Being organized is a great feeling, and we all want to feel organized in our daily lives. Many of us try to organize our homes by putting things in cupboards and on shelves. We even assign items a specific space with genuine intentions of decluttering our lives.
So, when you declutter the rooms inside your home, where does the extra stuff go?
In most cases, the answer is the garage. The garage is the most common dumping ground for the clutter or stuff we do not want or have room for inside our main living spaces. When was the last time you parked your car in the garage, or were able to walk through your garage? If the answer is ‘I can’t remember’, it’s been too long, and it’s time to reclaim the garage.
What are you supposed to do with all the stuff that’s now accumulated in your garage?
The good news is that garage sale season is upon us, which means you may be able to host a sale and make a little cash from some of your clutter. But odds are that you won’t sell all of your clutter, nor do you want to. If you really wanted to get rid of all your stuff, you would have disposed of it a long time ago. For most people, their clutter is the stuff that has meaning and value to them, but they don’t have room for it. This clutter may only be used at certain times of the year, and just get in the way when it is not needed. For example, you may not need those Christmas decorations or your snowboard now, but you will when winter rolls around again.
The common garage organization solutions people turn to help solve their clutter problem are cabinets, shelving, and organizational units. There are even custom garage storage systems that people invest in to try to get the most of their garage space. Over the years we’ve learned a few tricks about maximizing garage storage space, such as:
- Use Shelving & Cabinets: you can store tools, paint cans, boxes or loose items like extra kitchen appliances or sporting goods items.
- Use Wall Space: install hooks and organizational units on the walls for ladders, brooms, mops, shovels, rakes, hoses, extension cords and bicycles.
- Utilize Ceiling Space: if you have high ceilings in your garage, consider installing storage racks to store those rarely used items out of the way.
Making the most of your garage space is great, but we often find that even when you use storage tricks and hacks like the ones above, there still isn’t enough space in your garage for what’s supposed to in the garage, especially if your goal is to park your car in there! If you find yourself in this situation, consider a self-storage unit!
A self-storage unit can be your offsite garage, especially for seasonal items. There are so many seasonal items that take up precious space in your home, garage and even drive way. Self storage is a great garage storage solution for a motorcycle, classic car, boat, canoe, jet-ski, snowblower, outdoor recreational items, bikes, scooters, kids play equipment and sports equipment. Many also use self storage for seasonal clothing, footwear and outerwear.
It’s spring time right now, so why not move your snow blowers, shovels, skis, snowboards, snow mobiles, sleds, Christmas decorations and bulky winter clothing into a storage unit instead of your garage? By doing this, you’ll create so much more space in your garage which can be used to store your summer items that you’ll be using regularly over the next few months. When summer is over and we’re bracing for the cold weather once again, you can rotate your winter equipment out of storage, and move your lawn mower, pool items, patio furniture and camping gear into your storage unit.
Not sure what size storage unit you need for garage storage?
There are many different sizes of storage units to accommodate how much stuff you’d like to move out of your garage (or home). Use this handy comparable size chart to help you determine the optimal size to rent:
If it’s time to reclaim your garage, contact us about using a self-storage unit to help you with your garage storage needs. If you have any garage organization tips or garage storage ideas, we hope you’ll share them.
Your friend in self-storage,
Storage Solutions