i need to get organized help

[the intimidator]

hey guys i have ben reading this site for a while now and i have a few questions abought keeping a very small garage organized. rite now i have a deep 1 car garage that is stuffed full and i need to find away to get it and keep it all organized. my main proplem is there is not enough space in the garage for all of my stuff. here is a list of the big stuff, along the left wall i have 2 work benches mayby 8 or 10 feet long each with peg board at the back running to the roof and 2 old dressers stacked on top of each other for storage. these run just abought from the front to the rear of the garage and stick out 3 1/2 or 4 feet. at the rear of the garage i have a bunch of metal shelves used to store stuff. and on the rite side of the garage i have a large radial arm saw a roll around tool box and a smaller tool box mounted to the wall for power tools as well as a secure steel box for storing my gas and other stuff i dont want to be knocked around and hit with stray sparks. above all of this i have more metal shelves and i have a small welder on a cart too and the other problem is i have 2 or 3 atvs filling in whatever space i had left to get more organized lol i can snap a few pics tommorow for you guys so you can get a better idea of my situation. rite now i just need to get it all organized and find a bunch of stuff a new home. i would really like some suggestions as to how to organize all this stuff and get the most room to work. i work with metal wood and i fix buddies atv's for them so i have alot of different tools and machines in my garage and after i clean it it always ends up the same with stuff piled ontop of everything and parts all over the place what i would like to do is build a small storage shed in the backyard to store my atv's and all the other stuff in but i dont have the mony to due that so i have to make the best with what i have. any ideas on hodw to get the best out of it thanks Dj

 

[Luckydevil]

With a single car garage, space is your friend. Time to start getting rid of everything you do not consider essential. Maybe "loan" it to some friends with bigger garages until you upgrade, or even just sell the stuff.

 

[Steve_S]

Lots of cabinets. Use bottom cabinets and wall cabinets. Bolt in the wall cabinets securely and use the space above them as storage as well. Anything I can't fit into my cabinets goes into plastic storage bins with labels.

 

[nbaff]

garage sale!

 

[Old Moparz]

Sometimes more space for your stuff isn't the solution, but it sounds like a shed will definitely help you. I've been learning the hard way that saving certain things isn't the answer. My wife & I have been pack rats for years, & now need to simplify things so we can get out from under all this **** we've accumulated.

What hasn't helped, is saving things from both of our parents & other relatives after they've sold their homes & moved. We have momentos & furniture from 3 or 4 different people, not to mention our own stuff & our hobbies, my wife's musical instruments & my cars.

It takes a long time to gather all this stuff, sometimes many years, & it will take a long time to get it under control. Being organized & staying on top of putting your things away, or where they belong is crucial. Shelving that goes from the floor to the ceiling will use space better than a standard 5 foot tall set of shelves.

Piling things up to where you can't see or get to something *****. I've spent a lot of time sorting out things I forgot I had & decided to toss it in the trash or donate it so I don't have to deal with it anymore. There's been some odd items I've saved because I know it was worth something & would save me a trip to the store if I had it on hand.

Some of these things have sat on a shelf for 15 years & haven't moved. If I haven't used it in that time, I doubt I'd miss it if I get rid of it. I know tools & hardware are always handy, but there has to be a limit of what you can keep on hand. I dread looking at my basement at times, but after I get a dumpster life will be good again.

 

[the intimidator]

thanks guys im going to go out there and work on it tommorow and i'll get a few pics for you guys to pick at. mayby you can find a area that i could make better use out of. as for the shelves they are the same adjustable metal ones used in walmart they go from abought 5 feet off the floor to the roof and they are pretty much full of stuff. i use the space under them to store my one atv and my boat motor and a few sawhorses. i guess pics say a thousand words so i'll get back to u guys tommorow thanks

 

[Rocky]

I also have a one-car garage and for the last 15 years, I've rented a $30 a month "Model-A" garage from a lady across town. It's only 15 minutes away and I keep all my bigger stuff there, like engine puller, body sheet metal etc. Frees up needed space for building the ol 40 chevy..

 

[Paul S]

hi Rocky!

Old Moparz,
your statement hits home
my spaces invariably get filled to capacity,
and not with a whole lot of thought,
mostly it seems I will say;

"I will use it someday"
or
"I can't get rid of that, I have too much invested in it"
or
"if I need one of those on my next project it may be hard to find another"

or some such semi-valid excuse

in the meen time stuff keeps piling up
choking valuable work space

I moved to the place I'm in three years ago
I have stuff neatly stocked away that hasen't even been unpacked

when I made my move from the last place
I found myself loading boxes of stuff that hadn't been unpacked
from the move before that
at least five years earlier!

when I say junk I don't mean real junk
I mean all good worthwhile stuff
just things that weren't getting used,
merely stored..

I am watching this thread
I know what needs to happen
I just need to hear it again..

Paul

 

[the intimidator]

ok guys i'll get pics up tommorow i promise i have been busy for the last lil while i did manage to get spme more stuff organized a bit and i moved some of the stuff on shelves into the basement and i cut down one of my long work benches and made it shorter anyways pics tommorow as for the garage sale part i dont think i could sell much out of the garage most of the stuff gets used a few times a month with the exception of a few things. and the cabinates sugestion i think that would take up more space then it would create space? aways till tommorow thanks

 

[the intimidator]

hmm seems today is tommorow so till this afternoon lol

 

[Kerry67]

I agree that a shed is the way to go if you don't already have one. Mine gets installed on April 7th. Pushing my garage re-do back a month. But, all the useless **** will be gone leaving a nice, clean garage.

 

[the intimidator]

hey i took some pics but i cant find the software to upload pics from my camera hopefully i can find it tommorow or go and buy a new card reader with the software lol i am going to look into building a shed in a few weeks to store my atv's in that will open up alot of room in the garage plus i wont need to move them in and out whenever i go in the garage witch would be nice lol

 

[Paul S]

hey i took some pics but i cant find the software to upload pics from my camera hopefully i can find it tommorow or go and buy a new card reader with the software lol i am going to look into building a shed in a few weeks to store my atv's in that will open up alot of room in the garage plus i wont need to move them in and out whenever i go in the garage witch would be nice lol

if you have the hardware
software should be a simple on line down load
usually free

 

[the intimidator]

no wories i found the software for my printer my new laptop doesnt have a card reader i was planning on buying one anyways but the printer worked out. i'll get a few better pics in awhile here are a few though the batterys died last night in the last two you can see how tight it is with the atv's in there it is actually pretty organized out there rite now i still have alot more work to do because as i clean one side it seems half the stuff ends up on the other side on a bench i am going back out there now to clean some more tommorrow i think i should have most of my stuff put away and i'll take a few more pics i have moved lots of stuff into the basement and a few larger items into the little storage shed in the backyard hmm mayby i can have a yardsale in the spring i found a bunch of unused stuff i didnt even know was in there hmm i'll have a few better pics latter tonight or tommorw of my near compleation lol thanks guys

my garage pics

 

[stimpy]

looks like the garage demons are happy with there surroundings and don't want us to help you to orginize it!!! J/king I found one thing helpfull when deciding on weather or not to get rid of something , look at when was the last time you used it and if you where paying storage fees to store it is it worth having?? I went thru the garage and cleaned out abunch of stuff and sold it at a flea and made some bucks and when I sold it I put make bid on it . its amaziing how much stuff you can get rid of real quick , I even caught brunch at the resturaunt that morning . and also Kick out tenents ( my buddy has a 2 1/2er that is half empty but he was storing stuff at my house I delivered it to his house )