Decluttering the garage always feels like a monster job that will take up precious time we just do not have.
So we shut our eyes to the crazy mess that is our garage as we cram more clutter in and ignore the hoard of stuff lost, wasted and broken.
But we can actually declutter our garage and get it organised easily without making more mess.
And in this post I’ll show you how, with two super powered declutter tools that cut through clutter fast.
PLUS a simple 4 step process that uses these tools to declutter your garage and get it organized.
Two Powerful Tools For Decluttering Your Garage
The very thought of decluttering the monster that is our garage turns most of us into a quivering wreck.
But these 2 declutter tools create a positive feedback loop to our brain.
And this amazing feedback loop gives us the confidence to go back and fight the clutter monster little by little, week by week until it’s slain.
So what are these tools, you shout!!
Very simply they are a timer and a pair of imaginary blinkers.
Declutter Timer
The timer ensures we declutter our garage in short, sharp, successful time blocks so we do NOT get sucked in and overwhelmed.
We are in and out before the monster can get his teeth into us!
Declutter Blinkers
The blinkers focus us on a few things because the clutter monster is a trickster : Ooh look at this lovely box full of your forgotten past, he says, and this one here … and here …
Before we know it, we’ve spent the whole day in the garage, got rid of nothing and made an unholy mess!
But with our imaginary blinkers on, we enter the garage on a mission. We know what we are looking for and we do NOT listen to the monster so he cannot overwhelm us.
OK, armed with our timer and blinkers we’re ready to hit the garage and conquer some clutter.
Garage Declutter Steps
We are going to declutter our garage in 4 super simple different stages :
- The Power Purge
- One Big Thing
- Just 10 Little Things
- The Box Trick
1. Power Purge The Garage
The first thing we’re going to do is a power purge. It’s going to take us 15 minutes NOT a single second more.
We’re going to hit the garage with two big trash bags. One for trash to throw away and one for recycling.
We going to set our timer and then rapidly grab broken and expired stuff lying around we can instantly :
- Throw away
- Or chuck in recycling
Do NOT yank anything out. Just focus on any pure trash on the floor or scattered about you can grab fast.
As soon as 15 minutes is up get out of there and get the trash in the bin.
You are done for today.
If you’ve got loads of loose trash lying around in the garage repeat the power purge. I did it three times!
Just remember:
- 15 minutes only.
- Do NOT yank stuff out.
- Focus on no brainer trash.
The power purge declutters more for some of us than others but we all start with it to practice saying “Yah boo!!” to the clutter monster.
We show ourselves we can get in AND out without getting overwhelmed.
Now onto step two …
2. Declutter One Big Thing
Our next step is to declutter just one single big thing in our garage.
It needs to be something :
- Unloved
- Unused
- Low value
- Reachable i.e. not hiding away right at the back of the garage.
It could be anything like these as long as it is really quite chunky :
- Tatty sunlounger
- Battered bike
- Old space hopper
- Outgrown car seat
- Rusty lawn mower
- Forgotten swing ball
- Unused water butt
- Shabby luggage.
BUT keep your blinkers on and only grab one big thing, ignoring the rest.
Once out of the garage we are going to offer it for FREE to anyone who will come and take it off our hands.
You could share it on any of these :
- Craigslist
- Freecycle
- NextDoor
Clearing this one big thing will make instant space but also get us good fast at getting other people to do our hard work by collecting our clutter!!
Free Clutter Collection
We do NOT want to schlepp stuff to the tip every week as we declutter.
Getting others to collect our clutter saves big time clearing the garage.
I got all these collected from me with a few minutes effort on Facebook …
That was lots of space freed up fast and I made money from some of it.
Freecycle or Sell?
We are going to repeat this step weekly, to keep freeing up space by decluttering one more big thing.
Freecycle low value stuff to get into the rhythm of decluttering one big thing from the garage every week.
But once in the rhythm you can sell clutter as long as you price to shift it fast to keep making more space.
Now step three, just 10 things …
3. Just 10 Little Things
In step 3, we’ll use the just 10 things trick to declutter the huge mountain of tiny random things in our garage.
