What’s in your garage? If you are like many Americans, it is “everything other than my car”. Keeping the garage organized can seem like an impossible task because, without a doubt, the hardest part of making your home garage more useful is letting go of clutter.
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The Usual Suspects of Clutter: toys; tools; books; car parts; furniture; hardware; kids gear; camping gear; sports equipment; household chemicals; lawn and garden stuff; kayaks.
You cannot organize your cluttered garage without spending a lot of time. An idea would be to pick away a little here and there without getting stressed or overwhelmed. Are you ready to give up organizing your garage? Before you call it quits how about organizing the clutter differently? Do not let clutter take over get a garage makeover. Instead of stacking tools and shoes on the floor you have to think of listening to the garage as the world’s largest cabinet, a simple system to convert your garage from a parking lot in a fun, organized space that makes life safer, easier and more efficient. Think of clutter as an opportunity to better-utilize your garage. However, one thing’s for sure… there’s always stuff that just doesn’t belong.
What to Do?
- Get the whole family involved and decide what you need, what you donate to charity, and what is just garbage. A true key is to do a little bit whenever possible. Many of us are too busy to be spending a lot of time improving their garages. If you look at garage utilization and organization as an ongoing process, then you won’t be overwhelmed by it. And organize: Do not put anything back until you have created a manageable system. Organize by category, year or color-coded zones to various family members. Put everything away and make a family pact that everyone always put things in their place. The point is to stay organized, not just a few days.
- Use Garage Closets for Storage: If your kitchen is an organized area, that must be your kitchen closets doing the job. You can create the same neat look in the garage with garage storage cabinets. Garage storage closets transform the interiors of your ordinary-looking and cluttered garage. These closets are perfect solutions for a mounting pile of garage clutter. Storage closets for your garage can be a detached unit or a wall attachment. These can be hard plastic, aluminum, stainless steel or wood. The selection depends on storage needs and the desired overall look of the garage.
Use the Ceiling Space: The ceiling of a garage is often overlooked but can be used as storage space with the right devices installed. It is a good idea to install garage storage solutions such as lofts or overhead shelves and hooks where you can easily store your objects, but still fit easily within reach.
The Big Things: Large, unwieldy items like kayaks are tough to store, especially if you have to lift them by yourself. A simple solution: It fastens to the ceiling; then you slide a couple of straps under the kayak, pull a rope and lift the kayak off the vehicle rack. The block-and-tackle pulley system allows you to raise and lower up to 200 pounds without a lot of exertion. The kayak is stored in suspension near the ceiling. Sometimes there just isn’t enough floor space in the garage for your car, truck and recreational vehicles. A lift can solve that problem by taking advantage of the unused space above the ground. It is 4×8 foot heavy-duty motorized platform that will hoist and store up to 1200 pounds. That’s enough strength for a motorbike, lawnmower, golf cart or snowmobile.Garage Utilization: There’s no right or wrong way to utilize your garage. Garages can be utilized for so much more than piles of clutter… things like parking, organized storage, and a work area. Many home garages are often a combination of those things. Your garage can be an attractive, productive, practical part of your home. Most people use their garages storage, workshop, parking, and often any combination of the three.
