Do you hate anything more than walking in your garage and tripping over something on your floor?
We’re no different. Digging through a messy toolbox only to find a screwdriver isn’t fun either.
Luckily, there’s a way to solve this once and for all. As we always like to say, it all starts with ideas before you implement things that will change the way your garage looks and the way you function in your garage.
In this post, we’ll show you how to organize tools in a garage with a few ideas that are easy to implement, so keep on reading if you want to learn how to love your garage and everything inside of it.
How to Organize a Cluttered Garage
Before you start making changes, it’s important to take a step back and learn how to organize a messy garage. These steps will help you understand what makes your garage crowded, but also the way to transform it into a functional space where every tool has a place.
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Assess Your Garage
To be thorough, we recommend a step-by-step inventory process where you can lay everything out, group your tools by category, such as hand tools, garden tools, or power tools.
The next part might be hard on some of you who like to keep everything in your garage, but it’s unfortunately a part where you decide what you want to keep and what is something you aren’t using or don’t need anymore.
If you have duplicates, donate or sell them. If you have broken tools and gear, throw it away and get a new pair if needed.
This is something similar to a Marie Kondo-style approach, where you only keep what you actually use. This method should help you eliminate clutter from the start, even before you organize your garage.
An additional tip is to take a photo of your garage before, during the process, and after the process. You might not get to organize tools in a garage in one day, so having a photo of progress and improvement will serve as a motivation.
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Create a Functional Layout
You know your garage the best. It’s your workshop where you get things done. Only you know how you use the garage and the functions inside it.
In this step, it’s important to visualize the way you use your garage and how you work to see zones for improvement.
Ideally, you can split your garage into zones such as a workbench zone, garden zone, or storage zone. Feel free to add as many zones as you need. Everyone’s garage is different.
Work on improving accessibility to all zones, but also to your work style. We recommend keeping frequently used tools within arm’s reach, for example. While this is common sense, things can get messy during garage projects, so there’s always room for improvement.
Besides functionality, we highly recommend considering lighting as good lighting can improve efficiency, allow you to work for longer, and, of course, fewer accidents.
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Storage Solutions for Small Tools
The first two steps are crucial in preparing your garage for transformation, and now this step is all about transforming your garage.
We’ll start with your smallest tools. While they are small tools, they can quickly create the biggest clutter, which is why you need a good organizational system to keep the tools tidy, in their place, but also accessible and visible at all times.
We highly recommend taking advantage of pegboards, which are highly versatile and can accommodate your tools as your collection grows.
Magnetic strips are great for pliers, screwdrivers, and even drill bits. Not only does this approach make them more accessible, but it also helps keep your drawers tidy.
When it comes to drawers, organizers that split your drawers into compartments are a must. Without it, your drawer would just become a pile of junk where you can’t find things you need at first glance. While you can make DIY drawer compartments using wood or cardboard, investing in some that won’t be costly either.
Bins and jars are our last but not least recommendation for storing the smallest items in your garage. And if you add labels on top of them, you’ll have your small tools, bits, and pieces sorted in one go.
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Storage Solutions for Larger Tools and Equipment
While some struggle with smaller tools and items, big items in your garage can definitely take up a lot of space and make your garage feel small and crowded really fast.
That’s where wall-mounted racks come in place, as they can help utilize free wall space and give you a tidy way to organize and store items such as shovels, rakes, and others. Keep in mind that vertical storage saves floor space, which ultimately helps free up space and make sure your garage doesn’t feel crowded from the moment you enter.
Investing in quality chests and cabinets with rollers is a must for a few reasons. They will keep your most treasured tools and items safe, as you can lock the cabinets/chests. At the same time, having rollers will allow you to move them around and have your tools close by when needed for certain projects.
Heavy-duty shelves are important to help store smaller items we’ve previously mentioned in bins, boxes, and tool cases. While many garages rely on wooden shelving, we highly recommend looking into quality heavy-duty shelving made for garages and for accommodating much heavier weights.
Rolling carts always add flexible storage for ongoing projects and can save you time when you’re working on important projects. These rolling carts are most similar to mechanics’ carts, which are something they heavily rely on while working in vehicles.
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Ideas for Overhead and Vertical Storage
Most garages tend to add plenty of posters and calendars on the walls, just to cover the emptiness. That space can be valuable if used properly for vertical storage.
Ceiling-mounted racks are a great idea that helps store seasonal items such as shovels, leaf blowers, or similar tools. But keep in mind the weight you put on these, as there are always weight limits you have to follow.
Hooks and hangers are an additional way to store large and bulky items such as ladders, extension cords, hoses, and others.
However, we’re big fans of slatwall systems. They’re a sleek and flexible way of adding a professional solution to improve your garage’s organization. While they’re more expensive than pegboards, they’re much more sturdy and sophisticated.
If they’re out of your budget, settling for pegboards isn’t a bad idea either.
Whatever solutions you decide to go with, one of the things to keep in mind is that they aren’t in the way of your garage door.
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Smart Organizational Systems
Organization is much more than just physically moving the items around. It’s also about tracking your tools, labeling them, and the way you use them.
We like labels because they make organization inside the garage easy, even if it’s used by multiple people.
Clear containers help save time, but can look messy, so opaque bins are a great option, but require labels. This is something to consider when purchasing more storage options for your garage.
If you use a lot of cordless tools, using one shelf as a charging station will help keep things organized even when you’re charging. Otherwise, we find that things just get in the way if they don’t have their place.
Maintenance After Organization and Keeping Your Garage Organized
The chances are high you’ve already cleaned your garage multiple times, organized it perfectly, only for things to get messy in a week or less.
As much as cleaning is important, developing a system to ensure you keep things tidy as you’re working in your garage is just as important.
We recommend that people develop a return policy, which essentially ensures you return every tool to its position after each use.
It’s also a good idea to reorganize your garage every season to rotate and swap out winter and snow tools for summer.
Also, dedicating a bit of time to basic tool maintenance helps keep your tools clean, ready for the next use, and we’re not sure why, but it gives a satisfying sensation.
Conclusion
The tips mentioned in this post don’t sound too hard, right? Now imagine implementing some or even all of them and then walking into a neat and functional garage where every tool has its place.
While this might take you a day, two, or even three to do, in the long run, it’ll help you save time, boost efficiency, and keep tools in good condition.
Start small and organize just one wall or section at a time, and things will quickly start coming together with the ideas you discovered here.
Do you know of any tricks and tips on how to organize tools in a garage?
We’d like to hear from you, so feel free to leave a comment in the section below!
