There’s a reason garages get loaded up with all the stuff we don’t want in the house and that reason is that no one looks in there when you have dinner parties. So we feel free to cram it to the gills with everything under the sun. I am going to give you the tools you need to not only park the cars in there but know where everything is when you need it.

Step One: Everybody out!
The best way to organize any area is to get everything out of it so you can see what you are working with. Luckily it’s summer so a day of having stuff in your lawn isn’t the end of the world. Start by the garage door with a large garbage bin and a couple of large Rubbermaid totes. Label your totes with signs saying “Donate” and stick a few signs on the lawn (or the driveway) that suit your style (ie “sporting goods”, “winter items”, “kids toys” etc). Now just pick up a piece and put it in the appropriate pile. Throw away broken items or trash, donate things you can’t use anymore but are in good enough condition that someone else can get some use out of them, and sort through the golf clubs, the skis, and the soccer balls.

Step Two: Evaluate the Situation.
Now that the whole place is cleared out look at your beautifully empty garage. Take some measurements and see where your windows are, your furnace, or whatever obstacles are in the way and note them. Look at the floor and the walls to see if they needs to be cleaned or painted. Now that you have the measurements you can figure out how much paint you would need if you were to do either of those things. When in doubt ask your friendly orange-aproned paint mixer just how much you are going to need. Painting the floor is a great way for it to be sealed and will make it easier to be cleaned later on. Garage floor paint is an inexpensive way to cover up those oil spills and it’s very easy to do. You simply clean the floor, roll on a coat or two of the paint and while it’s still wet (you do this as you go) sprinkle on these little rubber bits that help to make it slip resistant (sold at most home improvement stores).

Step Three: What Goes Where?
Once everything is in little piles in the front of the house you can see exactly what you have and what you need to house that stuff. Invest in a few key pieces like heavy duty plastic totes for some long term storage items like the camping gear that gets used a couple of times a year and the winter gear that you don’t need because it’s 80 degrees out. And a shelf system like the Rubbermaid Fast Track which not only allows you to have re-positionable shelves but hooks for tools and bicycles and baskets for golf balls and the like. If you have open rafters or trusses in your garage buy a few sheets of plywood to place on the lower horizontal 2X4 to get maximum storage for things you don’t need access to but can’t part with (as in baby memorabilia from the 80′s)

Step Four: Put it Away
Take your new storage finds out to the lawn and start putting your things in to them. Long term storage items go in the totes to be placed on shelves (like your Christmas lights) and things you need better access to goes on hooks, pegs, and in baskets (like your gardening things and tools). Labeling your totes; “Christmas Decor”, “Halloween Costumes”, “Life Jackets and Water Toys”, “Snow Gear” etc will help you to know exactly what is in each one. I like to use space saver bags to not only save space but to help keep my mittens and hats from getting damp or bugs from crawling on them. You’ll find you can get more in the totes this way and not have to use as many. Give each family member their own little space, dad gets a tool bench, mom gets a planting station, and little Tommy and Susie get their own shelf and/or bin for their balls and squirt guns.

Step Five: Sit back and enjoy!
Take a deep breath and pat yourself on the back. You did great work and now you have a space that you can not only be proud of but find whatever you need quickly and efficiently. It will also help tremendously when or if you go to sell the house because chances are the next homeowner will need some ideas how to keep their garage as clutter free and organized as yours is!

For help and tools to have other nice rooms in your house please visit Your Organized House

Author: Danielle Trapp
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Programmable Multi-cooker

When your living space is starting to appear smaller and smaller as your family starts to expand, possibly it’s time for you to think about the option of remodeling to increase your place. You don’t have to get rid walls just to get that extra space you require, but instead, you can select to have some unused space in your home to be transformed into something habitable. A sound place to start is your garage and there are a whole heap of possibilities that can transform your garage into an element of your home with no topmost renovations. Renovating your garage means that you can attain yet an extra space that can be transformed into rooms without having to exhaust so much on construction fees.

Houses with remodeled garage have the added space advantage and the return on investment is amazingly high. In this day and age, a lot of people prefer homes with renovated garage, which are a part of the entire structure. The garage is gradually but surely becoming an element of the home rather than an isolated parking spot or storage space. Garage remodeling can be a clever choice if you don’t park your car in the garage anymore but instead, you leave it outside in your driveway. Using this specific space can be very satisfying both for you and your family because you will be able to gain another living quarter or perhaps an office without having to build another space.

