The Perfect Garage
Tips to organize a perfect Dad's Garage.
The garage is often more than just a place for parking a car.
- It’s tool storage for all the honey-do projects, sometimes even with a small workspace
- It’s an off-season space for all the different sports and travel gears
- It’s a storage area for some seasonal household items and decor
- It’s also often a shed for gardening and yard upkeep tools
It can get messy easily.
And yet, many of our fathers spend lots of time there fixing things, moving them around, and getting ready for the next season or family venture.
Let’s use the nice spring weather to make the garage well organized, and fun to be in – a nice surprise for Fathers’ Day!
This post contains a step-by-step action plan prepared by the Great Touch Cleaning professionals:
1. Empty the space out
Don’t just kid yourself by moving stuff around. Having it all out will help to evaluate the items:
- What is broken beyond repair?
- What is not used anymore?
- Are there any duplicates?
Don’t be lazy. Empty all drawers, shelves, and boxes. Make sure to examine every item. Each item will belong to one of these categories:
- Garbage / recycling
- Donation / garage sale
- Items to keep
Throw away or recycle all items that are beyond repair and give away or sell duplicate or outdated items that you’ve replaced with newer models. Clearing out the clutter is the only way to commit to a more organized and efficient place.
- If you don’t use it, don’t keep it.
2. Organize all that you will keep
- Set up a few tarps in the yard and wear protective gloves: most items will be dusty; some tools may be greasy or oily.
- Separate all the items according to their purpose. For instance, you could place recreational gear like skateboards, rollerblades, and golf clubs in one area. You could then put your tools, power saws, and blades in another.
- Once you have everything sorted out, you can decide on the best way to store them.
3. Clean up and arange the space
Clean the floors with disinfectant and address the dust and spider webs that have built up over the years.
Install new storage hooks.
One of the easiest ways to maximize the space in your garage is by mounting storage hooks and wire baskets, onto the walls. You will need some brackets to secure these storage items into place. These types of storage hangers are great for items like skis, bicycles, tennis rackets, leaf blowers, rakes, or garden hoses.
You may also need a few shelves.
They are great for seasonal decorations and other loose stuff that could be stored on the shelves in plastic bins. Make sure the bins are see-through or clearly labeled, so the items could be easily found when needed.
If dad is a tool collector, consider investing in a tool chest, to help keep them organized. A rolling tool chest is an excellent way to keep all tools properly stored and available when needed.
3. Put all items in their place.
- Store items according to the frequency of usage. Put the stuff you don’t use often toward the back, or the more difficult to reach spaces of the garage
- Organize items seasonally.
You may plan to make seasonal rotations in your garage, between summer and winter items. If that’s the case you can schedule yearly reorganizations to keep your space in the most optimum arrangement for the season.