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If you have some time alone, why not spend it in the garage?

With spring just around the corner, your garage might still be a mess after thrashing on your winter project. Or, if you’re like me, you’re still putting off your winter projects while you’re also anxiously watching the temperature climb on your weather app. Whether you’re finishing up getting your car ready for the warm weather, or you’re just getting cracking, it never hurts to do some spring cleaning.

While cleaning around your toolbox might already be on your to-do list, you might not have considered organizing what’s inside that metal chest. If your toolbox is a total mess from your winter work, or you’ve never even considered getting it efficiently organized in the first place, we've got a few ideas to get your toolbox in shape.

Pliers are a toolbox nightmare. They're an essential if you're working on cars, but laying them flat will take up a lot of space in your box. Sure, you can stack them in an unorganized mess, but that's not ideal either. Enter the plier rack. This gadget helps optimize your toolbox space while also making your pliers easier to grab. The downside: height. If your drawers aren't tall enough to lay your current pliers on their side, they won't be tall enough for these. 

If you're looking for a plier rack but don't want to be locked down into a nonadjustable steel solution: Here's another option. This adjustable plier rack from Gearwrench gives you a little more flexibility in the width of the pliers that you'll be storing. Working basically like a socket rail, these plastic dividers slide and give you the desired width. This might be a good solution for your locking pliers.

My journey to socket organization is probably like yours. My father's toolbox went from no organization to stamped steel organizers that fill an entire drawer. From there, I experienced the aged professional boxes filled with loose-fitting socket rails. These experiences pushed me toward the compact, stable and easy-to-read world of socket trays. Not only do trays help make grabbing tools quicker, it's also easy to see what you forgot to put back. This will help you keep an eye on those pesky 10 mm sockets. 

If you're against socket trays because you don't want your organizers to dictate what sockets you own: Don't worry, there's a solution. These aluminum rails with plastic clips are sold by a handful of companies, but all seem like they come from the same manufacturer. They're affordable, and they're relatively mobile if you need to drag your entire socket rail to your car. 

Wrench racks are like socket trays ... but for your wrenches. OK, that's obvious, but it's just as important to keep your wrenches organized as it is your other tools. I've used an array of wrench-holding solutions, and I've settled on this organizer for my collection of fractional wrenches. Mostly, because it can hold wrenches from a quarter-inch to an inch-and-a-quarter: a 16-wrench span. This style also fits loosely, which might not be ideal for folks who want to carry this to their workplace or hang it on the wall. Though, if you plan on stuffing it in a toolbox or tool cart, it works great.  

If you want more security out of your wrench rack, Ernst has a solution for that, too. These Gripper wrench racks are slightly more expensive than their noncling counterparts, but they might be worth it if you plan to hang your wrenches from a wall or want to be able to move your wrench rack with you.

Screwdrivers are a tricky one. If you're like me and use a roll-around tool cart, there is probably a place to stash your drivers engineered into the cart. If not, well, here's a place to start! Screwdrivers have a bad habit of rolling around, getting lost and getting messy. You can shadow your drivers, cut out foam and waste a drawer. Or you can opt for one of these magnetic screwdriver racks to slam on the side of your box. 

If you really want to spend some time personalizing your toolbox, you can also go to foam. Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of using foam as an organizer because you never know when you're going to add to your toolbox. That said, if you're building a box for one specific task, shadowing your tools and cutting out your own organizer could be a perfect solution. Oh yeah, and you might have enough free time to get it done.