How To Organize Your Garage

Sparking Joy in Your Garage in 3 Steps

According to a study by the National Organization of Professional Organizers (NAPO), 50% of homeowners named the garage as the most disorganized area of their house. It’s no wonder ~ garages are seen as outside spaces that often get cluttered with the non-essentials, items removed from daily living functions. But they are hardworking spaces! Some garages even act as an entryway to the home. So, while we don’t always consider the garage a distinguished part of the inside of the home, its clutter affects us — even from outside.

Here are 3 steps to follow to create your own personal Garage Oasis 🌴✨

  1. Decide Your Garage’s Purpose. Reflecting back to your ideal lifestyle vision, how do you want the garage to function? How do you want to use it? What do you want to store in it? Before you begin, you want to outline your goals for your garage space. My clients’ goals have included such goals as:

    • Park 2 cars easily inside

    • Design a gym/workout area

    • Create a clutter-free entryway to the house door with easy-to-maintain shoe storage

    • Eliminate all storage racks on side wall (see Before / After photo above for photographic results of this goal!)

2. Take Everything Out, Sort and Discard. This is also what I call “Decluttering Discovery.” Sometimes we must re-introduce ourselves to what’s there and decide if it’s worth the space and energy it’s taking up in our homes. To get started, take everything out and group similar items together. This will give you an understanding of quantities and zones of interest will start to appear. Next, joy-check your defined groupings of similar items. Garages can become a dumping graveyard for the things we keep for the “what if’s”, the excess surplus, and old hobbies that we’ve outgrown or never took interest in. Make sure you are only keeping items that align with your current lifestyle, and let go of your discard items with gratitude. Give yourself permission to let go. Let go of any shame around the stuff, and bless it forward.

3. Store Similar Items Together and Maximize Space. Give everything a home and zone your garage by category. When we know exactly where things are, we feel more at peace and in control. Get items off the floor and on to shelving racks or cabinets, utilize vertical space, and make sure items that you use frequently are in accessible areas. Remember that you may need to invest in weathertight bins and be selective about what can survive in the garage’s temperatures and outside environment. Popular zones I’ve found in client homes:

  • Seasonal decor

  • Sporting equipment

  • Workout and exercise gear

  • Household backstock items

  • Tools

  • Decorations

  • Gardening

  • Outdoor toys

  • Hobby-related items

  • Sentimental items

*Bonus tip: label your bins for easy maintenance! I like to use post-it notes as temporary labels and then whip out my label-maker when I’m ready to commit.

When a garage is organized and functional (and dare I say, beautiful!), it is extremely freeing. Not only does it make your life easier for living, but it also takes away that stressful, spiraling feeling of “I have no idea what’s in there” terror.

Once you’ve got your systems created for your garage, maintaining it will be so much easier. And you’ll get to enjoy and relish in its organization, every time you park your car inside! 😄 Take it from my client below:

:: Garage Oasis, achieved ::

How-ToStacy Lee