Easily Reduce Stress The Old Fashion Way – Part VII: How To Clean-Out Your Garage!

How To Clean Out Your Garage:

Like a lot of big jobs around the house, it’s easiest sometimes to focus on doing them in steps, if you’re able. This makes things easier to manage and less stressful. In this post we discuss how to clean out your garage, as well as how to clean off your garage floors.

As you take a moment, what is the most cluttered area of your home?

Obviously, the answer to this question will vary from person to person. However, a certain percentage of you would probably say that the garage is oftentimes a difficult place to keep neat and organized.

Besides the garage being a place where may store lawn equipment, it’s also a common area for tools, your car, garage bins, garden hoses and tools, maybe even old paint cans.

Consequently, it’s easy to see why this area of the home can get a little messy from time to time.

Wouldn’t It Be Nice…

• If you were able to finally pull your vehicle into your garage without a hassle?
• If you could actually find your holiday decorations?
• and if you could locate long lost tools for a quick project, without the scavenger hunt?

Can You Believe This?

Clutter can actually be very taxing on our brains. Clutter, anxiety and their relationship, actually comes down to a science.

According to Mother.ly, clutter creates stress and can effect our cortisol levels (stress hormone), creativity and focus, and our experience of pain.

Crazy, right!?

In other words, clutter or disorganization is not just a danger to us physically (like fire hazards, dust and mold), but it has an effect on our mental and emotional side of us all.

As you have come along with us on our organizational journey, we hope you’ve taken some tips to help with lowering your stress through organization.

Simultaneously, also leading to better sleep, more daily production and improved relationships!

The tips that follow will help with getting your garage cleaned and ready to be re-organized!

Follow Some Simple Steps:

Step 1: “Where Do I Begin?”

Firstly, think about your goals. Think about your time. Think about your budget. The process in it’s totality.

Take a step back and think:

1. How big is this job actually going to be?
2. Do I need a dumpster for all the junk?
3. Am I going to be putting everything back, just the way it was?
4. Is this just a cleaning, or am I going to be organizing as well?
5. Do I have money to hire someone to help clean?
6. Do I have an entire weekend to dedicate to the project?

Due to the items often housed within the garage, this can be grueling, long, and sometimes flat out frustrating project.

With that said, as you read along this post, maybe ideas will come to you, making the process just a little more enjoyable.

Think BIG picture. Ultimately, what’s your end goal?!

Step 2: “Phone a Friend”

Secondly, is there a certain friend or friends that owe you a favor? Besides, it’s always better to have friends around when doing projects like this.

Alternatively, is there someone you know that’s handy, whom can build you some storage, or an organizational system for a reasonable price?

Step 3: “Roll Up Your Sleeves”

That’s right! It’s time to get to work.

Grab a cup of coffee and let’s go!

Above all other things, at this time we need to clear the garage out. Depending on your space, may depend where everything is going, that you remove.

With that said, if you have a ton of junk or things you wish to move on from, renting a dumpster for this process may be ideal. Of course, you can also hire “junk removal” services as well to make it easier on yourself.

Simultaneously, you’ll have to be thinking about where “the keep pile” is going. Lose items can be placed in brown boxes, temporarily, keeping these items from getting lost.

As you pull items from the garage, place items together according to some category system. For instance, tools with the tools, hardware with the hardware. As a result, when placing these items back into the garage, it will cut down on time and effort.

Step 4: “Separate: The Three D’s”

Decide. Dump. Donate:

Next on the to do-list can be done simultaneously while emptying your space, and it’s all about decisions. Organizational projects are filled with decisions, from the beginning to end.

To illustrate this, consider some of the very decisions we’ve already discussed in this post:

• junk vs. keep?
• seasonal item vs. weekly item?
• how to store items/equipment?
• can I donate?

Sometimes it’s just hard to let go of certain things, and that’s normal. It’s frankly, a huge part of this process. Do your best to be honest and realistic with yourself!

It may help if make the decision quickly on whether to keep an item, dump it, or to donate it.

Similarly, if you haven’t used an item in years, it’s most likely fair to say, it can go. However, the garage is one place where equipment/items may only get used every few years, so keep this in mind.

Additionally, ask yourself:

• Have I used this in the past year?
• Does this need repairing?
• Can I re-paint it or re-purpose it?
• Is the repair costly or something I can do myself?
• Will this sell at a yard sale, online?
• Should I donate it and if so, where?
• Is it cheaper to just upgrade to a new one?
• Can I live without this item at this point in my life?
• Is this something I can pass down to my kids or possibly someone else I know who may need it?
• Would this item be better somewhere else in the house?

Step 5: “Now For The Clean”

You’ve pulled everything out, and it is all separated into piles. Furthermore, decisions have been made of how and where you want to store your items that are going back into the garage.

Here are some cleaning ideas prior to returning items:

• Start high: Work on cleaning the walls, (repainting if need be). Clean on-top of cabinets or shelves, appliances (if applicable), clean cobwebs out of the corners. A can of paint goes a long way!
• Walls can be easily cleaned with a microfiber duster.
• Focus on garage windows or garage doors as well, an easy wipe-off with glass cleaner.
• Use a shop vacuum with extension pieces to reach hard to get corners or other areas that have collected dust or debris.
• Use a leaf blower: Either sweep the floors or use a leaf blower to blow all of the debris off the garage floors, outdoors.
• Decide on what to use for organizational purposes. This may be the step in which you really look at the space and decide what you want to use to organize your things. For example, cabinetry, hooks, garage kits, etc.

Step 6: “Them Floors”

How to Clean Grease from Garage Floors:

Try using simply soap and water, first.

If the grease is really bad, try some de-greaser. Above all, when cleaning the floors, do it safely. De-greaser can leave your floors feeling oily, so make sure to wipe well and let completely dry.

On top of that, whenever working with chemicals, make sure to wear proper safety goggles and a mask (N95), etc..

How to Clean a Garage Floor!

How To Clean Oil From Garage Floors:

You can try to cover new oil or grease spills with saw dust or cat litter. Dust the top of the spill, and let it sit for 12-24 hours, depending on how large the area is.

Once the magic has happened and the oil or grease has been soaked up, try to sweep the area with a broom, one perferably with a strong brush head.

Oftentimes, using dish soap and warm water will clean the remaining residue, using a deck brush to scrub the spot once saturated.

Another idea is to rent or buy a pressure washer with an adapter floor scrubber. Don’t just use a pressure washer or you will be blowing debris all over your dry wall.

Afterwards, use a fan to speed up the process of drying. Decide from there if you want to prep, seal or paint you flooring.

Tip: There are a lot of concrete floor cleaners, many of which you can find at a local hardware store that work well, probably better then just plain soap and water on heavy stains.

Final Thoughts!

Thanks so much for visiting us here at RN to Zen. We hope this has helped you in some way to better clear out your garage and set yourself up for the organization process. Furthermore, please share any and all of liked post on social media, to help us spread the work on organization for stress-relief.

Resources:

• https://www.mother.ly/life/its-science-clutter-can-actually-give-you-anxiety/
• https://intermountainhealthcare.org/blogs/topics/live-well/2018/04/can-organizing-impact-your-mental-health/