How to Spring Clean the Garage

Spring is the perfect time to give your house a complete cleaning. After a long winter of being closed up and packed full of holiday cheer--including presents and people, most houses are in dire need of some soap, water and sunshine. Give your house the fresh start to the year that it needs with a traditional spring cleaning. You should start by setting aside an afternoon to clean your garage.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Thick, black felt-tipped pen
• Paint to match the color of your garage walls

1. Sort through all of your old boxes that you keep stored in the garage. Throw away anything you no longer use or want.

2. Separate the remaining contents of your storage boxes into two piles. One pile should contain things you want to put back into storage. The other pile should contain things you want to start using again.

3. Take the items you will be using again inside. Put items going back into storage back inside their boxes. Be sure to repack boxes neatly and tightly, so items inside won't break if the boxes are shuffled.

4. Label each resealed box to indicate what's inside of it. Use a thick, black felt-tipped pen for this.

5. Discard any leftover empty boxes.

6. Remove the repacked boxes, your tools, gardening equipment, car and any other loose items from the garage. Put everything out on the lawn or in your driveway.

7. Dust the entire interior of the garage using a damp cloth. Make sure you get the walls, lighting fixtures and garage door.

8. Sweep the entire garage floor.

9. Wash any obvious stains off of the garage walls.

10. Paint any parts of the garage walls that need touching up.

11. Mop the garage floor.

12. Replace the contents of the garage. Arrange things in a neat, orderly fashion that will make them easy to see and access.

Tips & Warnings

• Rather than throwing away any items you don't want anymore, you can give them new life by donating them to a charity or by giving them to friends or relatives. You can also use them to make some extra money by having a garage sale.
• When you spring clean your garage, be prepared to find critters. Garages are excellent (and common) hiding places for creatures of all kinds, including insects, mice, rats and even snakes. Because of this, you'll want to be extra careful when moving boxes around. You might also want to keep some bug spray handy.