If you are anything like most people or families, garages somehow become the land of all displaced items.
It is the place for pots of half-used paint that probably won’t be found again, family board games only pulled out on rainy days, and boxes full of tools.
You also wouldn’t be alone if cleaning and organising your garage is always at the bottom of your to-do list. Many people take just look at how out-of-control the garage has gotten and don’t have the effort.
The hard – and the terribly unfortunate truth is – the garage will never clean itself. And as time goes on, only more things will collect themselves in the garage making the job increasingly harder.
An ongoing issue people have with the garage is that you can clean it once and within just a few months, it is back to the same state of mess.
To avoid this ongoing cycle of a mess, think about cleaning, finally cleaning, and mess again – we have collated all the best tips for cleaning up your garage, once and for all.
Sell. Donate. Rubbish. Action.
The very first thing on your list is to create piles and boxes to put your stuff in. You may already have your own organisation system, but we recommend having four sections:
- Sell
- Donate
- Rubbish
- Action
The first three may seem quite self-explanatory, but the action items are a little bit different. Action items might be the bike you need to repair, the hammer that needs to be returned to your neighbour, and the suitcase that really lives in your room but haven’t been bothered to put back in its place.
Action items are harder to deal with than just throwing something in the bin, but once they are dealt with, you won’t have any hassle with them in the future.
Plan the garage space.
No, the garage isn’t just a place to create a mess or where you park your car.
Once you have piled all the stuff in your garage, work out what you want to do with it. Generally, list the items that must go back in there and then the groups they can be put in.
For example, you might want to put the bikes, balls, air-pumps all in the same place so you have one go-to zone. The same for all the tools, paint equipment and work spaces.
We highly recommend zoning your garage so that it is not only clean but in the future, you don’t spend time searching for that lost bike helmet.
Shelving is a must.
We would be living in an illusionary world if we could omit shelving from having a clearly organised garage.
One of the first steps is having wall shelving – the places you can store big boxes and larger items. Our longspan shelving, ezi angle, archive and gondola shelving are the best options. Our gondola shelving is perfect for maximising the space you do have because it fits into the corners – no space wasted!
If you’re into DYI, then designating a work space is very important. Our work bench has two tiers, the bottom one providing you with ample storage space. An incredibly important part of organising the garage is making sure that all the space available is used. Above the work bench, we have a mesh panel to hang tools and other accessories, or wall strip shelving. Not only is this maximising the space, but it creates a central hub for work.
For all those adventure seekers out there, Keylar Shelving also has specialised kayak stands and accessory storage that could hold anything from fishing rods to golf clubs or skateboards.
Buy all the boxes and labels.
It is highly likely you will be back to square one if you don’t use boxes to organise the items in your garage.
As we have advised previously, make mini-hubs within your garage. Put all the kids’ items, working tools, or sports equipment in one area.
When you have finished with the boxes, immediately label it.
There’s no point in having your boxing system if you don’t know what’s inside it.
We know it is not rocket science but with these simple steps, your garage can go from barely being able to get around to a space that is actually useful.
If you want more advice on how to use shelving in your garage or shelving in commercial/residences, then please get in touch with us today!