Organizing Large Garage Spaces

We have a very large garage attached to our house. It's 2000 sq ft, actually bigger than the house's main floor. Having this much space is very nice but it must be organized and handled carefully so it doesn't turn into a nest of junk.

Admittedly we haven't always done a great job of keeping it in order. In 10 years we have collected a large amount of stuff and some of it is in corner that are unreachable at the moment. That's why we're on a concentrated effort to make 2010 the year we clean it up!

To that end we have created and started working a plan:

1. Get rid of the junk. If there are things in the garage that haven't been used in over 3 years it's time to get rid of it. We used a timeframe longer than the standard one year simply because there are items that aren't needed every year.

2. Get quality shelving and assemble it into sectional areas. For instance, we have an entryway to the main house where we store pantry items, mudroom type items and such so we can quickly access them from the house. This is also where the garage refrigerators and freezers are sitting. The shelving must be sturdy, high quality and large enough to hold what we need.

3. Add hanging storage. We have several items that can be hung above head level since they are bigger and that's a great amount of space which could be better used. We have both hanging and ceiling level shelving.

4. Keep the floor clean. At regular intervals we sweep and clean the floor to get rid of the dirt tracked in by our vehicles.

5. Have a shop area. The man of the house likes to work on house projects in the garage. There should be a shop area with organized tools and essentials so he can work efficiently.