Garage storage is key to making full use of your home garage.  At first, you may have just stored your car and any other moving boxes in the garage.  Gradually, items in the garage have probably piled up in a random, semi-organized manner.  You’ve grouped all the shoes together, but the sports equipment is in 3 separate corners.  The moving boxes have been moved to the back although there are items in there that you bring out for the holidays.  Every weekend, you think about cleaning out your garage, but there is always something else to do.  When you back out of your car in the morning, you are embarrassed because of all of the items you have stored in there, which you definitely don’t want your neighbors to see.  One Peachtree Consulting Survey found that more than 42 percent of people rated cleaning and organizing their garages as a high priority for 2009.  Here is a guide to help you through proper garage storage.

Before you do anything, start by taking out everything in the garage. Back your cars out and then remove everything including moving boxes, holiday storage boxes, sports equipment, and cleaning supplies. Group them into 3 piles: 1) Stuff you will keep, 2) Stuff you will throw away, and 3) Stuff you will donate or recycle. Make sure you ask yourself if you will really need each item. Then, in the stuff you will keep pile, group that pile into different categories: sporting equipment, cleaning supplies, holiday items, gardening tools, kids items. By doing this, you will understand how much space you need for each group of items as well as what type of garage cabinets and shelving might work for the different items.

Know your garage and choose your purpose

Next, understand the size of the garage. Measure it and see what the layout is including the doors and windows. Then, figure out what the goal is. Are you trying to create a work space for you or your spouse? Do you want an extra play area for your children or an extra workout area for you? Whatever you want to do, figure out how everything will be laid out. Look at the walls and see where each group of items will go. The key is to put the items in places that are the easiest to get to depending on how often you will use them. For example, for sporting equipment that is used year round, put it closer to the door and in a certain area where it is easily accessible. However, for holiday boxes, you can put those up higher or in a corner since you will only need to access them once a year.

Now that you know what needs to be done, see how much you have budgeted for everything.  This includes buying the necessary garage shelves and cabinets and any installation fees you will have.  Garage storage items can be very expensive or very cheap, depending on what you invest in.  When thinking about your budget, consider this an investment.  These storage items can last a long time and buying sturdier storage equipment will allow you to make more use of it for a longer period of time.  This means – you don’t have to do this again for at least another 10 years!

After determining your budget, start shopping around.  There are so many different types of garage cabinets to choose from.  There is different materials they are made of and different placements.  Some are mounted on the wall while others are movable cabinets that you can easily push around.  Since you’ve grouped your items, you will know what needs to be in cabinets versus what should be put on garage shelves.  Remember – things that could be potentially harmful to you or your children should be put in the cabinets.  Gardening things like fertilizer, sharp knives, and anything else that could be dangerous for someone walking around should be put in cabinets.  On garage shelves, you can put boxes, containers that are labeled, and other easy items that you might always want to get to.  Remember:  cabinets allow you to lock items away or at least put them away out of reach of children.  Shelves are open and provide easy access to items.

After buying the items, you will have to install them.  Either hire professional installers or make sure you have carefully measured your garage so you know where to install the items.  Make sure you have the right equipment to install the items and try and bribe a friend with food to help.  Place the shelving in the proper locations of your garage and make sure it doesn’t need to be nailed to the wall.  Here is where you set up the garage before you put away all of the items you pulled out.

Finally, store all of the items you pulled out initially. Put the sports equipment on the shelves and in the cabinets. Store the gardening tools and pesticides. Put your shoes away on the shelves. Now that everything has a place, try not to let anything else creep up on the mess. Your job is to now keep it clean in a monthly basis so you will only have to do this type of large project once. Now, you have successfully erected proper garage storage items for you to organize and clean your garage.

One other thing - don't forget that there are a lot of different options if you are looking to buy a storage cabinet.  Storage cabinets can be the things that help you organize everything or create an even bigger organizational mess.  Make sure that you buy storage cabinets that are easy to move around.  This way, you will not be stuck with it in one place until someone comes over to help you move it.  Also, make sure you check to see that the storage cabinets have a lot of shelves.  This will help in your organizational process.  Finally, make sure they are big enough to hold your large bulky items.  Double check that you can put snowboards or brooms or anything else in them.  Otherwise, they will not be as useful to you.