How To Declutter Your Garage Without Feeling Overwhelmed

Lilian — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 16:30:00 +0000

Are you stressed about decluttering your garage that’s filled with random junk? Learn how to declutter your garage without feeling overwhelmed today.

Do you have a garage that’s FULL of junk?

It’s OK if you do – most of us have a garage full of clutter! Fact is, a majority of Americans don’t even park their cars in their garages.

We tend to dump things in the garage because we don’t want to deal with the clutter right away.

What happens next is we adopt the “out of sight, out of mind” attitude.

Since the garage is not a place we step foot in daily, we tell ourselves we’ll deal with the mess later.

But, it doesn’t take long before the space fills up completely. Before you know it, there’s hardly any floor space in the garage!

That’s when you’ll probably think about decluttering, but just the sight and thought of it overwhelms you!

Don’t worry, I’m here to help!

In this post, I’ll share five easy tips to declutter your garage and five practical tips to help you to organize your garage successfully.

Follow the step-by-step guide below so you can finally use your garage to its fullest potential.

How to declutter your garage

1. Set decluttering goals for your garage

Before you begin decluttering your garage, it’s important to set some decluttering goals.

What type of space are you envisioning for your garage?

Do you want to park your cars inside the garage? If you love to work on DIY projects, do you need a workstation in the garage? What are the key things you want to store in the garage?

Knowing how you want to use the space will help you to declutter and organize quickly.

2. Set a realistic timeline to declutter your garage

Can you declutter a garage in one day?

This is a popular question and I understand why! Most of us don’t want to spend our time decluttering. We’ll rather go to the beach, watch TV, or hang out with our family and friends.

To that question, I say it IS possible to declutter your garage in a day. But, I have a feeling it’s going to be very stressful.

After all, 1 in 4 Americans says their garage is too cluttered to fit their car. According to Time magazine, some families store as many as 650 boxes, bins, and other items in their garage!

Don’t make decluttering more difficult than it already is by giving yourself another challenge!

Set a realistic timeline to declutter your garage to avoid extra stress.

Rope in your family to help and set aside four Saturdays in a month to declutter your garage.

Getting your kids involved may lengthen the process, but they will learn the benefits of decluttering if they help.

Make decluttering your garage fun for everyone by turning it into a game. Print out a list of things to declutter in the garage – whoever declutters the most in the shortest amount of time wins!

3. Throw out trash

Like all decluttering projects, do not sort, organize, or clean while you are trying to declutter.

Multitasking will distract you from making significant progress. Plus, juggling too many tasks will make you feel even more overwhelmed!

The first step to decluttering your garage is throwing out the trash.

Sounds simple, right?

It is so easy to do yet many people forget to do this first.

Look around your garage for these items:

Broken styrofoam and cardboard boxes
Empty packaging
Empty soda cans
Scrap materials that cannot be repurposed or reused
Dried out paint cans and rollers
Broken tools that you cannot fix
Worn out sports equipment
Worn out pool, gardening, and miscellaneous equipment and accessories
Old, ratty, and unused pet toys, beds, etc
Expired chemicals like fertilizers and cleaning supplies
Worn out camping/fishing gear
Burnt out light bulbs and batteries
Expired food, medication, and supplements

Once you’ve collected these items, put them aside in an empty corner of the garage and stick a “Trash” label on the wall.

The label indicates that these items need to be discarded or recycled.

I recommend doing this first because you don’t have to think twice about things you don’t need and can’t use anymore.

Once you’ve seen how much progress you’ve made, you’ll be more motivated to continue decluttering.

Additionally, it’s easier to see which items are left in the garage.

4. Plan what to do with all your unwanted stuff

Once you’ve separated your trash from everything else, it’s time to get rid of those items first.

Give yourself time to declutter every single thing before you move on to the next step.

If your garage is overly cluttered, doing this will give you more space to sort out the rest of the stuff in your garage.

The next step is to plan. How are you going to get rid of everything else in your garage?

Here are five easy ways to declutter your things:

Put up a curb alert ad on Craigslist
Sell them online on Facebook Marketplace, eBay, Amazon, etc
Donate them to local thrift stores like Goodwill or Salvation Army
Donate them to local charities, homeless shelters, animal shelters, and religious organizations
Give them away to family and friends

Once you’ve decided, make sure to go ahead and complete any required setup like:

Creating an account on online marketplaces
Scheduling pick-ups or drop-offs with your local charities, shelters, thrift stores, and more
Spreading the word to your family, friends, and neighbors

5. Sort the remaining stuff into 4 categories: donate, recycle, sell, keep

Your garage should be a practical and organized space to keep things you need or use frequently.

Maximize the storage in your garage by decluttering these unnecessary things:

Donate/Sell

Old wood scraps
Power tools that do not work or have missing pieces
Random hardware like nails, screws, or bolts that you probably won’t use
Leftover supplies from renovations (tile squares, paint cans, tarps with holes, etc)
Duplicate tools for gardening, car repairs, etc
Sports equipment that you no longer use
Camping/fishing gear that you no longer use
Large toys and bikes that your kids have outgrown
Unused pool accessories
Incorrect size light bulbs
Cracked, broken, or unused flower pots
Broken, old, or unused furniture
Vehicle supplies and accessories you don’t use
Extra luggage, suitcases, and duffel bags
Miscellaneous junk

Recycle

Old electronics like old cell phones and computers, etc
Excess plastic bags, cardboard boxes, etc

Want to declutter the other areas in your home? Get started with the ultimate decluttering checklist with over 100 things to declutter!

Remember to give yourself time to get rid of everything before you start cleaning and organizing.

*Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that are at no additional cost to you, and I may earn a small commission if you purchase any products via my links. I only recommend products that I would use myself, and all opinions expressed here are my own. Read the full privacy policy here.

