equipment, gardening tools etc. Arrange the leftover items after your cleanout, into their respective zones. This will give you an idea of how much storage you’re going to need for each section.
Get creative with storage
Industrial shelving can create a huge amount of storage space in your garage. Take them as high as possible so that you are using as much of the height of the space as possible.
Then buy storage boxes to use on the shelving and something to label them with so you can find them easily later on.
Put the things you use less often right at the top of the shelving, keeping the most useful things at head or chest height.
For the things you use very often, use open-fronted storage boxes so that you aren’t constantly taking down boxes and removing lids to find things. This is a sure-fire way to make sure you don’t keep the garage tidy and you’ll be back to square one before you know it.
Now you have a perfectly organized garage, you’re more likely to keep it that way.
