12 Organizing Tips and Ideas for Your Garage Shelves

Yes, the organizing of the garage is STILL going on. It's taking me longer than I thought, but I can almost see the finish line. :)

The open shelves were next in line. They were built following this tutorial right HERE. I love that they hold lots of stuff: gardening supplies, cans of spray paint, extra cleaning supplies for the home, electrical items, etc. It all fits in here.

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This is the mess I had on these shelves right before removing everything from them.
All the Xs marked meant those items needed to go; many were toys my kids no longer used.

The long rectangles show wasted space in between shelves.

On the lower shelf, Mr. RLC kept the classical music collection he found last year at the flea market. Gotta bring those inside for him to enjoy. :)

The snowboards were the first items to be removed from the top shelf. You can check that part right HERE.

Then, those wooden boards on the top shelf were also brought down. They were the perfect material to create little shelves to better utilize the space.

RYOBI Ultimate combo kit (6-tool)

Let me recap the steps I did to bring organization to these shelves with the following: 

TIPS & IDEAS 

on how to ORGANIZE YOUR GARAGE SHELVES

1- Get rid of everything on the shelves and divide it into three piles: stuff you want to keep on the shelves, stuff that needs to go somewhere else in your home, and stuff that needs to be thrown away or donated.

2- Separate the stuff that needs to go back on the shelves.
Some of the categories I used were CAR STUFF - GARDEN CHEMICALS - HOME - PAINT ... etc. Start bringing back those items and creating those areas on the shelves.

3- Try to utilize all the space you have by stacking stuff. Make sure that items on the lower shelf can be easily grabbed without disturbing whatever you store on top.

Those small shelves I built were the perfect solution to the wasted space.

4- Use a shelf liner to protect and maintain a clean surface.
My solution was a simple piece of cardboard to line the shelf holding the oils and sticky cans.

5- Before heading out to buy storage bins, take measurements. There are thousands of solutions out there. Bring the measuring tape with you so you can buy what you need.

6- Stackable clear plastic bins with LIDS are the way to go, even if you don't label things you can clearly see what you have in each bin.

Clear Plastic Containers - Similar

7- It's better to add tags, especially when you send your husband or kids to grab something. ;)

8- Separate stuff inside the bins by using clear plastic bags.
I used a clear plastic bag to hold plugs and switches in the container holding the electrical stuff.

9- Use clear plastic bags - Ziploc bags are even better.
As you can see in the above picture, I had no idea what was inside the bag on the left. I had to tear it, which was easier than undoing the knot to open it. The one on the right clearly shows its content.

10-- Don't store heavy items on the top shelves unless you have strong muscles!
My very top shelf was left half-empty, and the items were light. To take advantage of the space above, I stored long-standing items.

11- Keep stuff you use frequently on the lower shelves.
The kid's toys and the boxes full of small scrap pieces of wood are easy to reach.

12-  Take advantage of stuff you already have to create more storage space.
I needed to figure out where to keep this pair of desk bases. Leaving them on the floor gave me extra space to store what was left of rock salt and pieces of Sheetrock for patch-ups inside them.

Well, this is how the shelves look now. There are still some empty spaces, but I know they'll fill quickly.

The new shelves look so much better!

I do hope that some of these tips and ideas can help you bring organization to your own garage. Any tips or ideas you want to pitch in, feel free to share them in the comments section below.

Thanks!



For more DIY Garage organization, check these out:

How to Install a Pegboard

DIY - Scrap Wood Cart

*This post contains affiliate links.*

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