9 Must Haves for an Organized Garage

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Spring finally arrived in Georgia! Well, maybe not quite yet weather-wise – it is a rather cold and rainy day today – but definitely according to the calendar. While Spring is a great time of the year to do some gardening and other outside projects, it is also a perfect time to work on organizing your garage. Temperatures are more favorable for working with the garage door open and it fits right into the “Spring Clean” craze.

Looking back at all the projects we completed over the years, organizing our garage was one of the big ones. We’ve lived with this organized garage now for a while and it really has held up well. Trust me, nobody has ever regretted organizing a garage. So what is stopping you from getting it done? Need a little push? Maybe this will help.

Here is my list of the 9 Must-Haves for an Organized Garage.

1. Shelving

Let’s face it. You cannot store anything in a garage if you do not have something to store it on or in. While cabinets in the garage would be absolutely amazing, the most common storage solution is open shelving. If you do park your vehicles in the garage, having enough clearance to open cabinet doors is not always realistic.

We went with simple metal shelving in our garage. While my original plan called for a custom shelving unit made from two-by-fours and plywood, it was just not smart financially. We already had two metal shelving units that we bought seven years earlier and they were still available in stores. We bought a third unit and spent some time coming up with a new layout that fit our storage needs.

2. Wall Storage

This one is easily overlooked. You will most likely not have enough space to put up shelving units everywhere. But what you will have is some vertical wall space that can be utilized for storage. Think holders for garden tools, hooks for hoses and all kinds of things that can be stored flat on the wall and up from floor level.

Hooks and hanging solutions come in all shapes and sizes and using a combination of these can work wonders in your garage. We store fishing rods, lacrosse sticks and other long, skinny items on wall hooks. The storage height will depend on how frequently we use the item and the size of the hook will depend on the weight of the item(s). Besides the hooks, you will need your stud finder and a measuring tape to get this done.

3. Pegboards

Very similar to wall storage, but pegboards allow you to store smaller items in a visible and organized fashion. You can pick these up from your hardware store and they take very little effort to install. If you prefer, they can be painted to match your garage aesthetic. As for the pegboard accessories – you can pretty much find whatever you can imagine to go on the pegboard and hold your tools.

I love my pegboards and we have three in our garage. One above the workbench that holds tools and items we use more frequently. The second one is close to the workbench, on the side of our shelving unit. The third one holds items we use less frequently and is located between the windows on the side wall of the garage.

This complete system could be a total game-changer in your garage.

4. Plastic Bins and Baskets

Having shelving in place is great. But if you shove a multitude of individual items on those shelves, finding something in the back is basically impossible and you will most likely not remember what you have on your shelves within a week.

While I did store some items individually on shelves, the majority of our garage storage is in bins and baskets. Group like items together and pop them in a bin. I have a large bin for car wash items for example. All the tools and products you need to wash a car can be found in that one bin. The bin itself is “messy” but from the outside, it appears organized. Another example would be a bin for plumbing items or one for paint supplies.

5. Workbench

While the main function of a garage is to house your vehicle (who knew?) you will also use your garage to work on projects. And if you do any work in your garage, a flat usable surface is a must. Now the stores sell very nice looking workbenches and that will work great for a lot of people, like this all-in-one workbench for under $160!

Back when we organized our garage, we did not like the price tags of the store models and went for a DIY version. It worked for us since we could use some of the material from our previous shelving unit, as well as other leftover wood pieces. Once assembled, I painted ours black and Pieter sanded and finished the top with clear lacquer. You might have some material lying around that can be used, or if you are looking for an easy Saturday project, you might just want to shop for material and build one too.

6. Lighting

Now, all the tools and flat surfaces will not be very helpful if you can’t see what you are doing in the garage. We replaced the two main builder-grade lights with new LED versions. Each light has three adjustable panels. It is meant for garages and basements, and properly brightens up the entire garage.

You will also need task lighting above your work area or workbench. LED options are much more affordable than they used to be and you will be able to find what works best for you easily enough.

We also left another overhead fluorescent light in place. We do work on our cars from time to time and need additional task lighting. In fact, after a minor accident caused some front-end damage to Simon’s car, the two of us ordered the replacement parts and fixed it ourselves. Having additional light where we were working was perfect.

7. Purge

You will want to spend some time to really look at what you are storing in your garage. Not everything needs to be there, and you will be surprised at what items you never use and are taking up valuable space. Donate, sell, or throw away what you can. What is left will be easier to organize and store.

In our case, we had duplicate garden tools. Extra spades and an extra edger, to name just a few. These found a new home recently, and with those gone, it opened up a cluttered corner of the garage.

8. Sort and Group Like Items

Speaking of organizing and storing. This is best done when you know exactly what you have. Take everything out and create groups. Once everything is organized in groups, you can create subgroups. This is very helpful when you decide on what type and size of storage bins to get. See? Method to the madness 🙂

9. Labelling

All the bins and baskets will be useless if they are not clearly labelled. It can be as broad as the word Garden, or as specific as Drill Bits. You are in control here and will easily figure out what is going to work best for you.

I went with white labels with a red border that I picked up at Dollar Tree. They can even be removed and repositioned if needed. Where it wasn’t possible to stick them on the bin itself, I stuck them on plastic and made holes so I could fix them to the front of a basket with cable ties. This label option available online will work great too!

Bonus: Manage

My bonus item is not really a Must-Have, but more of a Must-Do. Now that your garage is perfectly organized, you want to try to keep it that way. Finished a project? Put away all the tools and items you used. Keep a trash can handy so trash can be thrown away immediately. And make sure the other members of your family know that they, too, are responsible for keeping the garage in an organized state.

Hope you found this list helpful. Did I miss anything?

If you would like to read about how we originally organized our garage, Garage Cleanup and Organization – Part 1 is the best starting point.