Essential Habits People With A Clean Garage Always Do

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The large, open space of a garage can be a siren song for miscellaneous clutter. Despite your best intentions, it's all too easy for your garage to become overcrowded and messy with random stuff. Your car is left exposed to the elements in the driveway. The best way to organize your garage is to start with a clean slate and build simple habits that keep clutter from creeping back. You'll also want to commit to dealing with small messes before they become large ones. The essential steps look like this: Have an organizational plan for the space that you stick to, declutter regularly, put things away in the right spot immediately after use, sweep and wipe down surfaces on a schedule, and take advantage of clever storage solutions.

On a sunny, dry day, mark out areas on your driveway labeled sell, donate, moving elsewhere, or keep. Then tackle the big job of cleaning out and decluttering your garage by tossing commonly stored items you don't need into these areas. Sort everything you want to keep into more defined categories: car supplies, garden tools, sports equipment, seasonal décor, and the like. When you've moved everything out of your garage, give it a thorough clean. Wipe down the walls, work surfaces, and garage door with soapy water, clean the windows with glass cleaner, and sweep and mop the floor. Work from the top of the room to the floor to avoid dirtying areas you've just cleaned.

Don't just dump everything back in and call it a day. Create a plan for how you want to use your garage and where you want everything to go. Do you want to park your car in the garage or use it as a workshop and storage room — or both? Map out different zones digitally or on paper, creating a plan that best suits your needs. Invest in garage storage systems that make it easy to return items when you've finished using them. For example, if you have a lot of tools, DIY a cleat wall for better garage organization and storage above your workbench. Or install a HyLoft Adjustable Garage Overhead Storage Bracket to keep storage bins off the floor. Mount heavy-duty hooks to the wall for fishing rods, bicycles, or that spare garden hose.

Once your garage is neatly organized, it will be tempting to think you're done. But it's the habits you establish now that will keep the space from devolving into a big mess again. Put tools and equipment back in their designated place immediately after use instead of setting them down on your workbench or the floor to deal with another time. To stop your garage from becoming a catch-all location, only store things you've created a spot for. Declutter your garage once every season, and dedicate an entire weekend to the process. Set aside up to 30 minutes a month to sweep and wipe surfaces, clean up spills when they happen, and check for evidence of pests.