Clean Out Your Garage Day Archives

A 5-Step Plan to Reclaim Your Garage

The garage is one of the most neglected spaces in our homes. Over time, it often becomes the family dumping ground from everything to broken furniture and outgrown toys to sports equipment and holiday decorations. Couple our tendency to stockpile items in the garage with our aversion to cleaning the garage, and you have a recipe for chaos as our growing pile of stuff gets out of control.

Garage clutter isn’t just an aesthetic problem or even a mere inconvenience that forces us to spend time searching for misplaced objects—like a garden trowel or someone’s lucky baseball. It also poses a health hazard. Improperly store baseball bats, hockey sticks and garden implements pose a serious tripping hazard. Clothing and newspapers stored openly in the garage attract mice and other vermin by providing nesting material. Chemicals stored in the garage pose a poisoning hazard to animals and small children. Improperly stored flammable liquids pose a fire hazard.

As garage clutter grows, it becomes harder for the garage to fulfill its intended use—a safe haven for your vehicles from the harsh summer sun, frigid winter temperatures and all of the precipitation that falls in between. If you’re like many families, perhaps you’ve surrendered to garage clutter, opting to park your vehicles outside. If so, don’t despair. Instead, get ready to take back your garage in five simple steps on Clean Out Your Garage Day—the Saturday following Labour Day.

Step One: Start with a Plan

No one wants to spend the entire day knee deep in clutter, so we put off cleaning the garage. However, when we approach the task with a plan, the job becomes easier and we can tackle it efficiently.

Take time to assess your priorities. What is most important to you when it comes to your garage? Reclaiming parking space for your vehicles? Creating a workshop for a hobby or small business? Securing storage space for sports equipment? Or perhaps you require all three. Start by mapping out the space to determine what you can fit inside the garage and where everything should go.

Step Two: Zone Out

As you lay out your plan for the garage, group like items to create task-specific zones in your garage. For instance, group yard tools together in a gardening and lawn care zone. Group motor fluids and other car care accessories in an automotive care zone. Store sports equipment together in a sporting goods zone. Establishing zones is the first step to creating order in your garage.

Grouping like items together makes locating items quicker and simpler—saving you valuable time on each project. However, without an orderly way to store those items, the space will quickly descend into chaos again, making it difficult to find space to park your vehicles. Instead of using valuable floor space, store items vertically and overhead whenever possible.

A garage wall organization system like Slatwall provides vertical storage for a wide variety of items through the use of integrated baskets, hooks and shelves. You can purchase and install a vertical wall organization system or enlist a professional garage renovation expert to install the system for you.

Step Three: Enlist Family or Friends

Reduce the amount of individual time and effort required to get the job done by making the cleaning of your garage a fun, family project. By involving every member of the family in the project, each person becomes more invested in keeping the garage clean.

Another option? Invite a few friends over, fire up the grill and transform the task of cleaning out your garage into a fun and productive day with friends.

Step Four: Empty the Garage

When your garage is overflowing with clutter, the best way to approach the situation is to start with a clean slate. That means emptying the garage of all its content. While this might seem tedious, it’s the best way to take inventory of what is stored in your garage. Knowing exactly what you have in your garage is critical to the next step in the process.

If you haven’t already installed your vertical wall storage system, now is the time to do so. Once your Slatwall, baskets, hook and shelves (or alternate vertical wall storage system) is in place, you are ready to proceed to the next step.

Step Five: Discard, Donate and Designate

This compound step is the most important task in the process. While it may seem daunting, it can more easily be described with one word: PURGE. By emptying your garage in the previous step, you can now see exactly what you’re working with. Group like items together to easily identify duplicates of tools and sports equipment.

Discard broken toys and furniture. Properly dispose of old household chemicals. Donate gently-used items your family no longer needs like old toys and shoes. Gift a friend or neighbor your duplicate yard tools or sports equipment. Once you’re pared the contents of your garage down to the items you plan to keep, designate a storage space for each remaining item.

Return each item to the appropriate task-related garage zone, as identified in step two. Using the complementary hooks, baskets, shelves of the wall organization system and professionally-installed overhead storage, place each item in a designated spot. Voilà! You now have an organized garage. To maintain your newly organized space, simply return each item to its designated spot.

Still on the fence about whether it’s worth it to spend a weekend cleaning out the garage? Consider this: a disorganized garage detracts from the aesthetics of your home and creates unsafe conditions for your family. It can also cost you time and money. Searching through garage clutter to find items steals valuable time. When garage clutter forces you to park outside, the harsh elements can damage the body of your vehicle and its internal systems, costing you money. Cleaning the garage might seem like an overwhelming task, but it is one that will pay off handsomely.

