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Organizing things that fit on shelves and pegboards is pretty easy, but certain things are a pain and as long as there are kids at this house, there will be lots of sports equipment. I feared for a long time that it was destined to be all over my garage floor! Things all over the floor make it feel messy. It seems impossible to escape ANYTHING being on the floor, but I try to get as much UP as possible and it makes such a difference!
Using the vertical space in your garage is taking advantage of all the storage space your garage has to offer.
Organizing terminology for beginners:
Floor = Horizontal Space
Walls = Vertical Space
Hanging things on the walls just makes sense, especially when those things are bulky and otherwise annoying to store! And annoying is exactly how I would describe storing bikes, scooters, ripsticks, and balls.
Organizing Bikes
The first thing I wanted to get up was the adult bikes. They are just so big and bulky and take up so much floor space. Sure … I’d love to hang the kids bikes too, but they can’t pick up the bikes to hang the bikes themselves, and I don’t want to create a system in which it all revolves around me putting away THEIR bikes. That just doesn’t seem like common sense, right? So, their bikes/vehicles still go on the ground, but everything else goes UP, UP, UP!!! (You’ll see all the stuff parked in the full garage reveal later this week.)
I’ve used Rubbermaid FastTracks for a long time because I truly think they are the easiest way to hang things in the garage, because as needs change, I can just move around the hooks. Easy! {And no, they are not a sponsor of this blog, though that would be awesome. I’m obviously a fan!} There are alternatives to the FastTrack hooks – many different hook choices to choose from. I hope the point you get from this is to hang the stuff up and get it off the floor, whatever you use.
There are specific hooks that grab hold to the wheel, anywhere on the wheel, and then hold it snuggly without damaging anything. You have to be able to lift the bike up to get it there, but it’s definitely not too bad for an adult to do.
And right in between the two bikes, I hang the bike pump. One of the basic rules of organizing is PROXIMITY. Put things that belong together near each other. When we need the bike pump, it is always near the bikes. Perfect.
The hook used for the pump is the “cooler” hook. I use it as an all-purpose hook for light weight things.
Speaking of proximity, we also keep the helmets near the bikes.
But, I need more than proximity to get my kids to actually WEAR their helmets?! Does anyone have any good tips on convincing kids to wear their helmets?! My kids have their fair share of accidents and I want to protect their amazing little brains, but it is worse than pulling teeth to get them to wear the helmets unless I ask them, which is hard to do every single time.
Get kids to do chores – I can do that.
Get kids to ACTUALLY wear helmets – I need help.
The tool I use here is a basket that attaches directly to the FastTrack. Easy peasy proximity.
Organizing Scooters
Let’s talk about organizing scooters. Scooters, scooters, scooters.
These can be a pain, but the solution is actually really easy. These multi-purpose hooks let the handles slide right over and the main carriage goes between. The scooter bottoms are flexible to sway back and forth a bit, which comes in handy for putting more than one scooter close together.
The scooter problem is solved pretty easily!
Organizing Ripsticks
Ripsticks are a tough piece of equipment to organize! Before I figured out this solution, they either took up an entire shelf, or they were a hazard waiting to happen left out on the floor. Ripsticks joined our family last summer and have been a garage organizing nuisance.
Finding the right hook for them was a process of elimination. The hook used for the scooters was wobbly and made me nervous it would fall off, or fall awkwardly into a position putting a lot of stress on a wheel. None of the other hooks even came close to working.
The Power Tool Hook was the winner, because it let’s the Ripstick slide down into a snug position because of the shape of the Ripstick.
The back wheel rests on the wall making it very steady. It doesn’t shift around and it is easy for the kids to get out! And boy do my kids get these out, in and out several times a day.
Organizing Balls
Another tricky thing to organize in the garage are the large sports balls. The small sports balls are easy, they can fit in the bins on the shelves (though my 3- year old tries to put them in this ball organizer). Big balls are hard to store. You can get a big bin to put them in, but you end up needing a big space to fit a big bin that fits the balls, like the floor or a large part of the shelves. And with rectanglular containers you end up losing a lot of space to inefficiency because balls don’t fit in square spaces, which actually happens with a lot of round containers too!
For our balls, I use this organizer that is designed specifically for balls and it does just what it was meant to do. And it saves a lot of space!
Important tip: Keep your balls filled with air, because if any under-used balls get pushed to the bottom or sides and squished and don’t have air in them, they will get ruined being pushed against the bars.
Organizing More – Use Vertical Space!
And while I’m at it, I use the FastTrack to hang a lot of things in my garage! I hang the stroller that we only use if we go to places like the zoo and then the umbrella stroller I use more regularly. (Hard to imagine that in a few years I won’t need either of these strollers!)
I hang our camping cot up high and our fold-up wagon that we use weekly down low. Both of those are kept up with the power cord/ hose hook, one of my favorite multi-purpose hooks. (Also the hula-hoops are kept up with this hook.)
I hang the stool, tennis and racquetball rackets, and roller bag with cooler hooks. (Also the picnic blanket is kept up with a cooler hook.)
I use another basket for my husband’s sports bag.
