If you are like the average American, you have a garage full of stuff you haven’t seen in years and your car can barely fit – if it fits at all. During the summer, this hardly matters. Everyone’s busy washing their cars, going on mini-vacations, spending time with friends over barbecue. But now that fall and soon winter are upon us, garage space suddenly seems important since outdoor space will be wet or inaccessible. But, popping your head out there – where is your garage space?

Here are three tips to organize your garage like a pro so you can build shelves, find your Christmas decorations, or park your car inside all winter long.

Take out the trash

Life is hectic, so chances are you have Costco sized boxes or bags lying around that could easily be combined with other items set aside for junk removal. All those bags you’ve been meaning to recycle? Put them in the recycling pile.

Go through the garage and make yourself a path sorting out everything on the floor into items for junk removal, donation, recycling, or to keep and find a place for. For the latter, get a large bin and place all those items in it so they are in one place and off the floor.

Strategize

You’ve got your floor picked up and trash, donation, and recycle piles out of our way. A clear work area! Now, it’s time to take a good look at shelf, cabinet, and wall space. What things fill those areas? Do you know?

Spend a few minutes and take inventory of what’s located where in your garage. If you need to, write it out on paper or draw a map. Once you’ve re-familiarized yourself with the garage and its inhabitants, it’s time to organize them the way that’s most useful and practical for you and your family.

For example, if you store canned food and extra house supplies like toilet paper in the garage, that would be something you’d put closest to the garage door for easy access. You’re more likely to need that than a shovel or a saw virtually any time of the year. For that shovel, saw, and other tools move them toward the middle. Perhaps hang some on pegboard and store others in cabinets or on shelves. They are certainly items you’ll access for part of the year. Items that occupy the least accessible parts of the garage should be reserved for seasonal and bulky items that would otherwise be in the way.

During this process, it’s likely you’ll find things you don’t use, want, or need any longer. Set it out with the appropriate pile for donation pick up or junk removal. Now would also be a good time to consider snapping a picture and sharing it with Curb-It (iPhone, Android). We’ll come take care of it while you continue to polish your garage.

Implement

You’ve cleared a workspace, you’ve developed a plan of action tailored to your family, now – it’s time to put it in motion. If you want to get the family involved, assign everyone a job to make the project go quickly and smoothly – consider a fun family dinner or movie night afterward as a reward. If you are looking to go solo on this grab a nice big glass of water and dig in.

Our biggest suggestion here would be to group by category (most used, used often, used occasionally, used only seasonally, etc.) and then put back on shelves or rearrange. It can be an overwhelming task so take breaks, drink plenty of water, and don’t forget a snack here and there!

Once the job is complete, you’ll want to keep it that way. Maintenance is the key. Moving forward, when something is purchased or needs to be put away that you’d typically toss in the garage, make sure it has a home there. Specifically. If not, find one or see if it has a home elsewhere, or if it even belongs.

If you find it doesn’t have friends to go with it, the Curb-It app (iPhone, Android) is an easy way to help maintain the organization of your garage and free you up to enjoy the success of your hard work.

We’d love to see how you do with your garage organization! Your successes will surely inspire others. Feel free to send your pictures our way and we’d be happy to share them on our Facebook page.