8 Great Tips for Organizing Your Garage Space

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Many people, myself included, have become heavily reliant on cars for transportation. The need for a vehicle is more apparent in places with poor access to a public transit system such as suburbs and towns and villages in the rural periphery. People without a car are essentially at the mercy of people with one, disconnected from their larger community. Also, cars aren't exactly cheap, unless you are going to buy from one of those sketchy used car dealerships. Automobiles are one of the biggest purchases a person can ever make.

With that in mind, I don't understand people who leave their cars parked out on the street. You wouldn't leave your laptop out, so why would you leave an expensive vehicle somewhere where it can be damaged or even stolen? And try climbing into a car that's been exposed for hours to the scalding hot sun. Cars belong in the garage, not by the curbside.

It is estimated that only a 1 out of 3 people use their garages to actually store their cars. Why? Their garages are filled to the brim with boxes and clutter. Many people have a hard time of letting go of their belongings, and over time, their homes get filled up with all sorts of stuff.

Here are a few tips to help you organize and declutter your garage.

1. Optimize your storage

Just because you've turned your garage into a makeshift storage room doesn't mean it has to look like one. With enough preparation, you can set up a rational storage system for your garage. Optimize your space by utilising a variety of storage options.

For instance, you could use multiple garage shelving units and assign each one a category. You could have one shelf for gardening equipment, another for your power tools and so forth. You can even install shelves above the door to maximise your storage space.

2. Adjustable shelves

The bare floor is a tempting place to leave your stuff on. One great way to declutter your garage is to use adjustable shelves. You can store a variety of objects upright and you can even adjust the shelving to accommodate objects that don't quite fit. If you want, you can even vary the heights the shelves are placed in so you don't have to mix and match all the time.

3. Gardening station

If you enjoy gardening, why not dedicate a part of your garage for your gardening workstation? A potting table, a box on casters underneath it, a few overhead cabinets and some wall-mounted hooks and you can repot plants to your heart's content.

4. Pegboards

Similar to adjustable shelving, a pegboard allows you to up your tool storage game. You can use a variety of hooks to keep your frequently used hardware easily accessible. No need to rummage through drawers for your hammer and screwdriver when it's in plain sight.

You can even spruce your garage up and paint the pegboard in sections. You can dedicate one colour to gardening tools, another for screwdrivers and so on. You can even attach sideways bins to expand your storage space. If you have a lot of hoses, attach a bucket to the pegboard and turn it into a chic hose reel. Now you can have a colourful and clutter-free garage.

5. Reuse old cans

Repurpose your old metal cans to store messy, granular things such as pet food, sand, birdseed and salt. Don't forget to place a cup inside can so you can easily scoop what you need. To avoid having to lift the lid on each can, print out some labels and sticky tape it to the cans.

6. Bin row

One great and practical way to introduce a sense of organization to your garage is to use a bin row. A bin row is basically a row of plastic bins lined up against each other. You can have one big row or you can multiple rows for each section of your garage. Use the bin row for easy access to small, regularly-used objects such as seed packets, tapes and hand tools. You never have to scour your garage for something ever again.

7. Hook it up

You can hang a slatted panel on your wall to expand your storage options by using them to store large gardening equipment and other objects. Using large hooks, you can hang heavy items such as rakes and shovels on the wall. Maybe you can even hang up your bicycle.

8. Clear containers

There's a reason why kitchen containers are clear: So you can easily see what's inside. Use clear kitchen containers for organizing small objects such as nails and screws. The clear container makes it easy to see its contents, saving you time when you're looking for a specific type. If the containers have a metal base, you can hang a magnetic panel to a pegboard and stick the containers on the panel for easy access and better organization.