Too often garages become organized by the "there's room in this corner" system. While simply dropping an old rake or a pair of towels in one part of a room may be easy to do now, after a few months your garage will be filled with arbitrary piles. You need a garage storage system with cabinets and space that make sense. While you may be considering buying something to tie the room together and store things, the most important element of your garage is not your stuff, but your system. In order to keep everything in its proper place, we should talk about zoning.
Zoning and you
There are essentially six types of holding space your garage needs in order to successfully store all of your stuff, according to Lifehacker. The first two groups, known as "transition," and "need it now" don't describe a type of physical type of items so much as they describe how it relates to the way you use storage. The transition zone should be used to store stuff that you grab as you leave the house - shoes, jackets, bags, wallets, radios or what-have-you. These are things that may be necessary to have while you're out, but not while you're inside. "Need it now" storage is more about stuff that you might drop in to the garage to get from inside. If you have an extra fridge, for example, you'd store it here. Both of these types of storage should be close to the entrance of the garage.
A third space for frequently used items that aren't necessarily referred to every day can also be placed near the garage door, but not as close as the first two sections. This is for stuff you use frequently, but don't need all the time. Sports equipment, hobbyist materials or similar things might go here.
A second tier
Another set of storage should be set aside for different types of physical objects. Large, heavy things can be kept in a closet or similar storage space. Meanwhile, rakes, shovels or other yard elements could be put in wall mount shelves in order to give them the space they need. Holiday decorations are good candidates for this type of space. Long strings of tinsel could be put up in the garage to stay in shape while they're not on a tree, whereas ornaments in a box could go into the large item storage.
Hobbyist's zone
Finally, you should make room for your hobbies. A separate nook for woodworking, doll house crafting, vintage electronics restoring, or ping pong practice can go into another space in the garage. This sixth zone should be made entirely of objects relating to a specific thing that requires garage space. This is the best way to ensure that your woodworking tools don't wind up nestled in with the New Year's hat. If you don't have a hobby, a Workstation might be the perfect thing to go here for whatever odd jobs you decide to get done around the house.
