12 Garage Clean Out Tips for the Overwhelmed
Everyone gets overwhelmed by clutter sometimes, whether your kitchen surfaces are piled high, your storage is overflowing into the corridor, or your cluttered garage has no floor space left to use.
Clearing out all that clutter can seem like a daunting task, but once it’s done, you’ll finally have space to breathe. To help you get started with your big garage cleanout, we’ve put together a step-by-step list of tips for a clean, tidy and manageable space.
Clearing Out your Messy Garage
1. Organise the Clutter
Before you clear out your space, it’s time to organise the clutter. This is by far the most daunting step, but rest assured: once it’s done, you’re well on the way to a clean garage!
Separate your garage into sections to make the cleaning tasks more manageable, and sort out one section at a time.
Organise the clutter into five piles:
- Keep
- Give to Friends
- Sell
- Donate
- Throw away
Be as harsh as possible - the more clutter you keep, the more junk will pile up in your clean garage!
2. Check your Tools
This is the perfect opportunity to check your power tools! When it comes to DIY nothing is more important than safety, and while you’re throwing out old and broken items it’s worth going through the tools you regularly use to check if any of them need to be replaced. Check wires for any fraying, blades for rust and wear, and the body for loose screws. Just remember not to throw out electronics with the general waste!
3. Get Rid of the Excess
Any DIY fans out there will know how hard it is to throw things away. There may be a use for that broken table leg or those run screws someday, right? And it would be such a waste to throw them in the bin! However, if it’s waste you’re worried about, remember that recycling will make good use of your old materials. It’s time to go through the hoard and choose some things to throw away.
Keep: We recommend keeping things that you use regularly, such as tools and craft equipment, the Christmas decorations and tree, as well as items that could be expensive to replace. Ultimately, you’re the only person who can determine what would be best to keep or throw away - it’s your garage!
Give to Friends: Tools you’re never going to use again, old furniture you bought to revamp, cupboards, drawers, tarps and that roof box that doesn’t fit on your new car can all be great gifts to friends and family. Post the items on Facebook, WhatsApp or the family group chats and see if anyone wants to claim them. If not…
Sell: If your friends don’t want it and you spent a lot on it, why not sell it on? You can list items on websites like Preloved and Facebook Marketplace to see if you can get some money back for them - all while getting them out of your precious space!
Donate: Local charity shops will be happy to take the smaller stuff off your hands, while charities like the British Heart Foundation can pick up larger furniture. You can also look up local programs that might be requesting specific items - if you dig them out of your garage, you could help a lot of people.
Throw Away: If items in your garage have been gathering dust for a while, this will likely be the largest pile of items. Broken furniture, old TV boxes and that washing machine you never got around to throwing out are all candidates for the tip. If you have far too much to get rid of yourself, a HIPPOBAG can help you to kick it all to the curb at once.
4. Sort Out the Rest
Now that you’ve done that, you should only have one pile left: the ‘keep’ pile. This should be a bunch of items that you couldn’t bring yourself to part with. It’s time to sort them out!
Allocate several categories that seem relevant to your garage: some examples include DIY, car maintenance, camping gear, crafts, seasonal items such as Halloween or Christmas, and exercise.
Go through the pile and separate everything into your allocated categories - this is a good chance to take inventory, too! Writing down what you already have can help to prevent unnecessary trips to B&Q or Home Bargains.
Restructuring After a Garage Cleanout
5. Allocate Space
Now you’ve got an empty garage and a few categories to get started with, it’s time to allocate space for your things. If you have a big enough garage, you may even be able to allocate corners for different things - a DIY corner, a car workshop or a painting den are all ideas for a multipurpose, one-garage-fits-all solution.
Whatever you’re planning to use your garage for, sketching out what you want to put where is a good start to organising your new space.
6. Install Storage Solutions
Once you know where you’re keeping everything, shelves, cupboards, drawers, and desks are all good investments for a perpetually tidy space. Reuse furniture you kept or take a trip to IKEA to buy a few extra pieces to organise your space. Remember to keep chemicals and dangerous tools out of the reach of pets and children!
7. Aim High
Your garage may seem smaller than ideal, but the walls can double as storage space. Using the vertical space available you can mount bikes on brackets, use high shelving to keep chemicals out of reach, or attach your roof box to the ceiling to save precious floor space.
Remember to secure everything safely when storing items up high, and make sure that shelves and fixtures are strongly connected to the wall. You can also add hooks, tool racks and braces to hold your items within easy reach.
8. Maximise Floor Space
The less floor space you have, the less useful your garage will be - so make sure that you leave plenty of room to move around and work! Try not to pile items on the floor, and make sure that your workspace is clear and easy to clean, especially if you use your garage for activities like DIY or exercise. Remember that the more floor space you have, the easier it’ll be to clear out your garage again next time.
How to Use an Organised Garage
If your space allows it, once you have organised your garage you can look at ways of making use of the space beyond just storing a car or motorcycle.
9. Garage Storage & Organisation Hub
Rather than a cluttered space, transform your garage into an organised storage area. With heavy duty shelves, cabinets, and bins, you can keep holiday decorations, seasonal items, sports gear, or rarely used household items in storage systems.
10. Set up a Home Gym
Gym memberships can be expensive, so why not set up a home gym in your garage? Equipment like a running machine, weights and cycling machines can help you maintain an active lifestyle without leaving your house.
11. Make a Home Office
If you don’t have space for an office in your home, your garage could double as your personal workspace. Set up a desk, a lamp and a space heater for the colder months and decorate to your heart’s content
12. Prepare for Pets
If you’d love to introduce your kids to the responsibility of pet ownership, but you’d rather not have sawdust all over the house, you can set your garage up for a range of little animals to live in. From guinea pigs to Japanese quail, your garage will help to keep them safe from the elements and away from your lovely clean floors!
Keeping a Clean Garage Long-Term
We hope that our top garage cleaning tips have helped you to clear out and reorganise your garage! If you find you have far too much rubbish in your garage to make this job a one-and-done, our Man and Van garage cleanout services could be just the thing you need to save on time and trips to the tip.