Wire Rack Shelving

Garage Safety & Organization Tips — How To Use Hooks, Bins and Wire Rack Shelving

Has your garage become the dumping ground for everything that you can’t find a place for? Does it look more like a disaster area than a functional garage? Then you need to remember these three things: hooks, bins, and wire rack shelving.

Why? Because keeping your garage organized is an important part not just of your home’s design appeal, but also of your home’s overall safety. Too often, we stuff, cram and throw items that we don’t want or can’t store inside into the garage…and before long, an untidy room has become an overcrowded safety hazard.

But it’s easier than you think to rise above the clutter and turn your garage into a functional extension of your home that not only looks good, but is safe to enter! Here’s how to plan your garage, and what you can use to make your storage space more efficient.

1. Clear out the clutter! Lay a tarp out in your yard, and drag all of that stuff in your garage out into the open. As you go through it, organize it into general categories. Tools, paint, lawn or sports equipment…whatever you have in there, find a way to separate it into groupings that make sense. Once you’ve done that, go through each of the grouped piles and figure out what you need, and what you can get rid of.

2. Now, make a list of items according to whether they are essential, handy to have around, or occasional/seasonal. Essential items are those that get used regularly, such as certain tools or oil and bug wash for your car. Handy items are those that are nice to have around, or that you want to keep relatively close at hand. Occasional or seasonal items are those that don’t get used very often, and could be tucked away out of arm’s reach.

3. Take some measurements, and see what space you have for storage. Can you use the walls? Are there areas behind a door that could hold storage? What about above…could you create or use overhead space for occasional items?

4. Divide your garage space up into areas. Perhaps you have one area designated for tools and a workbench, and another designated for auto supplies, and yet another reserved for gardening tools. Think about your general groupings, and split up your space accordingly. It’s fine for several groupings to use the same area…you can split up shelving later.

5. Back to our big three storage items! Here’s how to use them:
*Hooks: rows of hooks mounted to the wall can hold rakes, shovels, sleds, lawn chairs, hoses…really, anything that you want to keep off the floor. When you place your hooks, think strategically. Place items you want easy access to closest to the door you enter the garage from.
*Bins: Storage bins should be organized into groups…don’t mix and match items that don’t get used together into one bin! Use lockable lids, and label the bins so that you’ll know at a glance what’s in them. Store smaller bins on shelves, and larger bins on the floor next to shelves or overhead.
*Wire rack shelving: You can store pretty much anything on your shelves, as long as you do not overload them. They can tip, so make sure you know the weight load than your shelves can bear and, of possible, secure them to the wall. Designate certain shelves for certain things, just as you might organize a bookshelf by genre or author. Use bins or baskets to keep smaller items together.