From Cluttered to Clean: 9 Garage Cleaning Tips for the Overwhelmed

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Updated on July 5th, 2022

Cleaning your garage can be a daunting task. When your garage is an endless sea of dust, junk, and other items you may or may not need, it’s difficult to know where to start. With a little guidance, you can ensure your garage cleaning process is a little more bearable. Whether you live in Sacramento or are renting a home in Orlando, here are some garage cleaning tips to help you feel a little less overwhelmed.

cluttered garage

Consider how frequently items are used and stay organized with labels

Cleaning your garage can be overwhelming. These are my go-to tips to get started, stay motivated and finish the job. Schedule a time, have your water bottle handy, and put on some tunes. Be ruthless. You can’t organize clutter. Store similar things together and determine where to put things according to how often you use them. Take donations to your favorite charity and junk to the dump ASAP. – The Self Cleaning House

Garages are often used as dumping grounds when they could be a very usable space that saves you money and hassle. For starters, go through at least twice a year and weed out things you don’t need or use. Secondly, get everything off the floor. Install cabinets and a workbench for garage items to have dedicated space. This will allow you to park your car in the garage, saving your paint and keeping you more comfortable when you go out. – More Space Place

Use labels. When it comes to organizing your garage long-term and minimizing how often it needs to be reorganized, labels are your best friend. If you designate an area for each category of items, your family will know where to place things whenever they’re done with them. If you don’t have a label maker to get the job done, post-it notes are a great alternative. – Count Junkula

Treat your floor to prevent dust buildup

Much of the dust in your garage comes from the floor. Minimize dust buildup by either sealing your garage floor with a coating product designed for that purpose or installing new flooring tiles such as RaceDeck® or a similar product. These can be installed by a garage professional or done as a DIY project. – Martin Garage Door of Nevada

Think adjustable, vertical, and mobile

When purchasing storage solutions for the garage, think adjustable, vertical, and mobile. Tall metal wire racking with adjustable shelves on caster wheels provides maximum flexible storage possibilities. Overhead storage racks make storing out-of-season items such as holiday decorations easy while not taking up any valuable floor space. – Intentional Spaces Organized

Take advantage of wall space for storage

Most people don’t consider their walls as extra space for storage and organizing.  Make use of any empty wall space for efficient wall storage and organization. Many options open up when you start seeing your walls as available real estate for storage and organization. – Wall Control

tools organized on a shelf

The best way to organize your garage is to get your items off the floor and on the wall. Not only is your garage the first room you see when you get home and the last room you see before you leave, but it’s the only room your neighbors can see.  – StoreWALL

Use shelves and hooks to maximize your space

Use vertical space to help keep your garage clean. Shelving and hooks can help you maximize your space. Organize shelf space using clear bins, and don’t be afraid to use hooks to hang bikes and tools. – The Keele Deal

Organize and maximize your garage inventory vertically with mobile shelves. Vertical shelving helps maximize garage space, and shelving on wheels makes cleaning your garage quick and easy. When it’s time to clean and organize your garage, you can easily roll your things into the driveway, organize what’s left in the garage, then clean the garage floor. When finished, move all your shelves back into the garage. Vertical and mobile shelves make organizing and cleaning your garage easy and quick. – Top Shelf Garage

Store similar items together

Garages often work triple duty as parking, storage, and workshop space, so efficient use of the square footage is crucial. Taking on these big areas can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. To help jumpstart your garage organization, store similarly shaped items together, for example:

  • Long and skinny: spare planks of flooring, siding, closet/curtain rods
    • Store these laid flat to avoid warping, ideally raised on a high shelf to prevent exposure to debris and moisture.
  • Small and flat: spare tiles, shingles, air filters
    • Store these in short stacks or vertically “filed” along a shelf or in a durable plastic bin. These can go in a somewhat less accessible location since they’re probably not needed very often.
  • Small and irregular: spare knobs, handles, brackets, switch plates
    • Store these in smaller plastic bins to ensure they stay tidy and contained, and keep them towards the front of a shelf for more accessibility.
  • Large and irregular: lawn mowers, snow blowers, shop vacs

Be sure to use vertical space in your garage. The walls are great for using a track system to hang items on the wall like chairs, yard equipment, strollers, etc. Also, use the ceiling for storage and pulley systems to maximize your space. – Eco Modern Concierge

Give away what you no longer need

Check with your local thrift store or charity shop to see what items they will and won’t accept. Some places, for example, will accept upholstered furnishings, while others give that a hard pass. – Ramshackle Glam

garage sale sign

Divide your garage into zones

Organizing by zones is a great way to rearrange and maintain an organized garage. We suggest creating several distinct zones based on your needs to give your garage a neat structure that removes the stress of scouring through its entirety to find what you’re looking for. For example, designate different garage zones for your sporting equipment, gardening tools, laundry area, etc. As you do this, we recommend storing your rarely used items in upper storage and keeping your most often used items at close reach. Maximize the use of space with a heavy-duty wire system, hooks, and hang-ups. – Home by AMES

Think of your garage storage in terms of activity zones – some areas can be meant for quick, grab-and-go items, while others may be useful for long-term, out-of-the-way storage. Addressing your garage in this way can make the task of getting organized less overwhelming, allow you to regain your floor space, and get the most out of the gear and equipment you own. Getting things off the floor and onto the wall, or even overhead, makes things easier to grab and go, and gives all your important tools and gear a home. – Gladiator GarageWorks

Clear everything out of your garage before you start cleaning

When trying to tackle cleaning your garage, you must declutter before attempting to organize. Pull everything out of your garage and divide them into three categories (trash, donate, and keep). Discard items that are broken or no longer being used. Divide your garage into zones dedicated to specific items (such as auto supplies, sports equipment, tools, etc.) when reintroducing your items back into the garage. – We Love Junk

If you have a messy garage and are unhappy with how the storage is organized, try moving everything out of the garage first. Having the garage empty will most certainly allow you more freedom with the garage plan, as it will stop you from being influenced by the previous arrangement that had already not done the job. You will also find the chance to get rid of obsolete items that you hardly ever use. – Sparkling and Beyond Cleaning Services

The best way to start organizing tools, projects, and garage floor power washing is by completely clearing out the garage. When the garage is empty it’s time to power wash the garage. Take special care in the areas that have been treated with degreaser. When the floors are clean and dry, begin to organize storage solutions. – Amruss Home Improvement

Chibuzo is part of the content marketing team and enjoys writing about local insights and home improvement. His dream home is a Mediterranean-style house with a large kitchen and plenty of windows.
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