Great Garage Organization Ideas for Effortless Garage Organizing

Many years ago my sister and her husband needed a a two foot long very hard to get unique piece of oak for their home renovations.  The first place they decided to look was my father’s best friend garage or rather three garages. After working their way through a few dead foxes the perfect piece of wood surfaced.

These garages were a conversation piece for quite a long time. They were so stuffed no one really knew what was in them.

You may find your garage  is a Bermuda Triangle of sports equipment, tools, camping equipment, ancient Christmas decorations from days long past. If so there are some great garage organization ideas that can make your garage organizing effortless.

So often the garage which can be a wonderful organized storage and work space becomes a storage container for the things you no longer remember owning, a place where things quickly pile up and disappear.

The danger here is once you  use your garage as a dumping ground for unwanted stuff if can become a pattern of not dealing with things that can creep into your home and have larger repercussions for the clutter, disorganization and general mess in your life.

Clear out your garage

Planning a good garage declutter can end up in a garage sale making you some money, motivate you to learn a new skill and sell on E-Bay or give what you no longer need to charity benefiting others.

Once your garage is cleared you have room for your car, you can organize your workbench or tool area making it easier to do those small home repairs and your sports equipment is better maintained and accessible so now being active and healthy is even easier.

There are three stages to a good garage clear out.

• A well thought out plan
• Taking action to declutter
• Cleaning up the mess

The quickest way to fail at organizing your garage is to not make a plan.

Enthusiastic organizers hurl themselves in the depths only to emerge an hour later filthy and exhausted having done very little. The planning stage guarantees your success. It’s time to sit back, reflect and use your creativity.

How to Organize Your Garage

A simple six step plan:

• Deciding on your exit strategy for your clutter
• Your guidelines for keeping and letting go
• Putting together your organizing tool kit
• Brainstorming storage ideas and what storage containers you need
• Establishing what categories your things will go into
• Deciding your zones which means where will your newly defined categories of things go

Even if you relax in front of the T.V, while you brainstorm your plan, simply writing short answers to these seven elements of garage organization will create clarity before you even go into your garage. Planning makes your actions purposeful and makes those decluttering decisions quick and easy.

Exit Strategies are really important as your garage may contain bigget items that need planning to remove or even a garbag tip. Before you even start a garage clear out research what is available in your area.

Can you get large amounts of garbage picked up or do you need to do it yourself. Is it a free service or do you have to pay for it? If you have a huge amount of stuff to get rid of do you need to hire a garbage tip and have it hauled away? Organizing how to remove clutter ASAP is the first step in any major clear out.

Setting guidelines as to what to keep and what to throw out are essential. The obvious are items that are broken or damaged but what about the other stuff.

Set time limits. If you haven’t used an item for one year will you let it go, or is two years more comfortable for you. Set amount limits, how many hammers so you need, or how many cans of white paint.

Looking at multiples of same or similar things can be an easy way to let go of clutter. Get rid of anything that has holes, dirty or damaged. The beauty of an organized garage is what you own is taken care of well. Before you even step into your garage decide what you can get rid of and why.

Getting an organizing tool kit ready before you clear out the garage helps you keep 100% of your focus on decluttering and organizing. A supply of garbage bags, boxes, masking tape, energy food and any extra help for lifting and carrying lets you concentrate on the task on hand rather than running around looking for things you need.

What are your ideas on storage, what do you have and what do you need. Some ideas are waterproof plastic boxes that can be labeled and stacked.

Hooks for hanging sports equipment and the tools you need to hand them up.

Shelving is important for the storage area of your garage and shelves need to be wide and tall.

Also what ideas do you have to use the vertical space? Having enough boxes for small things so they can be categorized and labeled will create instant order for any chaotic garage.

Once you have written some initial ideas for storage what are your garage catagories?

Some ideas may be paint and painting materials, tools, gardening things, camping equipment, sports equipment and other items that are stored in the garage such as seasonal clothing. As you empty your garage put every item in the appropriate category. You will see at a glance what needs to go.

For example once your paints and painting materials are together it is easy to identify the damaged paintbrushes, the empty paint cans and any excess items you have been storing. You can see at a glance what you need and what you have too much of. When every item in each category is in its group you are able to see the multiples and the volume of what you have been keeping.

Once you have decluttered your category piles you can now plan your zones. This is the time to draw a map and decide where in your garage are the best places to put things back. Your zones are your categories so; painting equipment goes in the painting zone, and need shelves and hooks while camping equipment can be stacked together in plastic boxes in the camping zone. You get the idea. Every item in a category goes into the same zone and you can see where things are in a second and your garage is instantly organized.

This gives you time to give your garage a clean out and reassess your storage options.

You may find you have to purchase some more plastic boxes or buy some nails to hang up more hooks. Make a list and get it completed the next week.

If you have enough things for a garage sale, book in the time to do it the next weekend. If you have things to sell on E-Bay, put them in a labeled box and get started. Just one more tip, remember to label boxes and start a habit of putting things back and you may never have to clear out your garage again. Garage organizing can be effortless with great garage organization ideas that lead to a good plan.

Copyright ©2009 Jane Alais