Garage Maintenance Hacks: Never Let the Space Fill Up with Junk Again

For many people, the garage isn’t just a parking space. It’s also the destination of what they want to get rid of but don’t have the heart to throw away. Those are typically kid’s toys, clothes they’ve outgrown, and holiday decorations.

While a garage is indeed meant for parking and storage, it shouldn’t look like a junkyard. Filling the space with unnecessary clutter makes it cramped, potentially putting your car at risk. You don’t want the car doors hitting a random object when you open it, do you? Hence, the only way to avoid that is to stop making a mess in your garage.

But where will we put our discarded items? Well, they can still live in your garage, but do these maintenance hacks first:

1. Focus on the Messiest Area of the Garage

Usually, the messiest area in the garage is the storage for your unwanted stuff. If you’ve lived in your home for many years now, chances are, your storage area is overflowing. Don’t wait for another spring to clean that up.

Focusing on the messiest area will allow you to clean your garage with a sense of order. Take out all the items from that garage and have a plan. Decide which item should be kept, sold, donated, and thrown away. If no one has used a particular item for more than a year, they can go.

Things with sentimental value, like old gifts and children’s toys, can find a new home. You can give them to your young niecesor nephews if you really can’t let them go. But ask yourself this first: If you can’t let them go, why are they collecting dust in your garage? If you have had no problem with storing them away, perhaps you wouldn’t mind letting them go either.

The items that should be left behind are those you use periodically, like holiday ornaments. You can also keep a handful of items with sentimental value, as long as it’s essential for you. Those might be an heirloom or a forgotten gift from a loved one.

2. Set Up a Proper Organizational System

The storage for household items shouldn’t be the same storage for your tools. Store them separately. If you can install ceiling-mounted cabinets, that would be ideal. Keep the tools on the wall, where you can easily reach them. Also, consider limiting the capacity of your cabinetry to discourage yourself from hoarding stuff.

3. Find Alternative Storage

The ultimate hack to stopping your garage from being a junkyard is finding alternative storage. A garage may have multiple purposes, but acting as a catch-all space isn’t one of them. Sure, it has storage, but it is supposed to house tools and equipment only. Holiday ornaments can be an exception, but the rest should go to an attic or basement. We can help you to add storage to your garage.

4. Deep Clean Your Garage Once a Month

Deep cleaning your garage every monthgives you a chance to observe the space inch by inch. While doing it, you may realize how many unnecessary items are there. You may also find lost objects, like screws or nails. Those might be important for your repairs.

Get your car out, then sweep the floors. You’ll already find small objects during that task alone. Gather them and see which ones can be useful.

Once a year,use a pressure washer to clean the garage floors. You may opt to rent the equipment to save money. You can also pressure-wash every surface, including the storage. If you’d do that, you have to empty your garage as well as its cabinets. That’s another chance for you to see how much stuff has already accumulated in the space.

5. Repair or Replace Anything that’s Broken

Even if we use our garage every day, we don’t often inspect its parts to check if there’s anything broken. We park our cars and go. From now on, give the space more TLC by regularly checking if everything in it is intact and working.

Check if the storage is still stable and sturdy. If there are heavy objects inside, the cabinets could already be sagging or hanging loose from their nails. Fix that before the whole thing collapses and crashes on your car.

Test out the doors as well. If it’s an automatic door showingissues when opening or closing, the damage can be more complicated than you think. In many cases, broken automatic doors warrant a replacement. Ahigh-quality garage door replacement canbe a splurge but is undoubtedly worth it. It will elevate the look of your garage, which can discourage you from treating the space like a junkyard.

With these hacks, your garage can finally “breathe,” and you’d be rid of things you have stopped needing a long time ago. Do this regularly to avoid restarting the cycle of cluttering and decluttering.