To streamline the process, tackle the early stages of cleaning your garage prior to the cleanout date. Plan the layout of your garage, incorporating task-related zones. Purchase and install a scalable wall organization system that includes complementary storage accessories like baskets, shelves and hooks or hire a professional garage renovation expert to install it for you. Enlist family or friends to help on the big clean out day. Completely empty your garage. Discard broken or outdated items. Donate gently-used items you no longer need. Designate a permanent storage space for each item within the appropriate zone and return items to their space.

If the project still feels too daunting, consult with a professional garage renovation expert for help transforming your garage into an organized, multi-use storage space.

The Saturday after Labour Day is Clean Out Your Garage Day, an unofficial holiday.

Granted, spending Saturday digging through the clutter in your garage probably isn’t your ideal way to spend your hard-earned time off. However, a clean, orderly garage is worth the sacrifice.

Still, when the garage has become a dumping ground for the entire family, just getting started can be the most difficult task. The responsibility of cleaning out the garage often falls to a single family member. This hardly seems fair, since several members of the family are typically responsible for the mess. With that in mind, why not make cleaning out your garage a family project?

Organizing the entire family to tackle what feels like a daunting project can be challenging. However, if the mere thought of doing so makes you break out in a cold sweat, don’t worry. Here are a few tips for making Clean Out Your Garage Day a fun, family project.

Have a Brief Family Meeting

When possible, notify all family members in advance of the plan to clean the garage. If this year’s event doesn’t allow for adequate advance notice, or plans have already been established, select a more agreeable date. Then, set realistic expectations about how long the project will take.

If you’re dreading the project, everyone in your family will, too. Talk enthusiastically about cleaning the garage. Plan a fun day your family will look forward to: play music, order pizza from their favorite pizzeria, create a fun contest, have a celebratory meal when the work is done. Discuss the benefits of cleaning the garage:

Adequate space to store the family’s bikes and other outdoor goods
Easier access to favorite items like bikes, bats and balls
Save time looking for items
Reduce the hazards of tripping over items or having things fall on someone
Deter pests and vermin that thrive on clutter
Help others through the donation of unused items
A space the whole family will be proud of

Once the date and time are set, and everyone is excited about the project, it’s time to create a workable plan.

Create a Plan of Attack

Imagine four of five people trying to maneuver in a small, cluttered space. If not planned well, it’s a recipe for disaster that will frustrate everyone and kill any enthusiasm there might have been for the project. To create a workable plan to organize your garage:

Know your priorities. What do you need to store in your garage? Who needs access to it? Whose access should be restricted?
Create zones. Now that you understand how you’ll use the garage, create areas to group similar items. Possible zones include automotive, gardening, sports equipment, tools, etc. This step is essential to creating an organized space where items can be located easily.
Be prepared! A push broom, work gloves (for everyone), heavy duty garbage bags and basic tools are among the items you’ll want to have on hand. Will you be installing shelving or using plastic storage bins? Purchase needed items and have them ready. If possible, assemble shelves beforehand.
Decide how each family member can be most useful. Does one person excel at a certain task, like organizing? Would certain members work better as a team?

Armed with a plan and prepared, with everything you need on hand, you’re already well on your way to a successful Clean Out Your Garage Day. Next, let’s examine a few tips for making your family’s garage cleaning day go as smoothly as possible.

Work as a Team to Avoid Chaos

To keep the project moving, without creating chaos:

o Provide a brief overview of the day, so everyone knows what to expect.

o Relocate everything possible from the garage to the driveway.

o Group similar items together.

o Discard broken items.

o Box unused and duplicate items for donation. Avoid “just-in-case” syndrome. Be ruthless; don’t retain items that haven’t been used for a year or more.

o Clearly define each zone in your garage.

o Install shelving, hooks, etc. to use as much vertical or overhead space as safely possible.

o Return each item to the garage in its newly designated space.

o Arrange for pickup or delivery of donated goods.

o Celebrate a job well done!

The garage is clean and tidy now, but everyone must do their part to keep it that way. Since the entire family helped clean the garage, they’ll be more invested in keeping it organized. Remind everyone how important it is to put each item back in its proper place.

Cleaning the garage isn’t most people’s idea of fun. Yet, by getting the entire family onboard, creating a workable plan and making Clean Out Your Garage Day an organized event for the entire family, it can be a family day everyone will appreciate.

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National Clean Out Your Garage Day