Until about a week ago, I'd pretty much just find an empty place on the floor in the garage and put stuff there; if I ran out of empty space on the floor, I'd start stacking items. There's a closet in the garage where I kept a lot of stuff — luggage, sports equipment, camping gear — but whenever I needed something, I'd have to pull everything out and then shove everything back into a chaotic pile. It was annoying. The garage does have this little workshop area in the back with a workbench, but it too basically turned into my junk room.

So last month I decided it was time to do something about it.

But I didn't know where to start.

Luckily, my father-in-law, Rick Surwilo, has one of the most organized garages I've ever seen. He's been able to maximize every bit of space in his so that he can fit his and my mother-in-law's car in there along with tools, ladders, a wheelbarrow, paint cans, scrap pieces of wood, and even two fridges (one's a mini).