When homeowners accumulate large home goods — and other belongings they have no idea what to do with — they often immediately turn to their garages, even when these spaces might already be suffering from overcrowding!
That said, when was the last time you took inventory and organized your own garage?
Garages are often overlooked when it comes to decluttering and cleaning your home. Decluttering has several benefits for your home and health, including better mental clarity. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the entire process of decluttering and cleaning your garage so that you can transform it into a highly functional space, which will benefit your entire household.
5 Steps to Decluttering & Cleaning Out Your Garage
- Set a Timeline
- Clear Out Belongings
- Go Through Items
- Clean and Repair Your Garage
- Organize Remaining Belongings
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1. Set a Timeline
Before you start, it’s essential to set a timeline for your garage project. Breaking down the larger task into manageable chunks will make an imposing, cluttered garage seem less overwhelming, which will help mitigate any feelings towards procrastination.
For instance, you can dedicate one weekend to sorting your belongings and another to shopping for organizational tools like storage bins.
Mark your calendar with the dates you plan to dedicate to your garage and stick to it. Take your time and methodically work through each step for the best results. Making steady progress will make the process enjoyable and less stressful.
2. Clear Out Belongings
The next step in decluttering your garage is to clear out everything. To make this task less intimidating, you may want to segment your garage into sections that you can tackle over several days or weekends. It is key during the decluttering phase that you can touch and see every item, so that you can examine what is worth keeping, storing elsewhere, or discarding entirely.
Take this time to throw away any broken or unusable items. You can also begin to sort your items into preliminary piles of items to:
- Keep
- Donate
- Disgard
If space for sorting your belongings is limited, consider renting a portable storage container that you can keep on your property, so that you have ample room to explore items and try out new ways to improve the layout of your garage and storage capabilities. A portable storage unit can be especially helpful if you plan to resurface the floor of your garage. When searching for nearby portable storage companies, be sure to search using the phrase “home renovation storage”.
3. Go Through Items
After removing certain belongings from your garage, it’s time to make final decisions about where you will now put them. Keep items that are necessities and donate those that you can live without.
Curb alert free items listed on Nextdoor
Image courtesy of Nextdoor
From there, sort your kept belongings into categories that will dictate where you will store them in your garage. Store similar items together, like seasonal decor, sports equipment, and gardening tools, and prepare to search for adequate storage devices and products for each category.
During this step, you may come to realization that you need to augment your garage storage with a shed. A common practice is to store lawncare and gardening tools and related supplies in a separate storage shed.
4. Clean and Repair Your Garage
With your garage cleared out, you now have the perfect opportunity to give it a deep clean. Living in a clean and tidy space is associated with a positive mood, reduced anxiety, and a sense of control.
Start by sweeping and vacuuming the floor to remove dust and debris. Then, wipe down surfaces and dust light fixtures and cobwebs. Address structural issues in your garage by repairing floor cracks, replacing broken shelves, and fixing other problems to enhance safety and functionality.
This is also the perfect opportunity to consider applying an epoxy flooring. Easy-to-install epoxy flooring can offer several benefits for your garage, including:
- Low Maintenance
- Durability
- Moisture & Corrosion Resistance
- Enhanced Aesthetics
The stylish look of epoxy flooring will also provide incentive to keep the rest of your garage looking consistently clean and well-maintained.
5. Organize Remaining Belongings
Once your garage is clean and decluttered, it’s time to organize your remaining belongings. How to organize your garage effectively depends on your specific needs and preferences.
Consider creating zones for different categories of items to ensure everything has a designated place.
When grouping belongings, also consider how frequently specific items are used, so that high-frequency tools, supplies and playthings are easiest to access.
Also keep these concepts in mind when reorganzing your garage:
- Think vertical to increase storage potential (e.g. wall- and ceiling-mounted storage devices)
- Think mobile to increase workspace areas and storage flexibility (e.g. storage units & workspaces on wheels)
- Think visibility to be able to easily indentify stored items (e.g. labels and transparent storage bins)
- Think safety & security for properly storing and securing hazardous materials, weapons, firearms, and other dangerous items
- Think outsourcing to remove items that should be stored elsewhere (e.g. place lawnmower and gardening tools in a shed)
Use storage solutions like shelves, pegboards, hooks, and bins to keep items off the floor and stored neatly and out of the way. Labeling bins and shelves can also help you quickly find what you need.
Lastly, once you have decluttered the interior of your garage to your liking, be sure that the exterior of your garage reflects its new inner beauty, by considering some of the following enhancements to the exterior:
- Adding new paint and color palette
- Upgrading nearby landscaping
- Resurfacing your driveway
- Adding a stylish new garage door
A newly painted garage door with upgraded floral landscaping
A modern home with a pristine resurfaced driveway
Garage with new gray farmhouse style door
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