One of the most notoriously unorganized areas of the house is undoubtedly the dreaded garage. Here are a few tips for keeping your garage organized.

1. To be or not to be a pack rat! If you don’t use it, or it’s broken either throw it away or give it away. This must be the era of hording because all that one seems to see in garages across North America is stuff, and more stuff. When cleaning out the garage with the intention of actually using it for the car, practice the three pile method. One pile is to keep, one pile is to throw out, and one pile is to give away. Make sure the most of the stuff ends up either in the give away pile or the trash pile as the whole point is to re-introduce your car to it’s home.

2. Decide on a storage method. Shop around, depending on the size of your garage and what needs to be kept in it will depend on which storage method you choose. The over head racks are great for storing bins that you rarely need to get to like those pesky Christmas lights. Also using Rubbermaid bins with lids provides safer and cleaner storage. Boxes can weaken over time running the risk of the items stored in them crashing to the garage floor or worse on the car. Rubber made bins will stay strong, and keep bugs and dirt out while preserving what’s inside.

Other Storage Options

Wall storage: Another means of storage are wall hangers. These can be placed along the walls of the garage. You can hang step ladders, hoses, rakes, shovels etc.. This keeps them out of the way and yet easily accessible.

Lifts: There is a great product on the market called the Loft-it-King. It is basically a lift. It is sturdy enough to hold a car and simple enough to load boxes. It’s great for those that enjoy doing at home maintenance and for those single car garages, you can literally pile two cars in a single garage.

Wall Cabinets: For those that are going to use their garages for other means rather than car storage you can optimize space with wall to wall cabinets. These are great for crafters, carpenters, and just plain storage.

Garages are one of the most useful parts of our homes. They provide both convenience and practicality. The key to having a great garage experience is to stay organized and optimize the space for the best storage results.

Interested in fiberglass garage doors? Visit My Fiberglass garage door site today!

Author: Terry Coal
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Smart cooker

One of the most notoriously unorganized areas of the house is undoubtedly the dreaded garage. Here are a few tips for keeping your garage organized.

1. To be or not to be a pack rat! If you don’t use it, or it’s broken either throw it away or give it away. This must be the era of hording because all that one seems to see in garages across North America is stuff, and more stuff. When cleaning out the garage with the intention of actually using it for the car, practice the three pile method. One pile is to keep, one pile is to throw out, and one pile is to give away. Make sure the most of the stuff ends up either in the give away pile or the trash pile as the whole point is to re-introduce your car to it’s home.

2. Decide on a storage method. Shop around, depending on the size of your garage and what needs to be kept in it will depend on which storage method you choose. The over head racks are great for storing bins that you rarely need to get to like those pesky Christmas lights. Also using Rubbermaid bins with lids provides safer and cleaner storage. Boxes can weaken over time running the risk of the items stored in them crashing to the garage floor or worse on the car. Rubber made bins will stay strong, and keep bugs and dirt out while preserving what’s inside.

Other Storage Options

Wall storage: Another means of storage are wall hangers. These can be placed along the walls of the garage. You can hang step ladders, hoses, rakes, shovels etc.. This keeps them out of the way and yet easily accessible.

Lifts: There is a great product on the market called the Loft-it-King. It is basically a lift. It is sturdy enough to hold a car and simple enough to load boxes. It’s great for those that enjoy doing at home maintenance and for those single car garages, you can literally pile two cars in a single garage.

Wall Cabinets: For those that are going to use their garages for other means rather than car storage you can optimize space with wall to wall cabinets. These are great for crafters, carpenters, and just plain storage.

Garages are one of the most useful parts of our homes. They provide both convenience and practicality. The key to having a great garage experience is to stay organized and optimize the space for the best storage results.

Interested in fiberglass garage doors? Visit My Fiberglass garage door site today!

