Home and Decor

How to Organize a Garage: Top 6 Tips

 

Organizing our garage has been so overdue.  I am honestly ashamed at how bad it really got.  It just became the dumping zone for everything.  From sporting equipment to boxes, it wasn’t long before we could not even put a vehicle in there .  That’s how bad it was. I am so glad I teamed up with Container Store to help me get my garage together, because it was a mess.  I wasn’t sure anything or anyone could save it.

NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO: I wanted to make sure you guys were set up for success and got a better view into my garage organization.  Watch my new Garage Organization Youtube video for tips!  Also make sure to SUBSCRIBE as new content will be coming regularly!

 

Here is the BEFORE picture…..let’s make this a judgement free zone. HAHA!

 

I know that someone here can relate to this garage struggle, so I am sharing the steps I took to tackle the mess and outline all the products that I used.

How to Organize a Garage: 6 Essential Steps

Step One – Assess the Mess

My husband and I stood there and honestly were thinking where do we start?  How do we get to the finish line?  We assessed the mess, and started looking at everything we owned to create a game plan.

 

Step Two – Divide and Conquer

We needed all hands on deck, both boys, Rick, and I were assigned with a task to start working on the garage.  This project was not a one-man job.  Make sure to get the entire family involved or even friends if it is that out of hand.

Step Three – Sort

Before you throw out anything or donate anything make sure to put everything in sections. This will make it easy to identify where items should go, how much storage you need, and what needs to be thrown out.

• Sports equipment
• Lawn/Garden
• Tools
• Holiday storage
• Cleaning supplies
• Outdoor Toys

Step Four – Donate and Toss

When organizing your garage, it is necessary to do some level of tossing and donating.  You don’t want to get to hoarder status. I personally love the opportunity to purge, it makes me feel so free.   This was mandatory for us to get to a clean garage.

After that is done, give your garage a good cleaning! I know ours needed it.

Step Five – Make a Product List

Now that you have cleaned everything out you should be able to see the light a bit! It gave a clearer picture of what items I still had that needed storage.  Based on the quantity of each category I put together what types of products were needed.  After making a list of all the items I hopped online and started looking through the Container Store’s garage department. Going through each category, I looked at dimensions and started writing out how many of each item I needed.

We knew we wanted wall storage so we found a wall unit that could be the foundation for the garage, and we opted to go with black products as it would not show as much dirt. Just make sure to measure to ensure you are getting products that will fit in your space.

Once you complete your list, then it’s time to add these products to your cart or head to the store to go shopping.  Keep in mind if you are going to do a shopping trip the garage items are a bit large so bring your biggest vehicle.

Step Six – Time to Assemble and Organize

 

I would say this is was the easiest part. Part of the reason our garage was dirty was because we didn’t have the adequate products needed to store the items.  Once I had storage products it was a breeze.  Well I should say with a disclaimer that it was a breeze for me; my husband did all the putting together of the products and hanging. I simply had to just put the items in the totes.

Be patient with this process, we had to run back out to the store because we realized we didn’t have enough of certain totes.

We had to move items around a bit so we could get the best layout for our space. We hung the bikes on the side walls, the racks were on the back wall, and tools on the side wall. Our mission was to fit our cars in the garage, so we had to keep that in mind.

 

Complete Product List to Organize your Garage:

 

• InterMetro 4-Tier Heavy-Duty Shelving Unit (2)
• InterMetro Basket Shelf Solution (1) Perfect to put your sports equipment in.
• Heavy Duty Storage Bench (1) I thought this was perfect to store sport shoes and small equipment
• Wall-Mounted Gear Box (1)
• Multi-Sport Stick Rack (1)
• Folding Bike Hanger (2)
• Utility Hook
• Utility Lawn Hook
• Assortment Totes
• Large Totes

 

This is a perfect weekend project, so just be mentally prepared, throw on some sweats, and just get it done!