Reclaim Your Garage From Clutter
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May 28th, 2021
While garages can and do serve many purposes, car storage is the most common usage. Yet, one-quarter of Americans say their garage is too cluttered to store their vehicle. And if it’s too cluttered to store a vehicle, it’s often too cluttered to use properly and store other large items.
A garage is just a storage unit attached to your house, right? How are you using your garage? How can Lock Box Self Storage help you declutter your garage?
Car Storage Benefits
For most Americans, car purchases are the second-most expensive purchases that they’ll ever make behind a house. The median cost for a used car is about $20,000, which is a lot of money to spend on a single item.
And yet, drive down any residential street in the country and you’ll see many cars parked in the driveway or on the street. There are certainly legitimate reasons for this, of course. Some homeowners use their garage for a specific purpose (like a studio or workroom), others physically can’t fit larger trucks or SUVs into their garage, and many families with younger drivers have more vehicles than spots in the garage. But as the statistics bear out, garage clutter is often to blame.
Storing your car in the garage has multiple benefits. First, it protects your vehicle from the elements. If you live in an area with hail or strong storms that can bring down tree limbs or power lines, your car will be snug as a bug in a rug inside your garage (and if it gets damaged in there, it would have been damaged anywhere). Another benefit of storing your car in your garage is to keep it cleaner longer.
Decluttering
Wading through clutter certainly is not fun. It takes a long time to find things you are looking for in a disorganized room—if you even find it at all. Having a clean garage will reduce stress and make it easier to find what you are looking for.
Junk or Treasure?
They say that one person’s junk is another’s treasure. If you’re being honest, you probably have things that fall into each category in a cluttered garage, and some in between. But if you’re not sure, how do you figure out what’s junk and what’s treasure? Just ask yourself these few questions.
Have you used it more than once?
Generally, items stored in the garage aren’t used every day—if they were, they’d probably be stored elsewhere in your home. Seasonal items like mowers, trimmers, snowblowers, Christmas decorations, and the like aren’t used throughout the year, so the standard decluttering question of “have you used it recently?” doesn’t help much.
Instead, ask yourself if you’ve used it more than once. If the answer is “yes,” you can feel pretty confident in keeping it. If the answer is “no,” then you need to ask yourself some more questions: Was it for a one-time project, or is it a “just in case” item? By categorizing your items by use, you can take an important first step toward decluttering.
Does it have sentimental value?
Belongings aren’t just things to be used; many of our most cherished keepsakes aren’t so because they are useful but because they have sentimental value. Go through the belongings in your garage and sincerely assess if each item has real sentimental value. It’s easy to make excuses for keeping around the items that we do, so that honesty is important: Will you be sad to see it go or stored elsewhere? Would you notice if it were gone?
How valuable is it?
All items have some sort of monetary value (even if that number is zero). You probably have a decent idea of what’s valuable and what’s not inside your garage—for instance, a miter saw is clearly more valuable than your bag of paintbrushes and paint rollers. But you might be surprised at how valuable your items are. For those that you’re not sure about, do some research and see how much they cost to acquire or rent.
How to Maximize Your Garage Space
Regardless of what you’re keeping, getting rid of, or storing at Lock Box Self Storage, maximizing your garage space that you have will help you make more efficient decisions.
Build Garage Cabinets or Shelving
The most efficient way to maximize your storage space or garage is to make use of the vertical space in your garage. Do so by having cabinets or shelving. Your options are nearly limitless—do you want enclosed storage? Open storage? Just a few cabinets or shelves, or a garage surrounded by them?
Whatever solution you select, just be sure that they’ll comfortably fit around your car if you intend to park it in your garage. Measure your vehicle’s dimensions, and place masking tape on the floor to denote where it would sit. Then, put in your shelving, keeping in mind walking lanes. Putting shelving in your storage unit make sure to leave enough room in between the shelving to remove items.
Invest in a Mobile Work Area
If you’re a handy person who loves their toolset and working on their next great project, a workspace is not only important—it’s necessary. For maximum storage, consider investing in a mobile work area on wheels. Whether you construct your own or buy one at the store, these mobile workbenches can be constructed with built-in storage.
Claim Your Garage with the Help of Lock Box Self Storage
Want to clear out your garage but still need extra storage space? A storage unit at can be your key to unlocking a clutter-free garage. We have been helping Middle Tennessee with great storage solutions at a reasonable price for over 25 years. From small locker units to extra-large spaces, we have storage units that will work for nearly any need—including parking spaces for your vehicle.
So, go ahead: Reclaim your garage, and do with it what you want. Our storage units are here to equip you to do so. For everything from garage storage to business storage and more, Lock Box Self Storage has your back. Contact us and reserve your unit today!