Author: Terry Coal
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Pressure cooker

Garage organizers come in many shapes and sizes. There are specialty racks, shelves, and cabinets. There are hoist systems, overhead platforms, and other ingenious ideas that people have come up with to help organize stuff. Sometimes “garage organizers” even refers to a type of person, as in people who organize garages. Usually it just refers to ways and means of making sense of life’s various things that tend to clutter up our garages and homes. Lets take a closer look at this last area. A good place to start is to break down the things that you and your family members use on both a regular and an occasional basis.

You and your kid’s bikes are probably things you use often. These things can be stored with specialty racks that make it possible for you to access your bikes easily and quickly. without having them lying all over the floor. Picture how nice it would be to not have to deal with bikes flopping all over the place, or tripping on them when you try to navigate your way past them to try to get to something else. All in all, garage organizers for bikes is a wonderful idea.

Other things you use frequently that really benefits from garage organizers is sports equipment. Soccer balls, basketballs, footballs, golf clubs, roller blades, and all sorts of other things can be safely and neatly stored in bins and on hooks designed just for such things. This sure beats the normal dump-it-on-the-floor-and-run routine that most kids use. It doesn’t seem to matter how many times you ask them to put their things away, they somehow just end up all over the garage floor. If the kids know that there is a specific rack or bin for their stuff, it makes it more likely that they will use it.

Things that you use infrequently would be things like fishing gear. Garage organizers help make sense of this stuff too. Chances are you have fishing poles, reels, nets, and other fishing stuff that only gets used every once in awhile, but mostly just sits in a jumbled mess. Instead of piling all that stuff up willy-nilly in a corner of the garage somewhere, why not organize it neatly. Next time you get ready to go fishing, loading up will be a snap. Plus, you’ll save yourself the frustration of dealing with rods and reels that are a mess.

Probably my most favorite garage organizers are garage storage cabinets. These can be left on the floor on rollers, or mounted on the wall, or even situated on a table top. Many are lockable, and most have adjustable shelves. Paints, stains, sandpapers, miscellaneous hand tools, and other items that can really turn your tool boxes into jumbled messes go great in these sorts of cabinets. Like all garage organizers, these cabinets make our lives easier because the frustration of dealing with things out of place goes away. Instead, we create an environment where we can think clearly, access things we need easily, and just create a more relaxing vibe in our day to day lives.

Garage organizers come in all shapes and sizes, and I recommend them highly if you are interested in simplifying both the frequently, and infrequently, used items in your life. Do an inventory and decide to take action. Get the organizers you need and smile.

Garage storage space often becomes more and more limited over time as the humble garage becomes a dumping ground for all of the items that aren’t needed anymore but for some reason, just don’t seem to be able to reach the bin.

The original purpose for most garages is to store vehicles and they do excel at this.  Keeping your car locked away in a garage shields it from the weather, passers-by who may scratch or lean on it and of course safe guard it from thieves.  These are all beneficial to car owners, can save money on car repairs and maintenance bills and with some insurance companies even reduce your car insurance premium.

In times of financial struggle any which way to reduce outgoings needs consideration and it’s possible that the garage isn’t the first thing that comes to mind.  Clearing your garage of clutter can release space to store valuable possessions such as cars and motorcycles, especially older or classic vehicles that are prone to the dreadded rust!

Implementing a storage solution in a garage can also provide space to securely store tools and other valuable items such as golf clubs or bikes.  Having a dedicated area to lock such items away means that they are out of the house, but easily accessible and most importantly secure.

There are also in-direct benefits of making your garage a secure and weatherproof area for storage.  One such example is for those who like to store packaging, it’s not unusual to keep the box for a computer or television as it’s well known that if  the time ever came to sell it, a much better price can be achieved if the original packaging is still in a uasble state.

Unleash the storage potential of your garage and the opportunity to save some money at the same time.

The first time you open the door on a new garage it almost always looks huge. The big, empty space is inviting and full of possibilities. Fast forward to a few months later, however, and if you’re a typical homeowner you’ve filled that space up with all kinds of clutter: toys, tools and all of the boxes you couldn’t find space for in the house proper. That’s why garage storage ideas are one of the basic topics of conversation for homeowners everywhere. There are lots of options. Which one is the most cost effective? Let’s look at some basic criteria courtesy of the storage professionals at holeyrail.com.

