Quick Plan for Cleaning Out Your Garage

When it’s time to clean out your garage, it’s time to put together a plan. Decluttering your garage is likely a big project and getting it cleaned up properly will provide plenty of benefits. If you have a large amount of trash to toss out from your garage, you will likely want to rent a roll-off dumpster. With a dumpster rental, you’ll have a central place to toss all the trash as you go through the process of cleaning out your garage.

Five Quick Steps to Clean Out Your Garage

1. Create Categories

Cleaning out your garage means going through pretty much everything you own that’s in the garage. As you go through each item, have categories you can separate things into, such as trash, keep, sell, and donate. You might even want to add in categories for things you will store and things you want to move from the garage to another area within your home. As you go through things in your garage, ask questions, such as:

Do I need this item? This is a hard question to answer and you need to be honest about it.
Does the item still work? If something you own doesn’t work, it’s likely time to toss it in your dumpster rental or sell it, if it has some value to someone else.
Did I even know I owned this item? Maybe you discovered something you didn’t even know. If this is the case, you might want to trash, sell, or donate the item since you’re not really using it.
Does the item actually need to take up space in my garage? If you have an item taking up space in your garage, it’s important to make sure the space is warranted.

Are you saving the item as a “just in case” thing? Maybe you struggle to get rid of something because you think you might need it one day. If this is the case, consider if the item is expensive or could be replaced for a small cost. If it can be replaced, you might not need to keep it. These questions will help you to get rid of things you don’t need and you’ll be able to make better decisions when it comes to the items you need to keep and those you want to get rid of from your garage.

2. Donate Your Things ASAP

After you go through everything in your garage, the pile you put aside to donate should be donated as fast as possible. If it sits in your garage for days, weeks, or even months, it could end up cluttering up your garage again instead of getting donated. Plus, the sooner you donate those items, the sooner someone else can use them.

3. Start Selling the Sell Pile Items

Now it’s time to sell things you don’t want that hold value. You can use many different options to sell your things, such as listing shippable items on eBay or using the Facebook Marketplace to sell larger items online. Of course, you can also hold a garage sale and sell as much as possible quickly. Then, you can donate whatever is left to ensure you get rid of as much as possible from your garage clean-out project.

4. Find a New Home for Other Items

Once you’ve cleared out as much as you possibly can from your garage, it’s time to reorganize and rehome items you want to keep. Maybe you have things you’d like to display in your home. Find those items a place in another room. Once you’ve rehomed all the items, it’s time to organize what’s left. Take the time to figure out how to best store the items you plan to keep in your garage. Consider whether or not you will be parking any cars or other vehicles in the garage as you organize.

5. Toss Out the Trash in your Dumpster

While this is listed as step five, it will actually be an ongoing process as you work on cleaning out your garage. There are several things you can toss out in your dumpster rental. However, if you come across prohibited items, such as paint thinner, old batteries, or hazardous materials, you will want to set them aside. These items should be disposed of properly. Check your city or county website to find out the best facility for disposing of hazardous materials. When you want to clean out your garage, you can use these five steps to make sure you have a good plan of attack. Make sure to rent a dumpster so you can put all your trash in it including old furniture, old holiday decorations, and more.