A continuing compendium of tips and tricks from Home & Garden Television:Garages have become the dumping ground for our homes. Many are so stuffed with clutter that there is no longer room even to park the car. By designing a zone system we can free up enough room in our garage for everything that needs to be there -- even the car.Garden ToolsFollowing a common-sense approach to garage organization, professional organizer Marlene Hansen says that "activity zones should be placed as close as possible to where the items will be used." In the case of garden tools, the ideal placement is near a side door leading to the yard. If the garage has no side door, then the next best location is a spot close to the opening.Regardless of your green thumb, Hansen urges that all fertilizers, herbicides and other hazardous materials be stowed in a locked cabinet or, at the very least, out of reach of little ones. And if you prefer the grass seed to end up on the lawn rather than in a chipmunk's cheeks, it should be stored in a metal container.Sporting GoodsWhen it comes to sports gear, Karen Law, of Contained Design in Minneapolis, follows the mantra: Hang it, hook it, don't prop it."Everybody loves to prop things against a wall," Law says. Not only does this approach waste both floor and wall space, it invariably leads to damaged sporting equipment. "As soon as someone slams a door, that snowboard will slide down the wall and get run over by the car," she warns.Automotive Supplies, Tools, Paint"Many people pull their cars into the garage much farther than they need to," says Monica Friel, a professional organizer in Chicago.Friel recommends that her clients purchase parking blocks that signal the driver when the car is safely in the garage. Of course, the old tennis-ball-on-a-string works just fine, too.The freed-up space at the front of the garage is ideal for a vertical storage system, on which you can assemble all the automotive supplies, tools and car-care items like buckets, sponges, soap and wax. For folks on a budget, Friel suggests affordable particleboard shelving and common peg board-and-hook systems. Hobbyists and tinkerers should consider buying (or building) a sturdy workbench.Regardless of the solution, it should include a lockable storage cabinet for all dangerous power tools, paints, chemicals and solventsCourtesy Douglas Trattner(For thousands of other ideas visit www.hgtv.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)
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