Efficiency

Floor space is the basic currency of garage storage efficiency. A garage floor is a messy place; if you don’t want your stuff to get wet, stained or possibly run over by your car you want to get it off the floor. That’s why after a few misadventures most people try to mount things on the walls or hang them from garage rafters. This is really the only practical solution but it can be risky if the method you’re using isn’t strong or secure enough for the weight of the item or to stand up to the vibrations of a moving car or garage door. Pegboards are a traditional solution, but standard boards aren’t necessarily going to stand up to the stress.

Flexibility

Pegboard garage storage solutions also have the advantage of flexibility. As long as the board and pegboard hooks are strong enough you can mount almost anything on your garage wall. Heavy loads such as storage containers may require special care, however. Consider using screws and peg strappers to keep pegboard hooks firmly in place. You may have to experiment a bit to hang oddly shaped things. For example, you should use a larger hook and an overhanging rail to hang a bicycle because it needs clearance for its width.

Portability

Most homeowners these days go through several houses as their families grow up and their finances improve. That means you shouldn’t just think in terms of the perfect solution for this garage, but one that will work in future garages, too. That means that just banging a few nails to hang things just isn’t going to cut it. In fact, when it’s time to sell the house, the protruding nails you thought were handy become an eyesore and a pain to yank out when you’re prepping for a sale. On the other hand, a tough metal pegboard gives you two great options. You can remove it and take it with you to your new home or you can leave it in place, adding a bit if extra appeal to your house.

Toughness

As we’ve noted elsewhere in this article your solution needs to be tough. Otherwise, it’s just going to be a set of hooks for your keys, coats and a couple of small tools. You want to be able to lift heavy bags and boxes off of the floor. To get the best out of a garage storage solution go for tough materials and a secure spot to mount it. If you do that you’ll be surprised at exactly how much you can get out of the way.

If you have decided that a garage storage cabinet is the answer to clearing your work area and of unnecessary clutter, there are a few steps you should take before either building of buying one.

Deciding What Goes In A Garage Storage cabinet

First, before you can decide on the size of you garage storage cabinet, you need to settle on what tools or machinery will go into which shelf or drawer of the cabinet. You know better than anyone which tools you use most often and will want to keep within easy reach of your work area.

Your smaller hand and power tools will probably be most convenient if you put them in the part of the garage storage cabinet closest to your work area; the power tools should be kept on an enclosed shelf to keep them away from dust.

The small removable bits, drills, and blades which you use with you power tools can be placed in a drawer close to the shelves holding the tools with which they work; and you can also have separate drawers for hardware like nails, nuts and bolts, washers, and screws.

Specialty hardware like drawer pulls, or hinges can be stored in another area, especially if you do not do custom woodwork very often. You can buy dividers to keep each kind of hardware separated.

A garage storage cabinet with a section to hold wooden dowels of with taller sections to hold brooms, rakes, and other long-handled garden tools will also come in handy. If you use larger power tools like a mitre saw, one of your garage storage cabinet’s deeper compartments should the set aside for them. For ore info see http://www.garageplanshelp.com/Garage_Storage_Cabinet/ on Garage Storage Cabinet.

Types Of Garage Storage Cabinet

You can choose a free standing or mountable garage storage cabinet; having one of each will double your storage space without doubling the amount of garage floor space occupied with storage; and it by having a garage storage cabinet with sliding doors, you’ll again clear more of your floor space. But sliding doors will only allow you to access half of your garage storage cabinet’s contents at once, so decide whether easy access or floor space is your priority.

You can find garage storage cabinet in wood, metal, or even plastic. Clear plastic garage storage cabinets are great for letting you identify their contents without even having to open them, and many people use them for keeping things which they use regularly.

You need not limit the use of you garage storage cabinets to tools and outdoor equipment; they make great additional storage for clothing, home supplies you buy in bulk like paper products or laundry supplies. Anything which could be kept in an interior cabinet or closet can be put in a garage storage cabinet.