If you want extra space, your best choice is garage remodeling. Since the garage has been the most deserted part of the house, all the junk and useless items are placed there. As a consequence, your garage becomes a cluttered junkyard where retrieving a single item can be a venture in itself. There are many advantages to renovating your garage. Whatever intent you have in mind for your old garage, you can hire the aid of experts who can actually renovate your garage for you while implementing impressive ideas and turning your garage into a valuable and organized room. There is much furniture that can be set up in your driveway like garage cabinets, bendable wall systems and appliances to complement your recently designed space. You can alter it into a sleek and luxurious living quarter or into a rugged but contemporary entertainment room complete with audio and video systems and other appliances.

You can also place a refrigerator there that is exclusively designed for varying temperatures all year round. Another benefit to remodeling a garage is that it boosts the value of your property. With a renovated garage, you actually gained another room without going through major alterations within your house or having to add an extension to your house, thus decreasing your lot size. The garage remodeling option can really save you plenty of money, while gaining that extra space that’s so desired in today’s contemporary homes. The procedure also saves you a lot of time as you can remodel a garage all year round, rather than having to wait for extreme weather conditions to pass. A full garage remodeling project can take up to one week whereas remodeling another art of your house may take several weeks or months.

Garage remodeling organizes the home, increases storage space and creates a pleasant additional space for the home and it is also the quickest method of adding space to your house. All the mess and unnecessary items are removed and since your garage, after remodeling, is now a completely new living space, you will not be inclined to plunk your trash there, but instead use your new garage storage space to organize all your belongings. That is why a garage alteration is constantly a huge option for those who are in constant need of more space but are not too eager to sacrifice the time, resources and personal participation in renovating a different section of the home.

Taking advantage of the many storage rental facilities all across the United States has helped millions of families save space in their homes while safely storing important items. Even though renting a storage unit might seem like an easy task to many it can be difficult especially if a person has never rented a storage facility before. Choosing a safe area to store items in is hard enough and the work doesn’t stop there. Once a person or family has found a likely storage facility it is sometimes hard to decide what size storage unit should be rented.

The size of a storage rental unit does not seem like an important concern to most people but anyone that has rented a storage unit before will tell you that choosing the wrong sized storage unit can be a disaster. Whether a storage unit is ultimately too large or to small having the wrong size can spell disaster for a person on a tight budget or a person that is in desperate need of more space. Before renting a storage unit it is important that all individuals spend time deciding how much space they will need for the belongings they plan to put into storage.

Most storage rental facilities provide prospective customers with the sizes of their available storage units. The most common storage unit sizes are 10 feet wide by 5 feet deep, 10 feet wide by 10 feet deep, 10 feet wide by 20 feet deep, 15 feed wide by 20 feet deep, and 20 feet wide by 20 feet deep. Many companies will provide you these numbers and even small pictures to give you an idea of what the size looks like but the average person might have a hard time visualizing these sizes. To make things easier keep this in mind, 10×5 is about the size of a walk in closet, 10×10 is usually the size of a very small bedroom, 10×20 is the size of the average one car garage with 15×20 being only slightly larger, and 20×20 is the size of a spacious two car garage.

The monthly rental fee of most storage facilities is determined by the size of the unit being rented. The larger the storage unit the more you will pay. Even though most storage rental facilities are relatively affordable the monthly fee can add up over time. Renting too much space can lead to money being wasted in storage rental fees that are unnecessary. On the other hand, renting too little space can lead to the need to upgrade storage units which often causes additional fees to be charged to your account not to mention added labor and time spent making a second move that could have been easily avoided.

To avoid spending extra time and money take some time to determine how much space your items will need before you sign any contracts. First, isolate all of the items you plan to place in storage. This might be harder for some people than others but it will be worth it in the end. Even if you have to pile boxes onto beds or couches get all of the items you want to store in one location and stack them in approximately the same way you will store them in your storage unit. Get a measuring tape and figure out how much space your items occupy and give a bit of allowance for extra space to remain around and above all of the items you plan to store.

If you feel that your items could be stored more efficiently in different boxes or containers then repack them! Do not wait until after you have rented a storage unit and started moving things into the storage unit to start thinking about more efficient ways to pack. Experiment with plastic containers, larger, and smaller boxes until you get everything packed and arranged in a way that you think will be easy to fit in a smaller storage facility without crowding the unit.

After you have gotten everything you want ready for storage and are prepared to rent your storage unit take a moment and think to yourself will I ever put anything else in storage? If the answer is I don’t know, always try to rent a slightly larger storage unit if the space you plan to rent will just barely fit in all of your current belongings. This will save you the inconvenience and expense of renting an additional storage unit or having to move all of your belongings to another storage unit.

