Veronica Bettencourt

This part of the home often gets ignored but it is essential so I put together an easy way to clean out the garage.

First, you want to get into some work clothes, a long sleeve shirt, gloves, and even a face mask (I’ll explain why you need a face mask later). Give yourself between 2-3 hours to tackle this task. You will feel great once it’s all done!

Chances are you have things in no particular organized fashion or place. So one goal   is to put everything in a particular place so you can quickly find something whenever you need it. The garage often becomes a home for a certain mouse (or mice, more than likely), who had been eating and pooping on everything it could find: car doors,tools, storage bins etc. Now, you may not know this, but rodents can carry the hantavirus, which is a deadly pulmonary disease, and infected rodents can spread it through urine, droppings, or saliva.  Well, if you have to deal with your share of mouse poop all over the garage then a face mask is essential to reduce the chance of exposure to the disease.

Here is a guideline of steps to follow to clean out the garage:

1. Commit to one side at a time. Take the cars out of both side of the garage, and start moving everything from one side to the other, including stuff you may be getting rid of eventually.

2. Once everything is moved to one side or the other, start cleaning. I used a broom for the walls, the corners of the ceiling, the floor, and the top of the workbench if you have one. I broom everything right out onto the driveway, leaving me with an empty and clean single side of the garage.

3. Thoughtfully move items into the clean side. Now is the time to start organizing, as you take all the items that will go on the “clean” side of the garage and put them in their final place. This includes items you originally moved from that side, and anything extra that was in the wrong place to begin with.

4. Now that one side is done, take a look at what is left on the dirty side of the garage. You should have stuff you are getting rid of, along with the remainder of the “keepers” that eventually will be organized on this side. I took all the throwaways and moved them to the driveway, and then moved all the keepers to the clean side of the garage. I then cleaned out the dirty side and proceeded to organize it.

5. If you have a workbench, organize it. After cleaning the garage, you may still be left with a workbench full of tools and equipment that need to be put away. So do your best to group like with like, while putting nails/screws/smaller items into empty jars you may have saved.

6. Take a look at what you did. No more trash, no more dirt, no more animal droppings, and no more clutter. Your tools are in the right places and your “stuff” is organized in easy to find places – and you can now park your car in the garage without worrying about a hammer falling on the hood!

7. Even better is to get stuff off the floor altogether. Spending just an extra hour you can create hooks on the walls where you can hang those shovels and other large tools and shelves for storage bins.It will make a huge difference to the look of your garage.

Get out there next weekend and clean out the garage. It can give you an amazing sense of accomplishment in just a few short hours!

Feel free reply and also share your tips here.

5 Responses to “Handy Tips and Steps To Clean Out the Garage”