How to Organize Your Garage for Winter

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Winter is coming and you don’t want to wait until the last minute to organize your garage for the season. With snow in the forecast, you will need to be ready to use your shovels and snow blowers but also have easy access to the fun stuff, such as sleds and skis, too.

Keep reading for some helpful tips that will get your garage ready for the winter months ahead.

1. Make a Game Plan

Before you start tackling your stuff, take some time to assess the amount of space you have and come up with a game plan on how you want to arrange your stuff. This will also help you figure out what type of organization products you will need, that way when you are ready to go you have everything on hand.

This is a great time to purge items that are broken or you simply don’t use anymore.

Start by removing everything from the garage and creating piles of items that you are planning on keeping, donating, or throwing away. Once you have gone through all of your items take the ones you plan on donating to the center and contact a junk removal company, to remove the unwanted items.

2. Avoid Storing on the Floor

Now that you have everything pulled outside of the garage, pack the items you plan on keeping into clear plastic totes that are of similar size so they are easier to stack. Clear totes make it easier to see what is inside so you don’t have to dig through everything you own when looking for something in particular.

Make use of what wall space you have by adding shelving or a wall track system to hang your shovels and yard tools in a location near the garage door that is easy to access.

If you have a lot of miscellaneous sports gear or small items you may want to consider adding a dedicated cabinet in your garage for these items. This can be especially convenient if you have kids. This provides them a landing zone for their gear when they get home from practice or a game.

You can also make use of the ceiling space by adding overhead storage shelving. Using the wall and ceiling space helps keep your items off of the garage floor. This will free up space to park your vehicle and keep your things from getting wet when the snow begins to melt off of your car.

If placing items on the floor is unavoidable, make sure to place the heaviest items at the bottom of the pile. This makes it easier for you to look through items when needed and also avoids crushing lighter weight storage boxes.

3. Organize Your Items

Now that you have all the items you are keeping packed into their respective bins, it’s time to start moving them back into your garage.

Label each of your boxes with details of what is inside. This will make things easier in the future when you are searching for a specific item but can’t remember where it is.

You can also label your shelves or wall track so that if you use an item in your garage you can remember where it goes when you are done with it.

Once you have all your things labeled you can then start by separating the items that you don’t use very often and the things that you know you will need frequent access to. With winter on its way, you know that you will be needing any snow shovels or snowblowers, and skis or sleds at the forefront.

Hanging a ski or snowboard rack is a great idea if you have a lot of equipment. This is a great way to keep the clutter on the floor to a minimum while also avoiding the inevitable poles tipping over.

Fall and Christmas decor should also be moved out to an easily accessible area. These things should be arranged on your shelves from your eye level downward.

Summer items such as pool gear, summer sports equipment, and summer holiday decorations should be packed higher up on the shelves since it is not currently needed.

It’s also a good idea to create an inventory of the items that you have stored in your garage so that you can refer to it later if you have trouble locating an item.

4. Be Ready for the Weather

It’s important to be ready for any inclement weather that might be heading your way.

Keep your salt or sand for the driveway in a handy and easy to access place near the garage door. Sliding wire baskets or a tilt-out hamper is perfect for when you need to be able to get to it quickly and effectively. Having the baskets off the floor will also keep your supplies protected all winter long.

Installing battery-powered LED lights in your garage is important for when there might be a power outage and you need to get to your supplies in the garage. Motion-sensor-activated lights make it even easier so that you aren’t fumbling to find the switches to turn them on in the pitch black.

These lights can be easily installed underneath your cabinets to see the tops of your countertops, inside drawers to help find smaller items or along the walls if necessary.