How to organize your garage

Create zones in your garage

If you’ve watched The Home Edit, you know zones are your best friend when it comes to organization.

Notice how easy it is to shop in grocery stores? That’s because there’s a specific zone for each category and each zone is clearly labeled!

Here are some common zones you can find in a garage:

Gardening
DIY tools and supplies
Sports equipment
Cleaning tools and supplies
Food storage
Vehicle repair/maintenance tools
Pool accessories
Camping gear
Seasonal home decor
Children’s toys and activities

You can set up as many zones as you like – as long as it works for you and your family’s lifestyle.

Maximize vertical storage

If you’re planning to park your cars in the garage, it’s a good idea to maximize vertical storage.

Vertical storage also gives you more floor space to move around freely in the garage.

Here are some easy-to-install and affordable storage and organization systems:

Install floating or wire shelves on a blank wall
Attach a pegboard/slat wall panel on the wall to customize your organization
Arrange stainless steel shelves against a blank wall
Assemble a vertical bin storage system

Overhead storage is another option, but I always recommend vertical storage because it feels sturdier and safer to me.

However, you know your household better, so always go for what works best for your space and family.

Use the right storage solutions

Once you’ve decided, it’s time to measure your space and shop for the right storage solutions.

Here are my top picks:

Adjustable 5-shelf storage shelving unit

Pros:

Durable – each shelf can hold up to 350 pounds! The total max load weight is 1,750 pounds
Adjustable shelves
No tools are required to assemble
Bestseller – lots of 5-star reviews with great feedback!
Value for money

Cons:

It may be confusing to assemble

Wall shelves

Pros:

Durable – holds up to 800 pounds
Comes in two colors – black and white (pleasing to the eyes!)
Easy to install
Includes hardware
Great customer service

Cons:

It may not be suitable for drywall
Shelves come separately – however, velcro is provided to combine shelves if you need one long shelf

Large stackable storage bins

Pros:

Spacious
Stackable
Nice design
Comes with a lid and strong buckles
Easy to pull from high shelves – comes with a built-in pull handle on the bottom

Cons:

Some arrived dirty and dusty
Some buckles were faulty (if this happens to you, remember to ask for a replacement!)

Metal Pegboard Organizer

Pros:

Extremely durable – 10 times stronger than a normal pegboard!
Comes in a wide range of colors
Comes with a good variety of accessories, shelves, and bins
Rust-resistant
Lifetime guarantee

Cons:

Pegboard accessories are not included
Some panels arrived bent/dented

Tool storage rack

Pros:

Durable – holds up to 325 pounds!
Versatile – holds a wide variety of tools from garden tools to yard tools to power equipment, extension cords, and garden hoses
Comes with easy instructions
Compact

Cons:

Requires two people for installation
Some people experienced faulty screws/bolts

Power tool organizer

Pros:

Durable – Holds up to 35 pounds
Fits 4 drills plus a shelf for chargers, batteries, and drill bits
Easy to install
Includes hardware

Cons:

Slightly pricey
It may not fit some cordless drills

Sports Equipment Organizer

Pros:

Multipurpose – stores different kinds of sporting equipment and gear from baseball bats to balls to rackets, sticks, gloves, and helmets
Durable
Easily movable – comes with wheels
Comes with a one-year warranty
Great customer service

Cons:

Some panels came bent/dented/damaged

Need more organizational solutions? Check these out:

Label, label, label!

Got everything set up? Perfect!

Now, it’s time to label all of your zones.

Want the pretty vinyl labels you see on The Home Edit? You can:

Customize yours on Etsy
Buy a Cricut and make your labels

But, if you’re on a budget, you can easily make your labels using Canva. Just use a pretty cursive font and print them on sticker paper!

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I maintain a clutter-free garage?

First, you have to stop treating your garage as a dumping ground, even if it means implementing some strict rules in the house.

For example:

Discarding the trash as soon as you see them
Putting things away in the right zones after using them
Keeping things off the ground
Decluttering the garage once every six months

Additionally, you can avoid clutter if you learn how to be a mindful shopper. Remember to follow these three rules:

Refrain from making impulse purchases
Do a stock take before you shop
If you must shop, choose high-quality items that will last a long time

2. Help! How do I organize large storage bins in the garage?

The best way to organize large storage bins in the garage is to stack them on wall shelves.

I prefer wall shelves over cabinets because I can see what I have without opening cabinet doors. Additionally, I don’t have to worry about buying storage boxes that fit specific cabinet dimensions.

Furthermore, I have no excuses to keep clutter behind closed doors!

Conclusion

Are you ready to start decluttering the garage with your family?

Read this post, take a deep breath, and go forth. You can do this!

Happy decluttering and all the best!

Like this post? You might enjoy these other decluttering posts…

The post How To Declutter Your Garage Without Feeling Overwhelmed appeared first on That Isle Life.

Declutter garage Archives - That Isle Life

How To Declutter Your Garage Without Feeling Overwhelmed

Related:

How to declutter your garage

1. Set decluttering goals for your garage

2. Set a realistic timeline to declutter your garage

3. Throw out trash

4. Plan what to do with all your unwanted stuff

5. Sort the remaining stuff into 4 categories: donate, recycle, sell, keep

How to organize your garage

Create zones in your garage

Maximize vertical storage

Use the right storage solutions

Adjustable 5-shelf storage shelving unit

Wall shelves

Large stackable storage bins

Metal Pegboard Organizer

Tool storage rack

Power tool organizer

Sports Equipment Organizer

Label, label, label!

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I maintain a clutter-free garage?

2. Help! How do I organize large storage bins in the garage?

Conclusion