What comes to mind when we begin to feel the glowing rays of a hopeful sun and the rain subsides?

I hope your answer was SPRING CLEANING! It’s May and hard to believe that it’s time to start cracking your windows, some days it’s in the 80’s and the very next day is 60 and raining. Now it’s time to emerge and begin the spring-cleaning process.

We are going to start in your garage. Remember, the primary function of your garage is to store your VEHICLES. If you have a hard time fitting your car into the garage, raise your hand! Well I can’t even get 1 car in mine, but hey I have a 60’s ranch and the garages are small! There are so many of us who let the garage become the go to location for household storage. This month, let’s make room for both cars and storage! Follow along:

1. First off, let’s  begin where we always do—de-junking! Proceed in gathering any unneeded items that have been taking up precious space and make your appropriate piles. I call mine donate, trash & treasure. Donate to a favorite charity, throw away or recycle the trash pile and sell the treasure on Craig’s List or a resale store.
2. Next, stock up on my favorite bins from Walmart! They come in a huge variety of sizes, which is perfect for matching items you intend to organize and store.
3. Sort the items you’ve chosen to keep. Go through all of the items, categorizing carefully. Get a label maker and clearly mark each box… it doesn’t make much sense to do all this work when you don’t have any clue what’s in the boxes, right?
4. Get yourself a holder for your shovels, outside brooms, rakes and any other tools you use in your garage and home exterior. Most big box stores have what you need or order online. Organize mops and brooms inside, and shovels, rakes, and tools inside or outside!
5. If you have bikes and scooters that you store in your garage, don’t be afraid to hang them from the ceiling or walls. For lighter items (scooters would fit this category), screws should be strong enough to get them off the ground for winter. Heavier bikes call for a sturdier bike hook. You’ll be shocked by how much space this frees up! It is actually better for your bike tires and will help to ensure your sanity when you’re free to roam without constantly tripping over pesky tires—and bicycles seem to accumulate in groups. For the whole lot of family bikes, Amazon has a great option at a reasonable price. If you’re not worried about the floor space and want to keep the bikes easily accessible to kids, try a bike rack.
6. Now that everything is off of the ground, make sure to do a thorough sweep and spray out your entire garage. Once you’ve lifted all of the dirt and gunk (yes, take the time to remove built-up stains and residue with the appropriate cleaning supplies), I promise it will feel like a weight has been lifted off of you!
7. Time to put it all back. But first go to a big box hone supply store and pick up some storage racks you install on the ceiling of your garage for those seasonal items you only use for 2 months out of the year. You will be amazed how much floor space it will free up! It might just mean you can get that 2nd car in!

Simple right? Now get started! It’s the perfect cloudy/rainy weekend!