On the other hand, if you do not plan to store any additional items to your storage unit and actually plan to be removing items shortly because of a move or any other reason do not be afraid to rent a storage unit that just squeezes everything in. This can be done safely for extremely short term storage because there is a less of a chance that your storage unit will attract vermin in the form of insects and rodents. When your items are in storage for short periods of time there is little need to make all of the preparations necessary for safe, long term, storage.

Lastly, if you are renting on a short term basis and need to store furniture and many belongings before a move into a home do not be afraid to rent the largest unit available. Renting a large space for a short period of time can be convenient and financially sound since you are not planning to keep the storage space for several months or years.

Most people think of climate control storage as something that food service companies need to keep food refrigerated or frozen. For the average user, they think of self storage as a large building made of rooms that are about the size of a one-car garage or smaller, with a garage type door and no special features at all. And some self storage units are just that a medium-sized concrete room with a garage type door that allow large items to be put into the storage unit easily. The temperature inside the unit varies with the season; they’re boiling hot in the summer and frigid in the winter. These types of storage units are ideal for items that aren’t affected by changes in climate or for short term storage.

Some self storage facilities offer covered outdoor storage for certain items, and some offer indoor storage designed for specific purposes, so your choices don’t just range from mini storage to units that are large enough to house every piece of your furniture. You can get specialized self storage for your other storage needs, too.

Climate control storage is offered at many facilities and can be used for a variety of purposes. Some companies will have climate controlled self storage units just for storing wine, for instance. They’ll be able to tell you how many cases will fit into each unit, and should offer the temperature they keep the unit at 24 hours per day and 7 days per week-for wine, it should be right around 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

This type of special self storage will cost more than a standard storage unit of the same size that doesn’t have climate control. It will probably also cost a little more if it’s designated for a specific purpose – like wine self storage p than if it’s merely advertised as air conditioned and heated to maintain a certain temperature and therefore keep items from melting or freezing.

For the wine aficionado, wine self storage offers the benefits of keeping fine wines at the ideal temperature year round. Many people who enjoy wines don’t have the optimal storage space in their homes for the bottles. A wine cellar is ideal because of the built-in coolness of rooms that are underground, but if you don’t have a wine cellar, having one built can be expensive. Self storage is a good, cost effective solution for storing wine properly.

Storing wine isn’t the only good application of climate control storage. If you need to store wooden furniture, for instance, you could store it in a regular self storage unit that has a temperature that can vary widely according to the season. Or you could pay just a little more and store it in climate control storage, which will much better protect your furniture investment.

Wood furniture might not be affected much by the heat or cold of the air, but climate control storage doesn’t just control temperature. These units control the amount of dust in the air by their very nature. Because heating or cooling is used, air filters are also used, which can keep your storage unitcleaner and better protect the surfaces of your furniture or other items.

When you rent a regular storage unit, the changes in temperature can cause condensation and “sweating” on some surfaces. This moisture can cause damage like mold, mildew, water stains, discoloration and even warping, in some more extreme cases.

With climate control units, which are typically kept at a temperature between 60 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit, this condensation is prevented, protecting the items from moisture damage. Climate control units are also, by their nature, humidity controlled. So the dryer air also protects your items from the damage that can be caused by being in a moist environment.

Many items like artwork or antique items can be preserved longer and better in a climate control storage unit. Think of the museums and archaeological societies when they uncover a treasure-it’s immediately put into a climate controlled environment to minimize any further decay and damage. Your valuable items deserve no less attention.

Even items like clothing and paperwork can be damaged by humidity and moisture caused by rapidly changing temperatures and extreme temperatures. Your clothes and papers could come out of storage with a musty smell, or even show signs of mildew if not in climate control storage.

A final benefit to climate control storage is that, along with the units, the hallways in the building are likely climate controlled too, so that you’re more comfortable when accessing your items.

I remember going to my grandparent’s house when I was a child and they had a huge two car garage. When you are little a two car garage can look like an auditorium with its wide open space. But this was a dirty place and it was the perfect place to hide cars. My grandfather believed in utilizing space as effectively as possible but he was also not one for details.

So when you would walk into my grandparent’s garage you would look up and see boards haphazardly strewn across the roofing supports and an occasional rake or some other potentially dangerous yard tool resting delicately across the boards. Luckily no one ever got hurt but that was definitely the wrong way to do garage storage. If you are going to do overhead garage storage you want to be certain that you are doing it the right way. The way I just describe is most obviously the wrong way.

One good jolt to the garage wall and all of that garage storage would come crashing down. Like I said, no one ever got hurt, but the potential was there and when you are talking about heavy and sharp objects hovering 4 or 5 over your head you probably want to make sure they are as secure and as safe as possible.

