8 Ways To Organize The Garage And The Attic

The garage and attic are two areas that most people tend to forget about. They are generally the most cluttered and can be stressful to organize. With the warmer weather now it’s time to tackle both the garage and attic.

Here are some ideas and strategies that will give you the knowledge to use the same ideas to organize not one room, but two! After all, who doesn’t like a two for one deal?

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Depending on the size of your home and the amount of stuff you have, take a quick scan to figure out what help you’ll need. Enlist friends and family to help you transform the garage and the attic into the proper storage facility. To minimize your stress, remember a few principles: take it one project at a time, plan your time accordingly, and give yourself a budget to obtain any supplies you think you’ll need.

1. Clear the area – Begin with removing everything out of the space. Clearing the area will allow you to see the room empty and will help go a long way to organizing it. Designate an area that will temporarily house the contents such as the driveway, patio, backyard, or basement.
2. Clean/Repair – Now that the space is cleaned out, give these areas a deep cleaning. That will give you a clean slate to build on. Start by washing down the walls and get rid of those pesky cobwebs. As well, make any necessary repairs, like filling in any holes in the walls, adding insulation, checking the roof vent and, if need be, installing your storage system (more on that in point 5).
3. Purging – All of your life is now before you in a sea of boxes, cases and maybe a trunk or two. Go through them all and purge, purge, purge. Throw out items that you don’t use, haven’t used in over a year, or don’t need any more. Donate the items to a charity or sell them on Craigslist.
4. Location and Grouping – Now start grouping items that are similar together such as keeping Christmas decorations & lights together, keep cords together, toys etc. Keeping the items together will go a long way to keeping everything organized so you know you have.
5. Zoning – Think about how the garage/attic will be used is the best way to divide where your stuff will do. Ideas for different zones include having a Christmas shelf, family photo’s, toys etc. Putting the rakes/shovels by the garage door. Take into consideration the size of the objects, their weight, purpose and how often they are used.
6. Storage Options – Adding shelving is a great way of transforming bare walls into useful and practical space and you’ll be amazed at the storage capacity. The local home improvement center will have lots of shelving and organization options to visit them to see what type of shelving you should get. Pegboards are another option for storing items like rakes, tools and other items. Boxes are the best way to keep everything neatly into one space. Banker’s boxes are great for storing old photos, documents, and etc. They are perfect for stacking on top of each other and together are great space savers.

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7. Labels – These are a great time saver as it takes the guesswork out of what you actually have. Write clearly on the boxes about what’s in them. Make sure you put all of the names of the boxes facing outward so you can quickly scan and get the box you need.
   • Option – If want to take the labeling to the next level then develop your own ‘home inventory.’ Number the boxes and record on a spreadsheet, the boxes number and the contents and the location. Keep the list in a visible location such as above light switches so when you need to look for something you’ll know exactly where to look.
8. Keeping it up – All of your hard work and dedication is done, so to keep yourself organized, regularly go through the boxes and throw out anything that you’re not using. Develop a regular schedule and purge your home of unneeded items – and keep doing it. It will pay off in long run, and you will have a truly clutter free home.

Jeremy Godfrey is a Community Coordinator for EasyApplianceParts. He spends his time writing about home organization, saving money and doing it yourself.