21 Items I Never Let Into My Garage -And You Shouldn't Either

Think your garage is just a catch-all space for everything that doesn’t have a place inside the house? Think again! While it might be tempting to use this out-of-sight-out-of-mind area to stash your stuff, not everything benefits from garage storage—in fact, some items could be seriously damaged.

To help you keep your belongings in the best shape and your garage safe from potential hazards, we’ve rounded up 21 items that deserve a better home than your garage.

Mattresses

Think twice before relegating that spare mattress to the garage. Mattresses stored there can quickly become luxury hotels for mold, mildew, and pests. These uninvited guests love the damp, dark environment a garage often offers. Once mold sets in, it can trigger allergies and respiratory issues.

Keep your extra mattress wrapped up in a protective covering and store it inside your home, where it’s safe.

Cleaning Supplies

While it might seem practical to keep excess cleaning supplies in the garage, this could backfire. Many cleaning products can lose their effectiveness or even become hazardous if they’re subjected to freezing temperatures or excessive heat.

For instance, some products might separate or their containers could burst under extreme conditions, leading to a messy, dangerous situation.

Luggage

Storing your luggage in the garage might save space in your closet, but it could cost you in the long run. Fabric can succumb to mold in humid conditions, and the internal structures of your bags can suffer in fluctuating temperatures, leading to damaged, unusable luggage when it’s time for your next trip.

Chemicals and Pesticides

It might seem convenient to keep those chemicals and pesticides out of the way in the garage, but this could actually be a risky move. Not only can leaks and fumes turn your garage into a hazard zone, but if they’re not stored securely, they could be within easy reach of children and pets.

It’s much safer to store these items in a locked cabinet or a specific utility area in your home where you can control who gets access and ensure they’re not exposed to extreme temperatures.

Medications

Stashing medications in the garage is a no-go. Just like food, medications are highly sensitive to temperature changes, which can mess with their effectiveness.

Ever wonder why medicine bottles always say to store them in a cool, dry place? That’s because heat and humidity can degrade the active ingredients, making them weaker or even harmful.

Leather Goods

Leather jackets, bags, and other goods might just lose their cool if kept in the garage. Leather is particularly vulnerable to changing weather. Fluctuating temperatures and humidity can lead to cracked, dry, or deteriorated leather goods.

Firewood

It might seem logical to stack that firewood in the garage, keeping it dry and ready for a chilly night. However, this convenience can invite some unwanted guests—like termites, which could lead to bigger problems than just an infested pile of wood.

These pests don’t always stick to the wood, they might decide your garage—and possibly your home—is a nice place to expand their territory.

It’s smarter to keep your firewood outside on a rack, covered to keep it dry, but far enough from your house to keep the critters away.

Carpet and Rugs

Rolling up extra carpets and rugs and stashing them in the garage might clear some space inside, but it’s not doing any favors for their longevity. Carpets and rugs can quickly absorb any moisture in a garage, leading to mold and mildew. And let’s not forget the pests that love to nest in soft fabrics.

To keep them in top shape, store your carpets and rugs in a dry, ventilated area inside your home, or consider a climate-controlled storage unit if you’re out of space.

Musical Instruments

Like wooden furniture, instruments are extremely sensitive to the highs and lows of temperature and humidity found in a garage. These conditions can cause them to warp, crack, or even go out of tune.

To keep your instruments in concert-ready condition, store them inside your home where the environment is more stable.

Important Documents

Just like photographs, your documents are vulnerable to garage conditions. Moisture, temperature swings, and even pests can render them unreadable or totally ruined.

Imagine needing that birth certificate or tax return and finding it a soggy, chewed-up mess! Keep your documents safe in a fireproof and waterproof file cabinet inside your home.

Wooden Furniture

It might be tempting to stash that extra wooden chair or table in the garage, but here’s why that’s not a great plan. Wood is pretty sensitive to its environment; changes in temperature and humidity can cause it to warp, swell, or even crack. This means your nice wooden furniture might not look so nice after a season or two in the garage.

Canned Food

Excessive heat, like what we often see in garages, can turn your canned goods into ticking time bombs. Heat can cause the food inside to spoil and even make the cans swell or burst—definitely not something you want happening just steps away from your car or tools.

Electronics

Electronics really don’t like the roller coaster ride of temperature and humidity that garages often offer. These fluctuations can fry circuitry and other critical components before you even realize there’s a problem. Keep your tech safe indoors, where the climate is safe and controlled.

Clothing and Bedding

Tossing extra clothes and bedding into the garage might seem like a storage solution, but it’s a bit of a trap. These items can quickly become the perfect breeding ground for mustiness and mold, not to mention a prime target for pests.

Before you know it, you might be dealing with more than just a funky smell—think ruined fabrics and an infestation.

Photographs

Storing your precious photos in the garage? Let’s not. Humidity and temperature aren’t just uncomfortable for us—they’re photo destroyers. These elements can cause your cherished photographs to stick together or fade, losing those vibrant colors and turning memories into unrecognizable blurs.

Refrigerators

You might think that extra fridge in the garage is a stroke of genius for storing cold drinks and extra groceries, but extreme temperatures out there can make your fridge work overtime.

This not only leads to a shorter lifespan for the appliance but can also crank up your energy bill. If you’ve got to use that spare fridge, try to keep it in a spot where the temperature doesn’t swing wildly.

Wine

Wine is a bit of a diva when it comes to storage conditions—it thrives in stable temperatures and humidity levels.

Unfortunately, a garage’s fluctuating climate can mess with the aging process, turning your fine wine into vinegar. Do your bottles a favor and keep them in a wine cooler or a controlled environment inside your house.

Pet Food

Not only can pet food attract unwanted guests like rodents and pests, but the heat can also spoil the food. If you’re not keen on sharing your pet’s dinner with the neighborhood critters or tossing out spoiled food, keep it in airtight containers and store it inside where temperatures are more consistent.

Paint

Stashing your leftover paint in the garage might seem convenient, but it’s not the best spot for it. Why? Well, paint doesn’t play well with extreme temperatures.

Heat and cold can cause the paint to separate and spoil, turning what was once the perfect shade into a disappointing mess. A better choice is to keep your paint in a cool, dry place where the temperature stays pretty steady.

Propane Tanks

Propane tanks can leak, and in the enclosed space of a garage, a single spark could lead to a major disaster. The safest bet is to store them outside, away from any potential sources of ignition. This way, you can enjoy your grill with peace of mind, knowing you’ve sidestepped a potentially explosive situation.

Paper Goods

If you’re storing your extra paper plates, cups, and napkins in the garage, you might want to rethink that. These paper goods are practically a welcome mat for rodents and other pests looking for nesting material.

Plus, the typical humidity and temperature swings in a garage can ruin them, leaving you with a soggy, unusable mess when it’s time to host a barbecue or birthday party.