It’s time for cleaning the garage out for winter, but after summer and all the hours spent mowing the lawn, working on your vehicles, and other DIY projects your garage is probably quite cluttered and dirty. Before you let the task at hand overwhelm you, we’ve created a list of tips to help you clean and organize your garage easily.

Five Tips for Organizing and Cleaning the Garage for the Winter

1. Start with Your Shelves

Look at your shelves and examine what’s on them objectively (this will be the hardest step for some). Get rid of empty containers and garbage; recycle, sell, or give items away that don’t belong in the garbage. Try to be strong for the next step and don’t hold onto items you don’t use, such as gardening gloves you bought 3 years ago, or disposable gardening pots.

 

2. Decide Which Items you can put Into Storage

Next create a pile of summer stuff that you can store for the winter. This can include items such as gardening tools, life jackets, and golf clubs. To make deciding easier you can mentally categorize items based on season. In other words, store everything you can that you know you won’t use over the winter.

If you don’t have storage space in your garage (such as overhead rafters) for items you want to move out of the way, consider getting a shed to store the items you remove when you clean the garage. You can get a shed that will hold your lawnmower, and you can lock it up, so all your seasonal items are safe.

If your storage area is in the garage be mindful of what you store there. If you store bikes, make sure they’re locked up and use wall racks to save space. Consider temperature and moisture levels as well; and ensure the garage is a good environment for items such as paint.

3. Clean and Organize the Floor

During summer a lot of stuff ended up on the floor that shouldn’t be there. Having an organized floor with clear walking paths works wonders on stress, plus it’s safer. Just doing this step will make your garage look cleaner.

If you find items that belong in storage put them with the other stuff. Replace items that were used and not put back where they belong.

4. Prepare for Winter as You Clean the Garage

Rotate the summer items you remove from the floor, especially near the doorways, and replace them with winter items. For example, exchange rakes and hoes with snow shovels; and your lawn mower with your snow blower. This way you’ll not only clean your garage, but you’ll get prepared for Winter.

5. Store Summer Items

Save this step for last so you don’t forget anything and can store summer items at the same time. Before you leave your storage area try to grab winter items such as Christmas tree lights.

If you follow these steps, you’ll have your garage cleaned up for the winter in no time. If you don’t have storage space and want to get a shed, we can help you with that. We sell Amish-crafted sheds that you can design yourself. To find out the details you can visit our website.

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