Is it easy to find things you need in your garage? For many people, the garage is the most disorganized space in their home! I know, the idea of organizing this space can seem overwhelming! One way to make it easy is to organize your garage into zones!
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Use 6/P Strategy to Organize your Garage into zones
The 6/P strategy makes it easy to organize your garage into zones. Just follow the six steps that start with the letter “P” and you’ll be organized in no time!
Prepare
Collect the following items and take them to your garage:
- heavy-duty trash bag(s)
- cardboard box
- laundry hamper
Purge
Remove everything from the garage and sort all items into similar categories. If you have too much clutter to deal with in one day, then divide your garage into sections. We worked on our garage on two different weekends.
- Trash-discard old or broken items in the trash bag
- Donate-put items that you don’t use, but are in good shape, into the cardboard box to donate
- Relocate-put any items that don’t belong in the garage into the laundry hamper
- Replace- any item that needs to stay in the garage should be placed on the driveway grouped with similar items.
Polish
Time to get the garage cleaned up! I vacuum all of the shelves and the tubs to remove dirt and dust! Then I use the leaf blower to remove all the debris off the floor! Take time to scrub your garbage cans!
Personalize
It’s time to personalize the garage space. Start by asking yourself the following questions:
- How does the space need to function for your personal needs, and what zones do you need to incorporate?
- What is causing clutter in your garage?
- Where will each zone go?
- What items do you need to make or purchase to contain items in this space?
- How can you beautify the space, so you enjoy spending time there?
PLACE
Do each of the following steps:
Trash- Put your trash bags in your garbage container!
Donate- If you have items to donate, don’t wait around, take them to the donation center soon, you don’t want that box cluttering up your clean, organized garage.
Relocate-If you have items in the laundry hamper that belong someplace else, deliver them now.
Replace-Now it’s time to decide where you will locate each zone. Take the items you removed from the garage and put them back in an organized manner in the zone area you determined.
Put Back
You’ve worked hard to organize the garage, now you have to put things back where they belong to keep it looking great!
what happens when you don’t put things back
Many people don’t take step number six of the 6/P Strategy very seriously!
If you don’t put items back where they belong, you’re going to end up with a big mess again!
The garage is the one place we have not done a very good job with step six!
To be fair, the picture below looks even worse, because we had just finished tiling the kitchen backsplash, which made a huge mess in the garage!
Normally, it wouldn’t look that bad!
Anyway here are a few before and after shots of the garage!
As you can see in the before pic, we let clutter build up on top of the workbench and in the corner by the shelves!
This shelf wasn’t too bad, it just needed a little tweaking to make it more functional!
We decided to use the mower as a shelf to hold boxes over the winter, lol!!
How I organize zones in our garage
Now I’m going to show you the zones we use in our garage!
We’ll start on the left side and work our way around the space!
You may store different types of items in your garage and therefore, will need to add to, or take away from, our zones.
Trash Zone
We located the garbage and recycle cans next to the garage door, so we can take them to the street without having to move our SUV!
Work/tool zone
Last year we purchased this workbench to give us a flat surface to work on projects!
It has different size drawers to store Rich’s most used tools!
Flowall storage system
Last year we also installed a Flowall Storage System. You can see the DIY here!
We added wire shelves above the workbench.
The clear tubs hold sandpaper, paper towels, rags, vacuum attachments, etc!
yard tool zone
To the right of the shelves, we are storing our yard tools!
To learn how to clean, remove rust, sharpen, and oil your yard tools click here!
Hardware zone
This little storage container is amazing! Last year we put all of Rich’s nails, screws, and small hardware in this handy organizer!
Now Rich knows exactly where to find what he needs when I ask him to hang yet another item on the wall, lol!
Paint/hobby zone
Most of the items on this shelf are for painting, but there are a few miscellaneous items as well. Like the backstock of dog food and batteries for yard tools!
The three tubs on the top row, that’s right, three, are full of pine cones that I brought from KY! So get ready for some amazing pine cone crafts this Fall and Winter! The black tubs contain paint supplies, tarps, and lights!
Here is Rich’s battery charging station!
ladder zone
Previously, we hung the ladders on our Flowall System. I did not like them there, so this year Rich purchased garage hooks and hung them on the wall!
This arrangement is much better!
Beach/pool zone
This area contains all of the items we need for a trip to the pool or the beach!
We have chairs, an umbrella, a beach tent, pool toys, beach toys, a collapsible wagon, and coolers!
Sports zone
This zone is much smaller since our kids have grown up. The only sports equipment we have are a basketball, volleyball, and badminton set! We also have a cornhole set, but it’s on the back porch right now!
Tool zone
Most of the items on these shelves are tools, except for the top shelf which holds our cargo carrier! The second shelf holds mowing and tree trimming tools!
The tubs and box contain saws, sanders, tile saw and supplies, special tools, and electrical cords.
It’s so much easier to find what you need in your garage if you organize it into zones!
Now, let’s see if we can do a better job of keeping it organized this year than we did last year!
I think we will!
What is the state of your garage? Let me know in the comments below!
Blessings, Donna and Rich
more outdoor organization inspiration
- Learn to Maintain and Organize Yard Tools
- Best Tips to Spring Clean Your Front Porch
- Easy Strategy to Clean and Organize a Car
- Helpful Tips to Organize and Spruce Up Your Yard
- Garage Organization Made Simple with Six Steps
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ItEMS to HELP YOU ORGANIZE your garage
Here are items to help you get your garage organized by zones.
**Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. We appreciate your support. (disclosure policy)
Oh my word, Donna, I would literally lose my mind if my garage was this organized. Talk about goals! Love how you have everything broken into zones, it’s really helpful and how you used the 6P’s too! I’m definitely going to use all your tips for ours. It’s a MESS! Hugs, CoCo
The garage is my least favorite area to organize, but I’m always so happy after it’s done! Such a relief! Good luck with your garage! Blessings, Donna
Oh my gosh! I think I need to hire you to help me organize our garage. It’s a mess because I work on all my projects in the garage. You have some great tips. Especially “creating zones”. I will look at my garage with new eyes now.
I’m so glad to hear this post could be helpful for you! A garage can be overwhelming, so you might need to break it down into smaller doable chunks! Good luck! Thanks, Donna