Seven Must-Have Items to Help Keep Your Garage Organized

Keeping a garage organized can be an ongoing project.  Many times people store so many things in their garage they can’t even fit a car into it.  There are many things you can use to reclaim that spot for your garage.  Here are seven of the best things to help keep your garage organized.

1.  Shelves – Attaching shelves to the walls of the garage can increase your storage space.  There are also stand-alone shelving units that are perfect in the garage.  They are heavy-duty plastic or metal and can hold the heavier items that are often found in the garage, such as tools and sports equipment.

2.  Overhead storage – Overhead storage is a great way to get things put away that you don’t need as often, such as suitcases or holiday decorations.  If you don’t want to build permanent shelves, there are hanging shelf units that can attach to the rafters and provide a great storage area.

3.  Pegboard, etc – Pegboard, slotboard or slatwall are perfect options in the garage. They can have hooks and baskets attached to allow for storage of a variety of items of all sizes.  Brackets can be added to place shelves as needed.  They can be completely customized to hold tools – both for the garden and the garage, parts, cleaning supplies, and much more.

4.  Tool hangers – There are a variety of hanging systems to hold tools.  There are roller versions that grab the handles and hold them in place.  There are also standard hooks that will hold the tool, with the handles hanging down.  These will keep the tools out of the way, making things not only neater, but also safer.

5.  Store-Pod – Store-pods are a great addition to your garage storage system.  They are waterproof, heavy-duty plastic storage units that are attached to the beams above.  They look like a large plastic bag with shelves inside.  The front is a clear plastic door that zips closed.  They have ventilation slots that help reduce dust and mildew, while still keeping pests out of the things being stored.

6.  Sports storage – If you have a family involved with sports, there are always balls lying around, as well as shoes and other gear.  Instead of tripping on them, the garage is a great place to store them.  There are specially designed holders for sports equipment.  There are some for balls, bike racks and more.  There are bike racks that can be mounted on the wall or ceiling.

7.  Cabinets – Cabinets with a work surface are perfect for the garage.  You can close the doors and hide any possible clutter.  You also have a work area for projects that are too messy or noisy for the house.  Many of the cabinets also come with locks – not only to protect your tools, but also to keep small children safe.

Conquer Bathroom Clutter Simply and Effectively

Bathrooms seem to be notorious for becoming cluttered and unkempt.  Between small makeup compacts, medicine bottles, hair accessories, razors and the like, it can be quite easy to lose things in the shuffle.  Assess your bathroom and its contents and utilize a few simple ideas and you’ll find more space and tranquility as a result.

First, take a good look at your medicine cabinets.  Ironically, it’s probably not a good idea to store medicine in your medicine cabinet, as most bathrooms become hot and humid during showers and baths, and can be detrimental to medication that requires being stored at room temperature.  Don’t keep medicines past their expiration date, even if you’ve never opened them or have used them very little.  Try storing your medications on a high shelf in your linen closet with a lock-tight lid.  This will help lengthen their shelf life as well as keep them out of reach of curious little hands.

The same should be done with old makeup.  Generally speaking, most makeup will last about 18-24 months, with the exception of mascara, which lasts about three months, and liquid eyeliner, which lasts about three to six months.  Nail polish generally only holds up for about a year, so if you have any older than that, get rid of them.  And since many makeup products have animal-based ingredients, it’s also important to pay attention to how they smell.  If they smell like they’ve gone bad, they probably have, so toss them. Try using a permanent marker to mark the purchase date on the back of the item, so that way you won’t have to try to remember just how long it’s been since you purchased something.

If you take a look in your favorite discount store’s home organization aisle,  you’ll find lots of inexpensive storage containers that can easily be utilized in bathroom drawers, under the sink, and for shower and bathtub areas as well.  Since bathrooms are full of small things, they can easily be organized in small bins, baskets or boxes.

Keeping an Organized House Maintained

Once you’ve got your house organized and looking just the way you want it, how do you keep it that way?  Getting your home organized in the first place is never an easy task but sometimes even keeping it organized can be just as challenging.  With some work and cooperation from the rest of the family it can be less of a problem.  It will take some time to get used to the new habit of keeping organized, but with some kind, friendly reminders, everyone will get the hang of things.

To keep things running smoothly establish a daily maintenance routine.  Everything has its place but it can’t get there on its own.  So, maintenance is vital to the success of your new system.

Keep the entire family involved.  Even the youngest family members can help.  To help make putting things away for small children, label things.  If they are too young to read use pictures cut out of magazines or the latest circular from the mail or newspaper and tape them to boxes, shelves, or drawers to help remind them where their belongings go.  This will help them to remember where certain items belong.

Assign each family member a particular room or rooms then create a chart showing each room in the house and each family member.  Each family member can then be responsible for making sure that particular room is clutter free daily.  Take a box or basket into the room and anything that doesn’t belong in that room place in the box.  Any other item that belongs in that room but is out of place gets put in its place.  Once everyone has gone through their designated rooms, meet in a chosen area and sort through the items and see what belongs where.  One more quick run through to return the misplaced items and you’re done.  Another method is to have everyone work on each room together, and then each family member can take their own belongings to their room.

Despite your best efforts, dirty laundry piles up quickly.  Designate a single place for all dirty laundry.  Color coding the baskets or labeling them darks, whites and colors can make wash time easier and save you time by not having to sort through it all.  Each family member can then put their clothes that need washed in the appropriate basket and when a particular basket gets full, it’s time to wash.

If you happen to live in a two story home, running up and down the stairs all day can be very tiring.  Try keeping a box at the top and bottom of the staircase, in a safe place of course, so if an item is found that doesn’t belong on that floor it can be placed them in the box.  At the end of the day or when the box is full, the items can be put away without you having to tire yourself out by making several trips up and down the stairs.

Consistency is the key to the organization maintenance system you chose.  In order to keep clutter to a minimum each family member must make the effort everyday to help put things away.