5 Tips For Cleaning Out Your Garage This Spring
Spring is almost here. This means it’s time to declutter and organize your home, including what would be the most challenging room for some—the garage. After all, you don’t need to see that dusty old grill or out-of-place mop bucket for one more day. Let’s look at some tips you can refer to for cleaning out your garage this spring.
Garage Clean Out and Organizing Tips
To accomplish your goal of a clean garage is also going to require some organization. Follow these steps to achieve your mission with ease.
- Remember Your Garage Isn’t Just For Parking Your Car
Many people use their garage as an extension of their homes. It may serve as a workshop, a craft area, or even as an exercise space or playroom for kids. Consider how you want to use your garage and let it guide you in your cleaning plan. Do you need better storage options? Are there items that really should be stored elsewhere, such as off-season decorations or clothing? If so, make sure those items are out of the way before trying to organize what’s left behind.
Start thinking about the kind of storage plan that would work best for you. If kids are going to be playing in the room, then have a map of how and where you will store potentially dangerous equipment so that it won’t be accessible for them.
Even if still in the planning stage, having a mental picture before you start will make sure you do things quickly and the right way when you do.
- Declutter the Ground
Decluttering your garage’s floor is an excellent place to start the practical side of your garage cleaning. Without this, it won’t be easy to reach every corner of your garage during your spring cleaning.
Take out everything into the driveway so you can see each corner you want to clean. Even those heavy boxes that still need to be stored in the garage anyway. Taking them out allows you to go through them one by one later and organize them.
This is also an excellent time to throw out all the stuff you no longer need. You will be surprised how much trash you will find during your garage clean-out day. Keep them all in a big bin and expect more trash in the next stages.
A good thing to also consider and notice at this point is how much stuff you were keeping on your garage floor. If it’s a lot, then it might be time to consider installing a shelf. Vertical storage will beat horizontal ones any day in any room in your house, and your garage isn’t an exception.
- Clean All Surfaces
Now that you’re finished with the first part, it’s time for the actual cleaning of your surfaces. Take a broom and vacuum cleaner and clean your floors and tables.
Moreover, make sure to clean along your ceiling and walls to remove any cobwebs that might have accumulated there. After this, you may now scrub your walls with a mixture of water and bleach (in equal parts). This will ensure you clean and disinfect the space as well.
If you notice mold forming on your walls, it might be best to use your bleach and water mixture to wipe down the affected walls. Let it sit for about 30 minutes, then follow it with a thorough scrub to remove the mold. It should come off easily at this point.
For the last part, use a mixture of hot water and detergent to scrub the floor. This should take care of any stains on the ground.
- Sort Through Everything
Progress is now visible at this point. Yet the room probably smells heavy with all that bleach and detergent and may still be wet. Leave it to dry and air out.
You can use this time to sort through the things you took out of your garage. Place them into specific piles for easy labeling. Make piles for stuff you want to sell, donate, keep, and throw away.
Once done with these, you may concentrate on the pile for keeping. Sort the things you have according to where you want to place them in the garage. This way, it will be easier to take them inside and help you preserve a sense of order.
Bunch together all the trash you collect from this process with the trash you found in the previous stages. At this point, you may now hire a professional garage clean-out company to take away the garbage so that you can move on with your cleaning without all the chaos waiting right outside the door.
- Divide and Conquer
Now think about location. After the specific piles and heaps you made, where exactly in the garage are you placing these to make sure things don’t get disorganized quickly? Part of your garage spring cleaning should be a plan to ensure it stays that way, and that you don’t need to clean at this level too often.
For that to happen, a proper order is going to be key. If you need somewhere to slot your kid’s toys, then you’re probably going to want to put them on a lower shelf. By doing this, you don’t have to constantly wade through shelves and stuff to get your kid’s items.
Use the same logic and method for everything. Where you put each item should depend on how accessible the item should be when the time comes that you need to use it. With this, the harder-to-reach areas are reserved for stuff you might not need except occasionally, and your garage can stay in tip-top shape.
For added ease, you may also consider labeling those zones according to their functions. This will be a map for family members who also want to access things in the garage without making a mess. Not everyone will know that exact compartment where you put their tools without your saying so. Thus, it would be better to post signs to guide everyone through.
Aim For A More Effective Spring Cleaning
With these tips, your garage clean-out shouldn’t be that daunting anymore. Having a method to approach this somewhat challenging task can go a long way in making it manageable and ensuring your hard work lasts for much longer.
We Love Junk provides professional garage cleanout and Philadelphia junk removal services. We also service the surrounding counties including Bucks, Chester, Montgomery, Delaware, and Camden Counties (including Cherry Hill).
We Love Junk was featured in a similar article on Redfin
From Cluttered to Clean: 9 Garage Cleaning Tips for the Overwhelmed | Redfin
