Tips for cleaning and de-cluttering your garage this spring

Although our winters aren’t as long or as tough as the northern part of the hemisphere’s, there is still a good reason why spring is the season in which to attempt a proper annual clean. Why? Because it is easier to sort out, de-clutter and start afresh when nature is inspiring us to. A space that is often overseen or perhaps only given an unenthusiastic attempt is the garage. Make the garage part of your annual spring clean with these tips:

Organise – Phase 1

1. Carry everything out: A good place to start is to carry everything out of the garage first. Not only will this prevent you from giving up halfway through but it will also help you clear the garage floor so you can properly clean it.

2. Organise into 3 piles: Create a donate/sell, chuck and keep pile.

3. Group together: After dealing with your donate and chuck piles it is time to tackle the stuff you want to keep. Group similar items together for example screws with screws, paints with paints, etc. Then group categories together i.e. tools, garden, DIY etc.

Wash and go

With all of your stuff sorted and waiting to go back into the garage it is time to do a massive wash of the space. If your garage floor is riddled with oil stains you can either use a concrete degreaser or scrub each stain with vinegar and baking soda. Either way your floor will need some vigorous scrubbing with a deck brush. After you’ve dealt with the stains you can use dishwashing liquid to wash the entire floor surface. Remember, it is not only the floors that need minding. Wash the walls, dust the ceiling and clean the garage door/s too.

Organise – Phase 2

Once your garage is dry it is time to organise everything into a place. If you didn’t have proper storage for your stuff to begin with, consider investing in cupboards/storage containers. It will protect everything from dust and ensure a neat and tidy look in your garage. Read our Quick and Easy Space-Making Tips blog post for some advice on this.

Remember:

Keep as many things as possible off the ground – this way you don’t have to clean around an item during the rest of the year.

Label all drawers – this will save you time in finding and storing things in future.

Store the things you use less higher up, leaving the easy to get to spaces for the things your use more often.

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