What do y'all use to organize kids crap in the garage?

[PaleFlyer]

Kid's got a bunch of ride on toys, which take up almost half the 2 car garage (about a third is my lawn ****), and the other third is some storage cabinets. The kid toys are just awkward. But I gotta still be able to access them. Currently the kid is 3, but I want something that can still be around for his brother (due in Sept), and convert over in a few years when both boys have outgrown the power wheels kind of ****. Just had the thought maybe I could just do some garage shelves, but want to know if y'all have any better ideas. Garage does have a "tall" ceiling (probably 12+ foot), so hanging **** off the ceiling is an option, but I don't want to try and wrangle power wheels down a ladder. I've thought about a "powered winch" style platform, but they are expensive, only rated for a couple cycles a year at most (WTF???), and still require the floor to be clear to use effectively. I'm not against having 1-2 of the ride on toys on the floor, but currently there is like 12. And I trip over the darn things constantly.

I have a couple of the Rubbermaid wall organizer strip things on the wall, which help a lot, but not great for the kid toys. I also need to figure out a better way to use them, with the chest freezer, as I didn't plan for the freezer to end up in the garage, but I don't want it back in the dining room either.

 

[danielmid]

Can you do eye bolts in the rafters and use some paracord through the eye bolts, hooks or latches on the toys, and pull them up and hang them high, then run the line to the studs and tie off so you can pull them up and down as needed?

 

[Travelin Ram]

“I'm not against having 1-2 of the ride on toys on the floor, but currently there is like 12.”

Yard sale?

I am sympathetic, I have a tendency to collect things I use once and store. However I’m determined not to turn into a hoarder so periodically a purge is necessary.

 

[JF19Longhorn]

Maybe some kind of shelving to stack them 3-4 high along the wall?

 

[bcbouy]

i put all their crap in boxes and told them to come and get it or it's junk.

 

[White six four]

I built a "ceiling shelf" or whatever they're called out of 2x4s and a sheet of plywood. My garage has roughly a 10' ceiling and I built the shelf to hang down from the rafters 3'. We have 7' garage doors so if the vehicle makes it through the door it will make it under the shelf. It works great for the kids toys they rarely use and also for storing summer stuff when it's winter and vice versa.

I don't get why for every birthday or Christmas at least one relative has to buy something battery operated aka a ride on toy. 10 minutes of fun and then 6 hours of charging it back up. Maybe that's why I dislike electric vehicles as much as I do.

 

[Justthebutler]

@PaleFlyer I know the pain of this You'll never be finished with storing their toys though. My kids were on the power wheels and bikes; now they're on to dirt bikes and quads

When they were younger I used to hang their stuff on the wall. I picked a height on the wall that fit everything as it hung, then I screwed a 2x4 to the studs at that height.

I bought some medium duty screw in hooks and eye bolts with S hooks. Like these.




You'll have to play around with the lengths but for the power wheels I used 2 and hung them by the inner axle or the 'control arms'

Here is a crude drawing of what I mean.

SCOOTERS hang on the shelves BIKES AND POWER WHEELS ON THE WALL


Somehow they have swindled one of the outbuildings for their toys and junk now,
but at least I can ride these ones.

 

[gofishn]

Big Wheel, one powered hot wheels, one Pedal Car.
have xtra batteries charged up adn ready for the how wheels and the rest of it all goes.

Have 4 kids, in the house, at the same time.
Learn which is the most fun toys and keep them.

Take your child to the local Goodwill or DAV Store. explain, ahead of time,
the store is for poor people, who have no money to buy cloths or toys, for their children.
Show them the cloths but mostly, take them to teh toy section, let them see the choices.
have them pick out their favorite.
Buy it, take it home and have them how it stacks up against their toys.

Now explain that everything in the store is donated. Given by richer kids. That they are going to go through
all of their toys, with you, and decide which ones, they want to give to the poor kids, who have no toys.

Did that about a month before every single birthday and christmas.
kept the clutter down and made them feel good to give their unused or unwanted toys to the poor kids.

Best part of all, tell them to clean up their toys.
First time, we are down Dad.

Oh yeah, I am goign to grab a big trash bag and anything that is not put away,
is going to the poor kids because you obviously do not love it enough to put it away.

Talk about cleaned up toys.
No more messy rooms.

EDIT:
Should note, even using this method,w ith 4 kids, entgire basement was play room.
Family room was play room. Garage was 1/3 their stuff, attic of garage was seasonal storage, winter/summer storage area.
Shed was their toys.
Mom got one half of garage for storm cover.
Back yard was full of plastic climb kits swign sets etc.

Now, we are switching it up to Grandkids junk.

 

[PaleFlyer]

Big Wheel, one powered hot wheels, one Pedal Car.
have xtra batteries charged up adn ready for the how wheels and the rest of it all goes.

Have 4 kids, in the house, at the same time.
Learn which is the most fun toys and keep them.

Take your child to the local Goodwill or DAV Store. explain, ahead of time,
the store is for poor people, who have no money to buy cloths or toys, for their children.
Show them the cloths but mostly, take them to teh toy section, let them see the choices.
have them pick out their favorite.
Buy it, take it home and have them how it stacks up against their toys.

Now explain that everything in the store is donated. Given by richer kids. That they are going to go through
all of their toys, with you, and decide which ones, they want to give to the poor kids, who have no toys.

Did that about a month before every single birthday and christmas.
kept the clutter down and made them feel good to give their unused or unwanted toys to the poor kids.

Best part of all, tell them to clean up their toys.
First time, we are down Dad.

Oh yeah, I am goign to grab a big trash bag and anything that is not put away,
is going to the poor kids because you obviously do not love it enough to put it away.

