The Best Dollar Tree DIYs For Extra Storage And Organization In Your Garage
A messy garage can add loads of stress to your life. A disorganized garage comes with more than just the usual frustrations about clutter — it can also affect your home's resale value. Whether you're improving your garage storage to better your house's chances on the market, or you're simply tired of digging through clutter to find tools, keepsakes, or seasonal decor, reorganizing can make or break your garage space.
While there are plenty of pre-made garage storage solutions — like IKEA's BROR unit — they're often on the expensive side. For homeowners who aren't afraid to put in a little work, a DIY substitute can save you hundreds of dollars and still achieve the same fantastic results for your garage. From shoe storage to bathroom counter decluttering, there's no better place for budget-friendly DIYs than Dollar Tree, and a few Dollar Tree staples are perfect for the specific challenges of garage storage. While some of these hacks utilize Dollar Tree items in expected (but helpful!) ways, some repurpose Dollar Tree items in surprising new twists you might not expect to maximize your garage space.
Use cooling racks for garage wall organization
YouTuber Bargain Bethany makes a variation on a classic hanging cooling rack that can organize cleaning supplies, hand tools, or other garage essentials you need to keep visible and within arm's reach. They attach two Dollar Tree cooling racks to each other with zip ties, then secure them to the wall with screws. The cooling racks are great for organizing spray bottles with nozzles, as they can easily hang from the slats. This DIY is perfect for the ever-important spring cleaning you may have scheduled for your garage!
Utilize plastic bins in tool cabinets
Dollar Tree has a plethora of storage containers of all shapes and sizes, and YouTube account Quick and Clean shows us a quick way to utilize them in the garage for under $15. They empty and clean an existing tool cabinet in their garage, then sort cleaning, crafting, and car supplies into bins by category. The variety of storage bins fit neatly into the tool cabinet shelves here, but it might be worth taking some measurements in advance before heading to Dollar Tree to ensure your version of this hack fits your shelving perfectly.
Zip-tie cabinet shelves for cleaning supply storage
YouTuber But First, Coffee creates their own shelving for a bathroom cabinet in this DIY, but the same method could be used to tidy a garage shelf or create cleaning supply storage under a garage sink. They take two Dollar Tree cabinet shelves — originally marketed for kitchen dishware storage — and use zip ties to attach them together. They make their new, longer cabinet shelf even more useful by adding wire baskets to the top with zip ties for additional sorting purposes. Extend your new shelving by adding even more cabinet shelves with zip ties.
Store tools with book rings and towel racks
This DIY from YouTuber ChicOnTheCheap is a great alternative to a traditional tool wall, and can even be hidden from view. ChicOnTheCheap places a hanging towel rack on the inside of a cabinet door, then uses Dollar Tree book rings to hang cooking utensils from the rack. This could work just as well for a garage door or cabinet with hand tools, since many tools are designed for hanging storage with a hole in their handles. You may want to consider using this hack for organizing smaller, lighter tools, since this rack is designed for lightweight paper towels.
Make a custom pegboard cube
There are few better ways to meet your organizing needs than with a pegboard. But you may not have thought about using pegboards off the wall and into a shape like a cube — luckily, TheDailyDIYer on YouTube did. They take four square pegboards and use zip ties to tie the whole cube together, trimming the ends. They trace a base for the cube on some foam board, cut it with a knife, and attach it to the cube with superglue. As an optional but super helpful step, they place the cube on a lazy Susan.
Stash plastic bags or spare rags in a hanging holder
Part of the reason garages get messy so quickly is that they become a repository for all of the miscellaneous items around the house, such as plastic bags and rags. Store either of these with this DIY from TikTok user @livin_life_lombardi, who uses a Dollar Tree retractable holder as a hanging storage unit. They unscrew the tubes of the retractable holder and cut two rectangles out of the sides (a sharp boxcutter or ordinary X-acto knife will do). This could also be a great way to compress similar supplies, like drop cloths, to keep them off of garage floors.
Build compact shelving from storage bins
If you don't have existing shelving in your garage or are short on space, try making slim, compact shelving out of storage bins like TikTokker @dollartree.hacks does here. They use childrens storage bins from Dollar Tree, opening the lockable flaps on the sides and securing the bins together with hot glue. Since the height and width of this DIY cabinet are fairly customizable, this storage hack could be perfect for organizing loose ends in the garage — think screws, nails, command hooks, and other necessities that often end up lost at the bottom of a junk drawer.
Use tool hooks to visibly store your most-used tools
Sometimes the simplest solution is the best solution when it comes to organizing. YouTube account The Cheap Chick provides a quick-and-easy way to store hanging tools with Dollar Tree tool hooks (or, as the dad in this video calls them, "tool huggers"). They just mount the hooks on a stable surface and hang tools securely and within sight. The shape of the tool hooks allows for easy use while ensuring the tools and hooks don't fall off the wall, since the weight of the tools is supported by two prongs.
Modify a shower caddy for a supply storage station
YouTuber FABEDhacks gives us two variations of shower caddy DIYs. They first take a Dollar Tree shower caddy and attach a mesh laundry bag to the bottom by threading the mesh over the caddy's built-in hooks. This allows them to store cleaning supplies on the caddy shelves and cleaning cloths in the hanging bag. They then create a companion storage unit by attaching a Dollar Tree wire rack to the bottom of another shower caddy with zip ties. The additional hooks on this second caddy lets them to hang brooms, dusters, and other unwieldy cleaning tools.