How to Reorganize Your Garage

Are you fantasizing about moving into a bigger home? Has your expanding family outgrown your living space? Are you ready to add space and value to your existing home without building an addition or starting an expensive renovation project?

You may not realize that you already own additional, valuable space. Walk outside and power up your garage door opener. Welcome to your new space! That?s right: Your garage offers more than storage for all your sports equipment or a place to park your vehicle. It serves as a valuable asset for your family?s changing needs and helps you win the fight against clutter. Discover how to organize your garage into a useful space that adds value to your home.

Start the reorganization process by emptying the garage. Remove the vehicle, home improvement supplies, camping gear and boxes of stored mementos. As you remove items, sort your stuff into categories. Try to keep similar items together in a pile. After the garage is completely empty, check its structural soundness. Repair holes in the roof or around the foundation. Seal cracks in the floor or walls. Repaint the inside and outside surfaces if necessary. Now you are ready to turn your garage into a functional, organized space.

Before moving your stuff back inside, decide if you really need to keep everything. Donate unused or outgrown items to a secondhand or reuse it shop. Your local Habitat for Humanity center may accept paint and wood. Throw away broken items. Dispose of hazardous materials like batteries and paint according to local waste disposal guidelines.

After sorting your stuff, you will have piles of items ready to load into the garage, but resist the urge to move back in right away. Take a moment to think about the space?s potential. You might turn your garage into a weight room for your budding athletic star. Or you may want to create a crafting corner and expand your online business. Nurture your green thumb by adding space for gardening tools. Make room for a second car or the equipment you need for a new hobby. Transform your newly discovered garage into a space that meets your family?s needs.

Consider adding organizational tools that help you keep the space uncluttered and neat. Look at the walls and the ceiling. Can you build a loft to hold infrequently used items like holiday decorations? Can you organize your tools by hanging them on pegboards and hooks attached to the walls? How many small boxes, bins or metal coffee cans do you need to sort screws and nails? Would shelves and a bike rack on the rear wall keep your sports and camping equipment organized?

Instead of buying a bigger house, take advantage of the space your garage offers. Install organizational aids and determine as a family to keep the space neat. Not only do you add value to your home, you also make room for the stuff you really want, use and need. Reorganize your garage and find valuable space you can?t live without.

Maire enjoys baking, walking her Scottish Terrier and blogging on the behalf of Sears and other quality products.

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