And there are more FastTracks all over my garage walls holding our stuff. You’ll see that in the garage tour later this week. I know you can’t wait. Ha!
This is the wall where all of that annoying sports stuff is stored. It isn’t annoying anymore!!!
Since organizing all of these things to be easily accessible on the hooks, my kids told me that it is more fun to play outside. Coincidence? I think not.
Will you be hanging things in your garage?
Be sure to check out all the other Garage Organizing Posts!
Garage Organizing Posts
Let’s Organize The Garage {Tips & Strategies} – An overview of the best strategies for approaching organizing your garage, with useful tips to make it go better.
Pegboard Hack & Organizing Garage Shelves – Ideas for organizing shelves and pegboards. Shelves are flexible to organizing lots of things, and pegboards are specifically excellent at organizing tools.
Garage Organizing: How To Hang Bikes, Scooters, Ripsticks, Balls & More – Use the vertical space in your garage and get all the pesky sports equipment off the floor and on the wall!
How To Organize A Stand-Up Freezer – Many people keep freezers in their garage. Let’s get those organized too!
My Re-Organized Garage REVEAL – I finally made the changed to make my garage a happy place for me! See all the nooks and crannies!
How To KEEP Your Garage Organized – You’ve worked hard to organize your Garage! Now it’s time to learn how to keep it that way!
Diagnose Your Garage & Cure The Clutter – This is an oldie, but goodie! Find out the different reasons people accumulate junk in their garage and diagnose YOUR REASON for a garage mess – then you’ll know how to clear the clutter.
From my home to yours,
Mary
You are amazing! Thank you. I had 2 active boys. Downhill skiing, bikes, scooters, skateboards, etc. very active. They always wore their helmets, every time! We talked and made the helmet rule! Just like a seatbelt. No exceptions, anytime. If I saw them without a helmet ( about 1 time only) , the piece of equipment was taken away. ( for a time) They became so accustomed to wearing helmets, even to this day in their late 20s they always wear helmets skiing, skateboarding, biking, etc. good luck. It’s an all or none thing. Get cool and great fitting helmets for each activity needed. Oh and last part. You and your husband need a helmet as well and get to sport one on your equipment too. Good luck and most of all have fun. You are amazing.
I am totally with you othe helmet issue. It was simple. If I see you (kid) without a helmet when using anything with wheels, ANY toy that would require a helmet will be unavailable for use for a week. A day or 2 or 3 didn’t work. It had to feel like a downer for a while, and it had to apply to anything for which they should wear a helmet. I explained, “We had an agreement that when using toys with wheels, you (kids) would wear helmets. Right now, I don’t feel I can trust that you will do that. So, now you can reflect on how the choice to not wear a helmet broke our agreement and trust.” That was a zapper. It woke them up pretty well.
Great points!
I love your idea for getting them to wear a helmet – thank you!! Mr. and I have helmets and wear them when we ride. 🙂
Thank you! I’ve been looking at the rubbermaid fasttrack system for organizing the mess in our garage, so I love how you mentioned what you use each type of hook for. So helpful! Are you an Amazon affiliate? If not you should sign up – I would buy through your links 😉
Arkansas has the stupidest law that won’t let me be an Amazon affiliate because I live in Arkansas. It has honestly made me want to move several times (kidding … not kidding).
Compare the Amazon prices to the ones in Lowe’s before you buy, because I noticed that some of the Amazon prices were a little higher than what you could just pick up in the store. And I forgot to say this in the post, but the short tracks come in the starter kit, so I’ve actually bought 2 “starter” kits over time, just because I wanted all of the pieces in it.
I want to see pictures after you do it!!
Realmente eres fabulosa!!!!!
Gracias!
Do you spek spanish?
Un poco 🙂
like me. I speak a very little English
Thank you for reading my blog! 🙂
We trained our kids. If you don’t wear a helmet, the bike, scooter, roller blades, whatever they’re on goes to time out. They learned really fast. For really young kids, everytime they get on a little bike I push them on, helmet. Train them when their young and they’ll be use
To it. My 20 month old will run and get her helmet for me to put on without being asked because it’s the norm for her.
That’s true for so much, isn’t it? Train them and they’ll get used to anything … chores, bike helmets. 🙂
We just hung the fast tracks in our garage to get the clutter off the floor. We also have the same jogger. I know this post is a few years old, but do you remember which hook do you had the jogger hanging on?
Goodness … I am trying to remember. I think I used the long straight hook you’d hang a ladder on and it is just blending into the jogger in the picture. That is my best guess since I’m in a different house now and don’t have that jogger anymore.
What hook did you use for the stroller?
Goodness, I can’t remember. It’s one of the standard ones though – maybe the ladder one or the yard tool one (like the ones for the scooter).
This is amazing.
I know you’ve said in the comments that you don’t live there anymore but I’m inspired to do the same in my entry way (townhouse, no garage). Do you remember at all what hook you used for the bikes?
I think it’s the actual branded bike-hook from their stuff. They’re always changing what hooks are available, but hopefully they’d still have something that says it works for a bike. With other hooks I’d use it for a different purpose than advertised, but the bike hook was a bike hook. Hope this helps!
Thank-you so much!