It keeps our blinkers on because that old monster can’t wait to overwhelm us with all our itty–bitty stuff!!!
All we do is :
- Hit the garage every day
- Setting our timer for 5 minutes (and certainly NO more than 15)
- And find 10 little things to let go
- By focusing each day on one small category of garage clutter or one very small area, e.g. part of a shelf.
Use the prompts below or this list of 100 things to help you stay focused:
Gardening
- Garden tools
- Planting
- Hoses & watering
DIY
- Painting
- DIY tools
- Nails, screws etc
- Left over DIY supplies e.g. tiles
- Cleaning supplies
Leisure
- BBQ equipment
- Garden toys
- Raquets, bats & balls
- Pool equipment
Travel
- Car accessories
- Beach
- Picnics
- Luggage
- Camping
Animals & Wildlife
- Old pet food & supplies
- Pet cages & carriers
- Bird & wildlife feeders
It is critical to use the just 10 things trick to be in and out fast with our blinkers on or we’ll be overwhelmed.
The Just 10 Things Trick
As always with just 10 things …
- Do NOT yank stuff out.
- Do NOT agonise over stuff – just quickly let go of no brainers.
- Keep your eyes peeled for duplicates, outgrown, expired and broken stuff you will not miss.
- Get out when your timer pings!!
Do NOT let the monster suck you into a super long session making an almighty mess for little reward!!
Each day we are in and out fast successfully, we are more likely to go back tomorrow to declutter more.
It you can stick to the categories above, do. It makes it quicker to offload bundles of clutter you can’t chuck straight into trash or recycling.
Free-cycling And Selling Bundles Of Clutter
Most of the time people won’t come to you to pick up a bag of random clutter and charity shops don’t typically take old plant pots, half used paint or watering cans!
But people will pop over for a handy bundle of tools or DIY supplies and will often pay for them as they can see the value of the bundle.
So every day take quick pics of your bundle and offer on Facebook etc.
Use these tips for selling low value clutter to make it worth your while.
Now onto step 4 …
4. The Box Trick
OK we’ve made big progress with our garage declutter but still have one final battle to defeat the clutter monster in our garage …
It’s the boxes of random forgotten stuff. Scary huh? But never fear.
We will conquer them and we will finish the garage monster off for good and we’ll do it, over a nice cup of tea or even a glass of wine 
Random Boxes Of Clutter
Most garages these days are storage rooms for boxes of random clutter, we have no clue what to do with.
How many boxes have you got holding hostage precious space? 10? 20? 30? More? You are NOT alone.
They are overwhelming. Horribly.
So we need to put our blinkers on again but this time by taking just one box at a time out of the garage.
And follow the box trick …
Decluttering Boxes Easily
The box trick is very simple :
- Grab 2 empty boxes & a trash bag.
- PLUS one box of clutter.
- Pour a cup of tea or glass of wine.
- Put on music or an audio book.
- Set your timer for 15 minutes.
- Start going through the box putting each item quickly in either :
- Keep box
- Let go box
- Trash bag.
- Make instant decisions, simply letting go what you are ready to.
- Do NOT put stuff on the floor.
- When timer goes STOP.
Store 3 boxes neatly and get any trash into the bin right away.
Then continue for 15 minutes every day, working through a box at a time. Roughly label each keep box you fill and get rid of the let go box pronto.
You may feel you are keeping way too much stuff initially but :
- Every day we do 15 minutes
- Without making a mess
- We are more likely to do it again
- And soon power through boxes.
As this final stage of our garage declutter becomes an easy daily habit, we become less anxious about letting go and the amount we keep is slashed almost effortlessly.
It gives us confidence to clear clutter we’ve clung onto for decades and slay that clutter monster in our garage for good.
I do hope these tips help you deep declutter and organise your garage without getting overwhelmed.
Do shout with questions & thoughts.
For more simple declutter tips check out these posts :
- Very Easy Decluttering
- Complete Declutter Guide
- Instant Declutter Checklist
- Kitchen Declutter Challenge
And follow me on Pinterest :
Original Image Sources
Adapted images from original photos by Enrico Strocchi, Rubbermaid, Les Chatfield, Funkblast and Tim Regan under Creative Commons 2.0