Saving Big on Garage Space

If you’re wasting the space you have available in your garage, you’re really missing out. Most people don’t use their garage for storing their car alone. In fact, most of us probably use our garages for storing a lot of things, most of which aren’t organized. Sorting through all of it and finding more creative ways to stash it away can ensure that you get the most out of the garage space at your home.

Sort it Out

The first thing you’re going to need to do is sort everything out. This is a very effective way of organizing your garage in a functional manner. The way it works is that you take things that are related to one another, such as: paint, rollers, masking tape; or rakes, hoes, fertilizer and so forth. Store it all near similar items. This applies to most anything. Anything from the household and anything related to sports or yard games should be sorted so that it is all stored conveniently together.

Store

Think about the different ways that you could store items. You could use crates and bins. You can also use the ceiling space as a storage area with the right containers. You can find just about anything you need in this regard at a hardware store.

Tools are best kept on hooks, particularly the large ones. If you have smaller items that are more convenient on shelves, get the right type of shelving that can support the weight and store those items in an organized and sorted fashion. Anything small can be put into a crate or a bin and stored on a shelf or anywhere else that is convenient. Try to organize items so that the items used more often are easiest to access.

Good containers

Plastic crates, milk crates and other types of bins are excellent for storing items. They not only help you keep everything neater, they also allow you to label the items you have sorted so that you can find them very easily. Make sure that, when you do put the bins, crates and so forth on the shelf, the labels are pointing outward so you can read them easily.

Crates are very suitable containers for most types of sporting equipment. It’s easy to see what’s in the crate, of course, and it keeps the items from posing a hazard or getting damaged. Baseball bats, clubs and other items can be stored in appropriately sized containers.

Walls are resources

Shelving and pegboards can make huge differences in the result you get when you organize your garage. Remember that shelving has to be selected based on the items you plan to store on it. You’ll want to locate the shelving in a way that makes sense depending upon what your storing on it. Smaller items will go on shelves, as well, and you can use the aforementioned crates and bins to contain these items, which makes the shelves easier to organize.

Items that are dangerous – paints, solvents, etc. – should be stored in a cabinet. Adding a locking cabinet to your plans is not difficult and provides a significant degree of safety.

Look up

Your ceiling may be the most underutilized storage space you have in your entire home. Take a look above you and see whether or not storing items from your ceiling would get in the way of your garage door. If not, hooks work great for hanging bikes and other light, but bulky, items. If you do it right, you won’t even be able to see the items.

Labeling matters

Unless you have a phenomenal memory, you’re not going to remember where you put all of your items. Be sure you apply labels to all the crates, storage bins and other storage accessories that you use. It may seem like an additional step now, but it saves a lot of time down the road. Use marker that won’t smear or smudge and printed labels when possible.