Restore order to your garage

By Josh Garskof


(Money Magazine) -- No room in your garage ... for your cars? Welcome to the club. A quarter of Americans with two-car garages can't park in theirs, and another third can squeeze in only one vehicle, according to the Department of Energy. Getting a grip on the jumble of yard tools, sports gear, and random junk is daunting, sure. But you'll make the space more attractive and useful -- and spare your car from the elements too. Just follow this game plan.

Sort through the chaos

First, toss or donate everything your family doesn't use. Group the rest by theme: yard tools, sports equipment, beach toys, and so on. Stow the small stuff in translucent, stackable, snap-top bins ($5 to $23 at thestoragestore.com) so you can see what's inside.

Can't bear to face the mess alone? For $200 to $1,000 you can hire a professional organizer to help (find one at napo.net). Or bribe a neat-freak friend to dig through the clutter with you. To keep a lid on the chaos for good, you need a real organizing system; your best choice depends on your space and budget.

Squeeze more into a small space ...

The simplest solution is to put freestanding shelving, such as the 48-inch-wide, five-tier Real Organized system ($90 at lowes.com), on the back wall. You can also hang shelves high enough on the side walls so they don't interfere with car doors. The Elfa Utility (at the Container Store) offers a range of shelves, bins, and tool hooks that attach to horizontal strips. One-wall systems start at $250.

If space is seriously tight, put up shelves that hang from the rafters (about $70 at hyloft.com). Or install simple pulley systems that hoist bikes and kayaks out of the way ($15 to $70 at Amazon.com). You can also hire a handyman to cut an opening in the ceiling, install a pull-down ladder, and lay a plywood floor on top to create a hayloft-like storage area (about $600 to $1,000).

... or spring for an eye-catching look

If you're lucky enough to have a wall at least three feet away from the nearest vehicle, it's worth spending extra money on an attractive storage system that you can also modify to suit your needs. For example, Gladiator Garageworks makes a line of rugged steel cabinets, workbenches, racks, and tool drawers that sit on locking casters-- no installation needed ($100 to $800 apiece at sears.com).

The best-looking, most flexible option is to cover the walls with horizontally grooved paneling onto which you can slide various shelves, racks, cabinets, hooks, ball caddies, and golf-bag racks. A single wall of GarageTek's product costs $2,500 to $3,500 (garagetek.com). That's a splurge -- but it's money well spent to turn your garage into useful space, gain control of your stuff, and put your cars back where they belong.  To top of page

Just the hot list include
Frontline troops push for solar energy
The U.S. Marines are testing renewable energy technologies like solar to reduce costs and casualties associated with fossil fuels. Play
25 Best Places to find rich singles
Looking for Mr. or Ms. Moneybags? Hunt down the perfect mate in these wealthy cities, which are brimming with unattached professionals. More
Fun festivals: Twins to mustard to pirates!
You'll see double in Twinsburg, Ohio, and Ketchup lovers should beware in Middleton, WI. Here's some of the best and strangest town festivals. Play
Overnight Avg Rate Latest Change Last Week
30 yr fixed3.80%3.88%
15 yr fixed3.20%3.23%
5/1 ARM3.84%3.88%
30 yr refi3.82%3.93%
15 yr refi3.20%3.23%
Rate data provided
by Bankrate.com
View rates in your area
 
Find personalized rates:
Index Last Change % Change
Dow 32,627.97 -234.33 -0.71%
Nasdaq 13,215.24 99.07 0.76%
S&P 500 3,913.10 -2.36 -0.06%
Treasuries 1.73 0.00 0.12%
Data as of 6:29am ET
Company Price Change % Change
Ford Motor Co 8.29 0.05 0.61%
Advanced Micro Devic... 54.59 0.70 1.30%
Cisco Systems Inc 47.49 -2.44 -4.89%
General Electric Co 13.00 -0.16 -1.22%
Kraft Heinz Co 27.84 -2.20 -7.32%
Data as of 2:44pm ET

Sections

Bankrupt toy retailer tells bankruptcy court it is looking at possibly reviving the Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us brands. More

Land O'Lakes CEO Beth Ford charts her career path, from her first job to becoming the first openly gay CEO at a Fortune 500 company in an interview with CNN's Boss Files. More

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.