Talk about cleaned up toys.
No more messy rooms.

EDIT:
Should note, even using this method,w ith 4 kids, entgire basement was play room.
Family room was play room. Garage was 1/3 their stuff, attic of garage was seasonal storage, winter/summer storage area.
Shed was their toys.
Mom got one half of garage for storm cover.
Back yard was full of plastic climb kits swign sets etc.

Now, we are switching it up to Grandkids junk.

I understand I'm never going to get the garage back. Or get the entire storage building when I get the HOA to let me have a usable size one (Don't get me started on that one!). I'm just trying to be as efficient as I can. And try to not kill myself every time I need to grab something from my tool area. I also recognize that some of the "crap" in my way, is mine. But I can't store much in the garage correctly. Some previous owner put kitchen cabinets in the garage on the wall, and they do not store tools well.

Only benefit is that the "counter top" is like 1/4" steel, versus some kitcheny crap. I'm 80% sure I'm going to rip them out either this summer, or when #2 pops, and I'm home for a few weeks. But trying to have a game plan for when the demo happens, to get something back in it's place. I've had one drawer fail me already, and it partially blocks the breaker panel, which is a huge red flag for me, as a Controls Engineer, who has gone through too many NFPA/OSHA/whatever safety trainings about not blocking access to the breaker. (plus it's just annoying to get to the breaker, and half the crap, as the wife loves to pile crap in that corner.)

 

[Justthebutler]

I'm just trying to be as efficient as I can. And try to not kill myself every time I need to grab something from my tool area. I also recognize that some of the "crap" in my way, is mine. But I can't store much in the garage correctly. Some previous owner put kitchen cabinets in the garage on the wall, and they do not store tools well.

The cabinets are good if you use them for like a corner in the garage for a work shop but as you said they are useless for storing tools.
Peg board, small shelves, etc. One way to combat the space issue is to build some sturdy shelves, you have high ceilings so that's a bonus.
For all the random crap we had, My son and I built a shelf specifically to hold a bunch of those black and yellow storage bins.

Anything like these are easily built and also can be modified to fit your needs

 

[PaleFlyer]

Yeah, I was thinking about building some stuff, or just getting some of the metal rack style shelves. What we have is about 7 doors wide on the bottom, and 5.5/6 on top. Set up the same way they would be in a kitchen. Taking up basically an entire wall. If it was a proper workbench/upper storage style, it would be awesome, but it's old kitchen cabinets, so they just suck.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to go for some sort of ceiling mounted storage for "longer" term stuff (seasonal kind of crap), and some lower level stuff that we can use more often. IE so far the power wheel type crap is small, so I can do a couple on a normal sized shelf. Then I can run a garage power strip (as apparently 10 years ago it was "normal" to only have 3 120v outlet pairs, and 2 of them are on the ceiling for the garage door openers...)

 

[Atcer2018]

I understand I'm never going to get the garage back. Or get the entire storage building when I get the HOA to let me have a usable size one (Don't get me started on that one!). I'm just trying to be as efficient as I can. And try to not kill myself every time I need to grab something from my tool area. I also recognize that some of the "crap" in my way, is mine. But I can't store much in the garage correctly. Some previous owner put kitchen cabinets in the garage on the wall, and they do not store tools well.

Only benefit is that the "counter top" is like 1/4" steel, versus some kitcheny crap. I'm 80% sure I'm going to rip them out either this summer, or when #2 pops, and I'm home for a few weeks. But trying to have a game plan for when the demo happens, to get something back in it's place. I've had one drawer fail me already, and it partially blocks the breaker panel, which is a huge red flag for me, as a Controls Engineer, who has gone through too many NFPA/OSHA/whatever safety trainings about not blocking access to the breaker. (plus it's just annoying to get to the breaker, and half the crap, as the wife loves to pile crap in that corner.)

I have bad news for you. When they go off to college your wife will enshrine their bedrooms and keep all the junk they collected during primary school. When they come home they’ll bring not only their dirty laundry but extra junk that doesn’t fit in their dorm rooms. Even worse when school is out for the summer they will bring back twice as much as they left with. But wait there is more! Your wife may make it your responsibility to find a “place” for all their cr@p till they graduate! I’m sure by the time all the carnage is cleared out grandkids will be starting a whole new cycle of stuff versus space.

 

[PaleFlyer]

I have bad news for you. When they go off to college your wife will enshrine their bedrooms and keep all the junk they collected during primary school. When they come home they’ll bring not only their dirty laundry but extra junk that doesn’t fit in their dorm rooms. Even worse when school is out for the summer they will bring back twice as much as they left with. But wait there is more! Your wife may make it your responsibility to find a “place” for all their crap till they graduate! I’m sure by the time all the carnage is cleared out grandkids will be starting a whole new cycle of stuff versus space.

I need something until I can convince her to let me excavate part of the backyard, and bury a storage bunker under it. We have half an acre of levelish, tree-free land. And I don't think the bylaws of the HOA cover underground structures... So I'm hoping I can get her on board for that by middle school, and completed during HS. Then have alllllllllllllllllllll the storage we as a family should ever need.

 

[Atcer2018]

I need something until I can convince her to let me excavate part of the backyard, and bury a storage bunker under it. We have half an acre of levelish, tree-free land. And I don't think the bylaws of the HOA cover underground structures... So I'm hoping I can get her on board for that by middle school, and completed during HS. Then have alllllllllllllllllllll the storage we as a family should ever need.

I’m cheering you on! I was lucky enough to have a big shed but a bunker occasional man cave would be freakin amazing.