Grrr, keeping a garage clean!

[Kurtatron]

Anyone else struggle with keeping a clean and clutter free garage? I spent Saturday and Sunday organizing my junk. I really should be getting rid of stuff, but I just get overwhelmed. How do you recycle and dispose of stuff correctly? Auto parts store won't take brake fluid or oil filters. I've got several empty oil jugs, coolant that needs to be expelled. And my stinking district only has hazardous waste days on specific dates like once every 2 months, and none in the winter! And don't get me started on empty aerosol cans!

What are your tips for organizing a garage and keeping it usueable for cars?

 

[CT8]

Can't be done

 

[Warstud]

Brake fluid can be mixed in with used oil. Walmart takes old oil filters.

 

[skyactiv]

When I had city water and sewer, I'd flush used coolant down the toilet.

 

[chainblu]

Now that it's finally starting to cool down here in FL, I'm making de-cluttering and cleaning out my garage my winter project. I'm retired now (due to hip replacement) and going to turn it into an actual working garage instead of a glorified storage building. I may have to rent a dumpster for a couple of months.

 

[DONWATERS]

Empty aerosol cans, oil filters, brake pads, anything metal go in the scrap metal pile, which is actually whatever car I am going to scrap soon.

 

[Chris142]

Mine is a disaster too. Before we got married my wife lived in a trailer part. All her junk she won't get rid of is in the garage along with the off road toys and the tractor.

 

[ls1mike]

I just got done organizing mine and my barn, nice and clean now. Did two dump runs and got rid of all my waste oil.

I give it two weeks tops, when I start decorating for Christmas.

 

[Nick1994]

If you find out, let me know!

I have lots of cabinets in the garage, just need to get rid of a bunch of junk and I can then put everything away. It's not terrible though, 2 cars are easily in the garage so it isn't packed.

One of these days.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I've accumulated a lot of stuff. Slowly trying to chip away at it. Fortunately I've found places that take the fluids. One thing I hate is throwing out perfectly good 1/2 cans of spray paint.

 

[MasterSolenoid]

My 2 Car Garage is what I consider Prime Real Estate.

Having a Clean & Organized Garage is a life style that you choose.
You have to want to do it.

Garage - items I use regularly
Basement - Storing fluids
Shed - Items not used often

I'm a big fan of Retractable Extension Cords / have 2 in Garage / 3 in Basement.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I bought a house with a 600 square foot garage. I had grand dreams of having 2 vehicles parked in it. It's at the point now I can barely fit one vehicle in it.

I have one of those 10x20 harbor freight tarp garages set up out back. Even that has become full. It's actually fairly organized. I don't have a basement in my house and no attic access (yet) so everything has to end up going into the garage for storage. The garage attic is also full but organized.

As for disposing of coolant, a lot of municipalities will recommend just dumping it down the sanitary sewer NOT STORM sewer. But call and make sure.

The quality of my harbor freight 1100 pound trailer isn't great, and my carpentry skills didn't make a great set of sides for it , but it's extremely useful for a rolling dumpster. I back it in the garage and throw whatever in it I don't want to keep.

 

[ArrestMeRedZ]

3 car garage, I just want one car in there with one open space for maintenance on the others. Trouble is, open space in the garage is apparently a crime against humanity. It keeps getting filled with excess stuff from the house the moment I'm out of town and the spouse is still at home.

 

[Duffyjr]

Single car garage so I have to keep in organized. My problem is my basement, 30 years of not throwing anything away because I'm afraid I might need it.

 

[02SE]

It's easy to keep clean. Just don't let junk accumulate. If you have junk, get rid of it.

 

[NYEngineer]

I believe I am going to solve this dilemma. Currently, I have a single car garage attached to the house. Next spring I am building a 24x30 garage behind the house. My plan is to keep the single garage as the tool shed/utility / storage and only use the big garage for working on projects. It will be locked when I'm not around. My wife has an affinity for filling empty space.

 

[Traction]

I rent 3 garages for a total of $125, besides my 18x22 attached, and my 26x32. Getting rid of stuff is cheaper.

 

[blupupher]

Don't ask me.

While mine is not too bad (I have my wifes car and my motorcycle parked in it), I also have a lot of junk.

Here is a pic from a few months ago:

It was worse before I got my motorcycle. I spent a day cleaning out the side where the bike is now.
Some of the "junk" is my kids stuff that they don't use (they have bikes they have not ridden in well over a year) and several other toys.

When I first got the house, I would literally take everything out of the garage (floor, shelves, work bench, cabinets) and wash it out once a year.
Seems once we had kids, I quit doing that. My workbench is a joke, full of stuff that is not trash, it is useful, but not been used in a few years.

At one point I had both of my vehicles parked in it, but with the shelf on one side and workbench on the other, there was not much room on the sides of the vehicles and was hard to get in and out of, so we decided to park just one vehicle in it, and I have told myself I would always make sure I had room for 1 vehicle. I also said I would never have a storage rental, and have stuck to that.
I have been looking into getting a storage shed in my backyard for the lawncare stuff and thing like paint cans and rarely used stuff (like the kids bikes, which have about another year before I get rid of them).

 

[irv]

My double is filled with my 74 Monte Carlo on one side and my 08 Yamaha Vector snowmobile. Work benches on the right, a fridge, garbage can, tool box, genny and a bunch of other things keep me from using either bay for the 3 vehicles we currently have on the road.

 

[dlundblad]

I was looking forward to having a clean garage and pole barn.. a clean slate if you will, but the people we bought the house from left a lot of junk behind.

So sadly, we moved stuff in when everything was still a mess. The barn is about where I want it minus the sawdust in the workshop area and the trash can heaping with trash and scrap wood.