Garage clean up days in Sacramento county are exhausting, to say the least. My sister Cathie, and brother-in-law, Greg, worked all day yesterday taking everything out of our garage and piling it all onto the driveway. They cleaned the interior floor, dusted and mopped, then took down cobwebs. I had multiple real estate appointments yesterday, so when I arrived home at 8:00 PM, the front blacktop was covered with stuff. The picture above is after two days of cleaning, purging, recycling and shredding.

This picture above was taken after the clean out of our garage. Previously we had only a trail to walk through, much like walking through a maze of stuff to get to the back door from up the stairs. I worked all day on the garage today starting at 8:00 AM until this evening. As I was only able to help with my right hand so I sat in a chair while keeping my ankle elevated.

I worked consistently going through boxes to help get rid of excess junk. It is hard to believe we have our garage back. Everything we kept now has a function and a purpose– we all felt a bit like Marie Kondo on her Netflix television special, “tidying up.” This is my sister, Cathie, in the picture above. She was pointing to a cabinet where I was looking for a prized possession (lol) she had already put away.

Above you can see my brother in law, Greg. He is busy fixing our portable swamp cooler for the garage as Cathie is cleaning rugs and dusty doggie blankets today. These two deserved a medal for their efforts, but instead, I bought them fancy cheeseburgers to go, from the Sheldon Inn. Yesterday, the blacktop you see above, had wall to wall stuff piled everywhere. The contents of a three-car garage shared by two families so we had double the stuff of many people, that had accumulated over several years. It was piled high in the driveway. That stuff has now found new homes elsewhere. Lol.

We also share a pick-up truck that is now full of old garage items being donated. Also, the Escalade has a load of shredding material we will dispose of over the next few days. It gave all of us a real sense of accomplishment to tackle something that had seemed overwhelming for many months. Every box opened, then cleaned out and sorted, was reduced by just tackling one box at a time. The result was worth the time and energy. Today I knew I was going to blog about our day. A garage that needs a severe cleanout is something to which many people can relate.

Tips for cleaning out your garage, always plan ahead for a full weekend. Get family and or friends to help. First, empty the garage completely, then clean and mop the garage, don’t forget to remove the remove cobwebs. Next, make five stations: one for donating, for recycling, for shredding, for trash-out and one station for items to keep. Last, immediately load remaining items into your cars and or truck to donate and shred. Fill up all of your recycle cans.

Every 365 days in Sacramento County, you are entitled to receive a free pick up of 5 cubic yards of bulky waste, a junk pile that is 4″x4″x 8.” Any extra load after that initial pile is priced at only $25.00 what a bargain. To schedule, a bulky waste pick-up, call 916-875-5555. If you plan to buy or sell real estate, please call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors, with RE/MAX Gold, at 916-233-6759.

— JaCi Wallace