Designing garage storage can get a little complicated if you let yourself get carried away. The first thing you want to make sure your garage storage has is easy access from the floor. Climbing ladders may not always be the best way to get things up and down from your garage storage. It may be best to build some sort of collapsible stairway or some other secure way of getting to the garage storage overhead. If you are comfortable with a ladder then that is fine but remember that it takes at least one hand to safely climb a ladder and you may not have one hand available when carrying an 8 foot long piece of lumber.

Make It Secure and Airy

Closing off your garage roof to create garage storage can cause problems. A roof needs to breathe so sealing the garage roof to create garage storage could cause serious damage over time. The best way to build garage storage is to have a couple of good sized openings in the floor of the upper storage to allow air flow. Remember to use good plywood at least a half inch thick or more to make sure it is safe to walk on and store things on.

Taking the extra steps to make sure your garage storage is safe is the smart thing to do. I always wondered why my grandparents’ things never collapsed on them in the garage but then again I was always happy they did not.

You may not believe this but using your garage for storage is costing you 20 times more than it should.

Garage storage is an extremely “convenient” way to store your stuff. But ask yourself this question. How much is it costing?

Keep reading this article and you will discover a secret that I and only a handful of others know of, or have considered. And in a moment you may be wondering what you will do with the extra $1,000 per year you’ll be saving if you follow my advice.

You may already know this but, more than 30% of U.S. homes use the garage for storage, while their cars are parked in the street.

I hate to admit it, but I was once among that 30%. I spent years parking two $20,000 automobiles on the street, while we stored our “stuff” in my two-car garage. What’s worse, was that the value of the stuff we were storing had a grand total value of less than $3,000, on a good day.

Every year, I spent hundreds of dollars repairing my cars from dents, dings, broken windows, and the scrapes from the neighborhood street traffic. Not to mention the outright break-ins we suffered from the late night vandals. And there is no telling how much money I lost in trade-in value due to the faded paint from prolonged exposure the direct sunlight.

Then, one day I ran across a National Association of Builders statistic that reminded me of something really important. The NAB stated that the average U.S home cost was approximately $95 per square foot. When I did the math, I realized that my house was right in line with the average.

So my garage being around 400 square feet had cost me nearly $40,000, and I was using it for storage! All the while it was costing me over $1,000 a year in car repairs while my “stuff” took up my entire garage.

It didn’t take long to begin an investigation into alternative storage space. And after looking at rental units, and pre-fabricated storage units I found a set of simple storage shed plans that saved me thousands of dollars over time.

Now that you have read this article I’m sure you’ll want to visit http://www.squidoo.com/Simple-Storage-Shed-Plans, or click the link to garage storage and learn about how to get your hands on a proven and cost effective way to solve your storage problems.

I HAVE A SMALL ONE CAR GARAGE AND THINKING OF HIRING A CARPENTER TO GET SHELVES IN THE GARAGE FOR STORAGE PUROPOSE,

I AM LOOKING FOR SIMPLE BUT STRONG

HOW MUCH SHOULD CARPARENTER CHARGE ME FOR THIS INLCULING LABOAR AND MATERIAL.

PLEASE ADVISE

THANKS

We are currently have a 24X32 two car garage put up. Obviously both cars will be going in it, so I’m not exactly sure what the measurements will be on how much room we will have for storing things like bikes, mowers, etc. I work on my car a lot, so I want to be able to have a place for my tools. Should I just hang up regular shelving, or would it be better for me to install a work bench type thing with cabinets and such on the wall?

I have three GIANT piles of stuff. It literally takes up a 2 1/2 car garage leaving just walking room from the door leading into the house to the side door and the big garage door to that walkway (in the middle).

The back pile consists of LOTS of toolboxes, giant toolbox-type storage bins (3), old bikes, big box-carrying pusher things (like the restockers in a hospital would use), and some empty storage bins.

The left section of my garage is mostly boxes from when I moved into my house (six years ago). The boxes used to be neatly stacked, but have been fallen over. There is also an old microwave, a record player (don’t know if it works), old speakers, and a baby crib.

The right pile is a HUGE MESS!!! There is a ladder, a childrens swimming pool, boxes, Literally buckets and buckets of little brass plumbing parts (my grandpa was a plumber – he died when I was one, now I’m sixteen). We got my grandma’s house when I was 9. We also have JUNK. Theres Buried stuff I don’t know abt.

I am purchasing an older home with a detached 1 car garage. The garage was built when smaller cars were the norm and most people in the neighborhood only use it for storage. We are thinking about eventually converting the garage into an finished office and separate storage space (like a shed for garden type storage items). Would this be a mistake in terms of re-sale?