Spring or fall is the perfect time to clean out your garage - especially if you have been putting it off for a few (or a lot) of weekends! The thing to remember is baby steps or small bites will make a huge difference in how you feel about getting the job done.


When we moved we ended up with the last minute loads (less organized and a lot junked up)cluttering up most of the garage. It was nice to not bring it inside because it gave us time to organize as we went. However, the dent in the pile wasn't going down fast enough for me. It was getting frustrating to look in the garage and just see a pile of junk - at least the longer it was in there the more apt it was to be junk.


We decided that rather than bring it indoors and make piles inside that we would take our cleaning party to the garage. This helped us in two ways - we didn't want to take 'junk' inside and we ended up getting rid of a lot more than if we had taken it inside. Love that!


First we dug through and threw things out. As we did that our pile was greatly diminished. Then we were able to more easily access the things that we wanted to keep. As we made our decisions, we were able to quickly see progress being made. Fortunately it wasn't as big of a project as we had feared and we were finished (all the way to stored, swept and completely done) within 2 hours. Sometimes just getting out and doing it is the major undertaking!


Our house is just 5 years old so there weren't any stains in the concrete to worry about. The previous owners had taken really wonderful care and even the garage looks brand new. It was freshly painted and perfect for us to move in. However, if you have grease spots and stains on your floor I recommend cleaning those, too! Certainly those are good things to spread out in several days work.


A wonderful tool for soaking up grease and oil spills is kitty litter. Not the expensive stuff - just the cheap, original type of litter. This litter doesn't have all of the additives and clumping capabilities and does a much better job at soaking up the spills. Once you have it soaked up then you sweep it away. You will probably be left with a stain on the concrete surface. I recommend going to your local hardware type store and purchasing a product that they have on hand for this exact purchase. Right now I don't have a particular product to recommend - but, I was noticing some oil drippings in the drive and we will be taking care of that soon. I am sure I will have an article with more information regarding this subject in the near future.


Good luck on your Garage Cleaning!


Make it a great one!!