Garage organizing has become a specialty area in the organizing field.  Special wall and ceiling products have been designed to provide easy ways to corral all your sports, garden, automotive, trash, recycling and workbench items, but the basic strategies remain the same:

1. Store everything by category.  Some typical categories are:  gardening, sports, automotive supplies, trash and recycling, workbench tools and supplies, seasonal storage (summer toys, outdoor furniture, holiday decorations), etc. 
2. Create and label clear areas for each category of items, and for items within those areas so it is easy for everyone to know where things belong when they are finished using them.  For example, hang the rakes in one consistent spot on a wall or use a pegboard with outlines drawn in around where each tool should hang.
3. Use vertical storage as much as possible to clear things off the floor. Take advantage of loft space, wall shelving and hooks to hang items overhead.
4. If the garage doors will be open a lot, space is tight, and you just love for things to look good, consider purchasing a garage storage system.  Most come with specialty hangers, baskets, hooks and cabinets that attach to a wall-mounted system.  These can look great and function really well.  I saw two promising brands at the conference.  Both systems seemed very sturdy and well-made, and provided lots of flexibility for storing whatever might be needed.

• Monkey Bars is a shelf and bar system that allows you to store even above windows and garage doors
  .  It includes installation, or has versions for the do-it-yourselfer. I like the large capacity, the heavy-duty strength, and the flexibility of the various parts of the system.  (www.monkeybarstorage.com )  
• Proslat is a panel system that comes in white, light grey or grey.  This is another flexible component system, but it's built on PVC wall panels that can be installed over your existing walls.  Once installed, everything hangs off those panels, so you don't have to drill into the walls every time you want to change an accessory.  Hooks, baskets and even cabinets can be hooked into the slats in the panels as needed. (www.proslat.com).

There are lots of other systems and DIY solutions as well.  The important thing is to spend some time clearing out the trash, sorting things into categories and then finding a system that will work for your family so you can find things easily when you want to work in the garden or enjoy your summer sports!