Quick Garage Cleaning

Many people use their garage as a storage area for everything from lawn implements to sports equipment, and extra refrigerators and freezers to tools and leftover paint. If you're one of many people who use their garage as a storage unit instead of a place to house your car, then you most likely dread the thought of cleaning it once or twice a year. The next time you thoroughly clean your garage, schedule time once a month to perform a quick garage cleaning, and you'll most likely never have to spend an entire weekend again cleaning out your garage.

For instance, perhaps you've finished cleaning out your garage on a Sunday evening, having started the process the previous Friday night, and you've put everything away and cleaned the floor. Before you shower and change your clothes, set aside one Saturday each month on your calendar to perform a quick garage cleaning. The cleaning should only take about an hour. Here are some tips for quick garage cleaning one Saturday each month:

• Take a picture. Once you've completely cleaned your garage, take a picture and tack it to a wall of your garage. When it's time to spend an hour cleaning your garage, look at the picture, and then look at your garage. Whatever is out of place is the first area you should work on.
• Train your family. Tell your spouse and kids that they should refer to the picture in the garage if they are in doubt as to where things go, and encourage them to put things away when they are finished using them.
• Sort. Quickly sort the junk from things you need to keep. Either throw away or donate the junk, and then put everything else in its place. This should only take about twenty minutes.
• Straighten. Spend about twenty more minutes to straighten boxes, tidy the tool area, clean away grass clippings left over from your lawn mower, straighten and organize contents of shelves, and put away sports equipment and games.
• Clean. Spend the last twenty minutes of your hour sweeping or vacuuming the floor, removing soiled rags and replacing them with clean rags, shaking throw rugs outside, dusting shelving, and hosing down the garage floor if warranted.

And now that you've cleaned your garage in about an hour, you have the remainder of the weekend to relax and enjoy yourself.