At Champion Movers, we help thousands of happy families move into their new homes, from the initial packing process to placing the final pieces of furniture in their new homes. But sometimes, there are belongings that you just don’t have space for, so they end up in boxes in the garage. This can become a cluttered mess if you don’t have a plan for organizing your garage! Luckily, that’s why we’re here to help! With a little planning and preparation, you can organize your garage quickly.
Where to Start Organizing Your Garage
Before you can start stacking boxes and building storage shelves in your garage, you need to come up with a game plan. Understanding what needs to be done and how long it will take to accomplish it are vital for making this project as quick and painless as possible.
First, set out an entire day for organizing the garage when the whole family and even some friends can get all hands on deck! When you make decluttering a family project, you set yourself up for finishing in a single day.
And lastly, for this point, make it a point to go through every single unpacked box. You never know what belongings are worth keeping and which are worth getting rid of unless you go through everything.
Items That You Should Not Store in Your Garage
Organizing your garage can be challenging when it is the default storage space for anything that doesn’t have a designated spot in your home. But storing some [potentially dangerous] items in your garage may pose a risk to the safety and well-being of your family.
Avoid, if at all possible, storing the following items in your garage:
• Paint
• Propane
• Paper goods (rats love paper), and
• Pet food
These items are either dangerous, flammable or will attract pests and rodents.
Draw up a Floor Plan for Your Garage
Organization shelves, cabinets, and pegboard walls can be incredible space savers when organizing your garage. Still, before assembling them, you will want to develop a game plan. Floor plans are great ways to make mistakes on paper before you assemble a large shelf, only to find that it doesn’t fit!
Planning will also allow you to store items that belong together right next to each other so you know where to find them.
Here’s a quick breakdown of how to store items within your floor plan:
• Store similar items together (e.g., keep all of your gardening tools together)
• Put bulky equipment in corners where you would bump into them with your car
• Place bikes and other frequently used items close to the garage door for easy access
• Place seasonal items such as decorations in overhead storage or up in bins.
Get Rid of Clutter
Once you have a clear idea of which items you will store in your garage, you want to start sorting the items you will not keep. The key to having a neat and organized garage is not hoarding or keeping items that clutter. Create two piles of items. One pile will be trash/recycle/landfill, and the place gently used items for donation or garage sales in the other pile.