Where Do You Start When Organizing Your Garage? Start With the Goal.

If you have been waiting for cooler weather to tackle your garage, now is a great time to get started.

One of the questions I get asked most often when I meet with a client is:

“Where do I even start?”

My answer is almost always the same:

Start with a goal.

Before you pull everything out of your garage or start buying bins, think about what you actually want to be able to do in the space.

Maybe your goal is to park a car in the garage.

Maybe you want to clear a path next to the car so getting in and out is easier.

Maybe you have a workbench that has slowly disappeared under tools, projects and other things, and you want to be able to use your workspace again.

Or maybe your goal is simply to find the tools and supplies you need without having to dig through five containers first.

Those are all great goals. And they can lead to very different organizing solutions.

You Don't Have to Organize the Whole Garage at Once

A garage can be an especially overwhelming space because it often becomes the place where things go when we aren't sure what else to do with them.

Holiday decorations. Tools. Sports equipment. Things we might need someday. Leftover paint. Household supplies. Boxes from the last move. Projects that never quite got finished.

When all of those things are mixed together, it can be difficult to know where to begin.

Instead of looking at the entire garage and thinking, “I have to organize all of this,” start by asking:

“What would make this garage work better for me?”

That answer becomes your starting point.

In This Garage, The Goal Was Function

This before and after is a great example.

The goal wasn't to make every shelf picture perfect or turn the garage into a Pinterest-worthy space.

The goal was to create usable work areas, clear the floor, make tools and supplies easier to find, and give everything a place to go.

Once we knew what the space needed to accomplish, we could make decisions based on those goals.

Some things needed to stay. Some things needed to go. Some items needed to be grouped together. And some areas simply needed to be cleared so they could actually be used for their intended purpose.

The result is a garage that can function as a garage and a workspace again.

So, Where Should You Start?

If your garage is calling your name this fall, don't start by buying organizing products.

Start by asking yourself:

What do I want to be able to do in this space?

Once you know that, you can start making decisions that support that goal.

And you don't have to do the whole garage in one weekend. Pick one area, one goal, or even one work surface and start there.

Your space doesn't have to be perfect. It just needs to work for you.

That's where organizing begins.

Happy Helper Organizing helps busy families and individuals create functional, realistic organizing systems that fit the way they actually live.