The Top Garage Storage Ideas

Here are some fantastic garage storage ideas to create space and clear out your garage for whatever you need. Your space will be in tip-top shape in no time!

It's easy to forget about the garage because you don't have to look at it every day… until you try to park your cars in there.

I like to think of our garage as an extension of our home. It's a great place to store outdoor toys, tools, coolers, and other gear that doesn't fit inside.

Oh, and our cars too, of course.

Walking into a garage packed with stuff can feel a little overwhelming. Don't worry, that's perfectly normal!

Garages tend to collect lots of extra things with no obvious home. If you don't find a proper place for each item right away, the clutter can really pile up.

Once everything has its proper place, you can enjoy your space and feel proud of what you've accomplished.

When we finished our garage makeover, I wanted to share lots of tips for storage. But that post would have been incredibly long, so I split it up for you!

Here are my best garage storage ideas for when you tackle your own garage!

16 Tips for Organizing a Garage With Storage Solutions

We have a large 2-car garage, so we're lucky to have plenty of room. But you can apply these tips to any space you have!

Before you start, set aside a day or more for this project. It usually takes my husband and me 1-2 days to reach a good stopping point, so don't start if you only have a couple of hours! You can read the exact steps we took to organize our garage here.

1. Empty Everything Out and Declutter

The first step before storing anything is always to declutter! Toss anything broken or used up, and donate what you no longer use. Be ruthless, as always!

As you pull things out, group items that belong together. This will help with the next step!

2. Group Categories Into Zones

When you take inventory of your garage, you'll see how many similar items you have. Make a zone for each group and keep them stored together.

These are the most common categories you'll find in a garage:

Tools (yard tools, painting supplies, small household tools, power tools, etc.)
Toys (beach gear, lake gear, snow gear, sidewalk chalk, outdoor games, etc.)
Sports Gear
Hobby Gear (hunting, golfing, etc.)
Seasonal Decorations
Gardening Supplies
Camping Equipment
Pesticides and Weed Killers
Ice Chests
Stepladders
Bikes and Ride-On Toys
Patio Chairs

We keep most of our small tools on the shelf above our workbench, hanging on the pegboard or stored in the drawers below.

Where to Shop for My Workbench System & Other Garage Storage Solutions**:

** I shared all the details about this workbench at the end of my Organized Garage Reveal Post.

3. Use Vertical Space

Our garage had no storage but plenty of wall space, so we filled the walls with as many shelves, hooks, and track systems as we could fit!

4. Install Shelves for Bins and Small Boxy Items

Some of the best things to put on shelves are bins of similar items, like camping gear, beach gear, gardening supplies, seasonal decor, hunting gear, and more!

5. Hang Large, Oddly Shaped Items on Hooks

I love hooks for ladders, bicycles, large tools, strollers, wheelbarrows, and other heavy items! You can use hooks on the wall or on a track system.

6. Use a Track System for Similarly Shaped Large Items

This is one of my absolute favorite garage organization tips!

We love the track system for keeping our long-handled yard tools in one spot near the garage door. We also used a track system below our shelving unit for patio chairs, bike helmets, bags, and extension cords.

Track System for Hanging Yard Tools in the garage

Shop Track Systems & Parts:

7. Build a Pegboard System for Light Tools and Small Items

You'll be amazed at all the ways a pegboard can use vertical space. It's completely customizable and can be changed as many times as you like until it works just right for you.

I LOVE that our pegboard holds all of our small household tools, garden tools, nails, screws, anchors, and more! It makes home projects so easy because everything is organized just steps outside the kitchen door.

And the pegboard makes it so quick to spot what we need because everything is on display!

Shop Pegboards and Parts:

8. Put Seasonal Items Up High and Everyday Items Down Low

If you're short on space, store seasonal items on the top shelf or behind other things.

We keep my husband's hunting closet in the back corner of the garage and store things in front of it that we use more often or can move easily. The beach and snow items are up higher on our shelves!

Garage Storage Ideas — We use our smaller coolers a lot, so we keep them low on the shelves near the kitchen door for easy access.

Since we use the smaller coolers often, they sit low on the shelves close to the kitchen door.

9. Get Everything Off the Floor When Possible

Clearing the floor really helps keep the garage clean! It's so easy to sweep or wash the floor when nothing is on it!

I was determined to get the golf clubs and beach and camping chairs off the floor, and I'm so glad I did!

Golf Bag Garage Storage Ideas — Floors are so much easier to keep clean when nothing is sitting on them!

10. Corral Small Items in Drawers, Boxes, or Bins

We used to leave items sitting on our open shelves, but when things kept tipping over, I realized I had 4 different categories of small items. It was so easy to group similar items together in bins.

The same goes for the drawers in my workbench. Keeping clutter under control is easier when small items are grouped in drawers or bins, and then labeled!

11. Choose Clear Bins or Totes

This is a common debate: clear or opaque containers?? Opaque ones are definitely prettier. But even with labels, it's easy to "lose" things inside an opaque bin.

If you use clear containers, you can see what's inside each one at a glance! I still label ours so my family knows what goes back in each box!

12. Label Drawers and Bins That Are Easy to Mix Up

Even though I like clear containers, it's still smart to label them. It cuts down on time spent searching for things and helps everyone in the household stay on the same page.

It's so much easier to ask my husband to grab the plant food from the "gardening" bin on the shelf than to just say, "get the plant food from the garage."

But it's essential to label anything you can't see from the outside, like the drawers under my workbench.

13. Use the Fifth Wall (the Ceiling) for Small Garage Storage

Some people hang a storage unit from the garage ceiling to make the most of a small space.

If you don't have overhead storage in your garage, you can build or install your own! There's some fantastic overhead storage for sale, and you can store things like Christmas decorations, camping equipment, and even fishing gear.

Garage Organization: Tips and Tools - how to hang bicycles

In our old, smaller garage, we used the ceiling space with bike hooks for our bicycles. They're not as easy to reach up there, but if that's the only space you have, it's a great idea!

It was a perfect way to get them off the garage floor and make the space feel less cluttered. My only word of caution: make sure you can easily reach your bikes, or the whole point of having one is lost!

14. Hang Ladders Off the Floor With Hooks

It's probably easier to just lean a ladder against the wall, but getting it off the floor saves space and keeps it from falling over! I deliberately left a ladder-width of space between our shelves and the utility workbench to hang ours.

It's easy to reach and perfect for when we need to get to the top shelves!

15. Build a Workbench or Workstation

Eventually you'll need a spot to gather supplies, tackle a small DIY project, or fix something broken. I used the space above our drawers and shelves, but below the pegboard, for a work table.

I actually raised the system about a foot because our ceilings are 9.5 feet tall, and it's the perfect height for a standing workbench. If your workbench is lower, you may want to add a stool or chair!

I even added a magnetic pencil cup to my pegboard to hold pencils and sticky notes!

16. Keep Sports Gear in One Place

We don't have a ton of sports gear, but we keep the golf clubs, nets, kites, and balls together on one garage wall. The mesh storage bag is perfect for corralling footballs, rugby balls, basketballs, and frisbees! The Velcro closure in the front lets you pull something out of the middle without emptying the whole bag!

If we had tennis rackets, these large utility tool holders would be the best way to hang them!

More Sports Gear Organizing Systems:

So, if you're trying to take your garage organization to the next level, make sure that when you open the door, an avalanche of stuff doesn't come tumbling out at you. I hope this helps!

If you want to organize and create storage systems in other parts of your home, check out this organization section on my blog! Once everything is done, just keep it that way by putting each item back where it belongs after you use it.