A garage can easily become a dumping ground for all kinds of things. From sports equipment and holiday decor to small appliances that no longer work, the space is often cluttered, disorganized, and underutilized. To make the most of your garage, we enlisted the help of professional organizers who share their top five tips for a minimalist, streamlined, and functional garage.

The foolproof strategy that organizing experts recommend is to determine the function of the garage, declutter the space, divide the layout, utilize vertical storage, and implement labeled containers. Below, the pros share why these five steps are essential and how to implement the strategy to not only organize your garage but maintain the organizational system you’ve implemented.

Determine the Purpose of the Garage

The first step in getting your garage organized according to Tracy McCubbin, CEO and founder of dClutterfly, is to determine its purpose.

Do you plan on parking your car in the garage or is storage the sole purpose? Does the space double as a gym or laundry room? The expert says you should be honest with yourself about how you want to use the space in order to maximize its value.

For example, if you live in a climate where you can park your car outside year-round, the garage may be more valuable as storage.

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Declutter Regularly

“Every garage needs a full declutter and reorganization once a year,” McCubbin says.

Once you’ve determined the purpose of your garage, the expert says decluttering is the next and most important step. To prevent things from accumulating in the garage, take time to declutter the space each season and do a more thorough deep clean and declutter once a year.

According to McCubbin, some of the most common items that clutter people’s garages are bikes, car parts and accessories, kitchen appliances, suitcases, and sports or camping equipment. The pro advises that you take a look at your inventory, assess what you truly need and use, and discard or move what you don’t in order to make space for things you actually do use.

Divide the Garage Into Most and Least Accessible Areas

It’s not just about what you store in the garage, but where you store it. McCubbin’s tip is to organize the garage layout into most and least accessible.

“Most accessible is where the back stock of paper products and waters should go, least accessible is where holiday decor can go, since you only need to pull that out once a year,” the organizer says.

She suggests you think of the garage as real estate in that some locations have a higher value than others and need to be utilized as such. Designate easily accessible areas of the garage to the things you grab most often.

Not only will it save you time, but it will make it more likely to return items to their proper home and help maintain an organized and clutter-free garage.

Utilize Vertical Space

Realizing the importance of vertical storage to make the best use of available space is essential according to Maria Anderson, a cleaning and organizing expert at Henfield Storage. Utilizing vertical space and taking advantage of the full height of the garage will increase storage exponentially. There are several ways to implement this organizing strategy.

“Use magnetic tool holders or pegboards for tools and equipment, since they keep them accessible and organized,” Anderson says.

Another strategy is to install ceiling-mounted racks. These are typically intended for bikes or storage containers and are an excellent way to keep items off the garage floor.

A third tip is to add shelving. Mount wire shelves on the wall or bring in freestanding industrial shelves that extend to the ceiling and take advantage of as much of the wall as possible. McCubbin recommends placing items you use less frequently up high and keeping the things you grab on a regular basis within easy reach.

Use Clear, Labeled Storage Containers

To keep garage shelving from becoming cluttered and hard to navigate, the experts recommend using clear, labeled storage containers.

“This will assist in keeping pests and garage dust out while making the contents easily visible,” Anderson says.

Before placing items into storage containers, go through them and donate things you don’t need, and discard anything that’s broken. Group like items together and write detailed labels to make sure anyone in your household can find what they’re looking for.

Additionally, Anderson suggests clustering stored items by category — such as gardening tools or seasonal decor—so that retrieval is more convenient.