Garages operate as a nebulous in-between space — they’re kind of outside, but also kind of inside. They’re not usually an area where you spend tons of time, beyond walking to and from your car, storing gardening tools like your lawn mower and throwing miscellaneous house overflow into a corner. Maybe you’ve tried to declutter and organize the space in the past. But generally, the garage is easy to neglect.
When was the last time you checked those old cardboard boxes to make sure they weren’t disintegrating? What about your 15-year-old disaster kit that definitely needs replacing? Have you taken a walk around to check out how your shelves and hooks are holding up? We consulted two experts to shed some light on items in your garage that need some attention ASAP.
Emergency supplies
People often store emergency supplies in their garage, but because of their location and infrequency of use, those kits often expire without anyone noticing. That becomes a big problem during a natural disaster or power outage, and with those events becoming increasingly common, it’s vital to have an up-to-date emergency kit.
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Julianna Strickland, founder of the Los Angeles-based organizing service Space Camp says that she finds that 90% of the emergency supplies she goes through in people’s garages are expired or no longer usable. “People don’t realize or remember that bottled water expires, batteries expire and first-aid kits expire. All the protein bars you put in your emergency kits expire. Staying on top of that is huge.”
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After replenishing your emergency supplies, Strickland recommends writing expiration dates on the outside of bins and setting a calendar invite on your phone six months prior to the expiration dates, so you can proactively replace everything.
Cardboard boxes and bins
Garages often house sentimental keepsakes, like mementos from parents, your children’s baby clothes or a box of your grandparent’s stuff that you just haven’t had time to go through. If that’s the case, you should move those items out of bins that don’t have a weather-tight seal, says Strickland, and buy ones that do. Otherwise, you risk those items getting damaged by water, mildew, mold and even air. “It’s not an investment that you need to make all at once necessarily,” she explains. “You can do it a few bins at a time. Also, everything in your garage will fit nicer if the bins are fairly uniform, because you can maximize the space.”
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Back-stock pantry items and toiletries
It happens to most people at one time or another — you forgot that you were proactive and had bought a bunch of extra cat food for Fluffy, tucked it away in a corner of your garage and now it’s past the expiration date. This is something Strickland sees often when she organizes a garage. She also finds tons of wasted toiletries.
“I know a lot of people, especially if they are a Costco or Sam’s Club member, like to buy things in bulk and use their garage to store back-ups of things,” she says. “But if they don’t have a great system for shopping their own stock and bringing it into their home before they go to the store again, those things sit on the shelves for a long time and go to die.”
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Shelving
Not all garages are as well-protected against the elements as a house, which means shelving and other built-ins may be more susceptible to damage over time. Time to take a close look at them to make sure they’re still in tip-top shape. “There are quite a few materials that simply aren’t built for the conditions garages are exposed to,” says Aaron Cash, president and co-founder of Garage Living, a nationwide company that specializes in garage transformations.
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He advises replacing inexpensive shelving — and especially cabinetry — made of particleboard or medium-density fiberboard. “These materials might look fine at first, but they tend to warp, swell or break down when exposed to moisture or fluctuating temperatures.”
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The Home Depot
Wall hooks
You might not give much thought to the hooks you installed nearly a decade ago, but they could be secretly degrading over time. “Another overlooked material is rubber or low-grade plastic used in some wall hooks, storage bins, or tool racks, as they can become brittle and crack with age,” Cash says. “It’s worth investing in higher-quality hardware and storage solutions that can handle daily use and changing conditions.”
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Lighting
Sometimes garages can be a tad creepy, especially at night, don’t you agree? They’re sort of like basements in that way, which certainly doesn’t make you want to go in either. That single lightbulb or garage door light fixture definitely isn’t powerful enough for most uses, says Cash. “Garages are typically under-lit, and upgrading to bright, energy-efficient LED fixtures can immediately transform the space,” he says.
Bonus: Upgrading your garage lighting will make you more likely to go in there and keep things organized. Of course, you’ll probably also be able to see every cobweb, but maybe that’ll encourage you to clean the space a little more often, too!
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The reviews quoted above reflect the most recent versions at the time of publication.
