How to Organize Your Garage:
The Easy Way

Learning how to organize your garage is simple. The common reasons why people have messy garages in the first place revolve around an inability to throw things away or simply a poor concept of arranging objects effectively in limited space.

This article will cover both these important issues and give you valuable tips and techniques to make garage organization a breeze. Chances are you already have an idea of what the first tip is going to be, so let’s get started

Clear Out the Junk

And no, this one isn’t optional! The biggest cause of a disorganized garage is an excess of junk. Start going through the objects in your garage. Divide them into piles according to how often you use them: Often, Sometimes, or Never. Do this outside the garage – you want to clear everything out. You also may want to give the interior a sweep and clean while the garage is empty.

Keep the Often and Sometimes piles, and get rid of the Never pile. It doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as it's gone. You can either take the stuff to the dump, give anything useful away to friends or charity, or hold a garage sale to turn that trash into someone else’s treasure.

What about those items which have sentimental value that you never use but can’t get rid of? Well, what are they? If it’s a box of photos, put them in albums and store them in the house. Often the extra stuff that ends up in the garage should have a place inside the house – it goes to the garage for a good reason, like the fact that it doesn’t work anymore or serves no purpose. Either way, you need to be relentless and get rid of whatever doesn’t need to be there.

Organizing Your Garage to Maximize Access

Once you get rid of the junk, you’re still going to be left with two piles of stuff. The key now is to arrange the garage so that you make the most of the space available, while also keeping the items you use often in easily accessible places. This is often easier said than done.

Using Shelves

At this point, don’t be afraid to make a few renovations to the garage if necessary. Go to a home improvement store and find some shelves or storage units that will fit well (always take measurements of your garage first) and be useful for storing items.

For instance, if you use your garage as a workshop, look for a decent set of shelves where you can store your tools. (By the way – organizing all your gear into three piles also gives you a chance to sort out where your lost tools have gone.)

The other big benefit of shelves, apart from helping you keep the objects you store on them organized, is that they free up more floor space for the larger items you want to store in the garage.