Fall is my favorite time of the year – I love every season, but it is all about fall in my house. Living is good, newness is in the air – fresh starts, cooler air, the nesting feeling that makes you love your house more and want everything in ship shape comes on strong. I like to get my house in order in October and I know I am not alone since spring and fall cleaning are rituals done by many of us.
 

As a blogger for the True Value Blog Squad, I got to give my garage a fall cleanup.
 

My poor garage. It is such a workhorse, but gets so neglected. It was dirty - cobwebs in the windows, oil sludge on the floor, and I even found a dead bat – yikes! Piles of stuff that needed to be tossed in the trash or organized in a better way. It was getting hard to park the cars in here.
 

Piles are not a good thing. Too much stuff!
 

I usually go to my local True Value, which is a small hardware store in town, but since I am a part of the True Value DIY Blog Squad I wanted to experience shopping at one of their larger stores. I looked up store locationson the site and found one that is only 9 miles away from my house. It is new! I am so glad I went. Aisles and aisles of DIY goodness.
 

I loaded up my cart and came home with some cleaning and organizing items to whip my garage into shape, including trash bags to put all the junk I was going to toss in the trash.
 

My first pile for the garbage. See the sheet of instructions marked “important” on the top of the pile? Not important anymore – OUT it goes!
 

IN goes the items I want to keep and label so I can find and put them back in their place easily after using. I found these large Sterilite clear tubs on sale for $6.99 a piece. I like to use tubs and baskets that you can see through. The more visual – the better I will be at keeping it neat and organized.
 

Once I got all the items in their new containers, I made labels for everything using Microsoft Word on my computer and white cardstock. I used the font: SNF Darcy Hallin 100pt. It was not a free font, but one that came with a bundle of chalkboard fonts for $10.
 

I put clear packaging tape over each label so they would stay clean. I cut them out and punched 2 holes in the labels that were going to be tied on to baskets that I already had.
 

I used paper ribbon to tie them onto the baskets and more clear packaging tape for the tubs and containers I had.
 

Everything nice and neat and in its place. Bliss.
 

Next up was trying to get as much as possible off the floor and hanging on the wall or ceiling. We had these bike hooks already and I wanted to find more like them.
 

True Value sold the hooks separately, but I bought the whole collection, since I needed to hang a lot of stuff. Each hook goes easily into wood or a joist. I used them to hang golf bags, a bike rack, rakes, snow shovels, and beach chairs.
 

I also bought 2 ladder hooksto hold up a large ladder safely.I had a little assistance putting it up.
 

Done… and off the floor.
 

I put the open bags of gravel, salt, and lime in 5 and 2 gallon tubs. Each got a label.
 

The garage was looking good, except, I still had one more thing to do and it was a biggy.
 

Oil spots on the floor. Looks like something you would see in science class under a microscope.
 

I read that kitty litter will help absorb oil and grease from a floor. I was going to buy it, but then saw this package of Oil Dry for the same price and I bought it instead. I poured some out over the spot and let it sit for 24 hours. I then swept it away and the thick grease was gone, but the stain was still there.
 

The next step was to clean the entire garage floor. I used Zep Industrial Purple Cleaner and Degreaser and a scrub brush. It is a concentrate that you add water to. To my amazement the greasy black stain was gone in minutes.
 

I scrubbed the entire floor using it and then hosed it off and let it dry. The floor has not looked this good in a very long time!
 

Quick tip: For easy garden tool organizing when you have unfinished walls. Screw or nail in 2 x 4’s horizontally on the studs. Your long handled tools can be placed behind them, giving each tool its own section between the studs. I used the hooks I bought to hang the other tools higher up on the wall.
 

I used a wide angle lens to show you how clean and organized my garage is now. We put the cars back in last night. See something familiar? That is my dining room table top I wrote about here along the right wall. Above it is part of my spray painting booth.
 

This was an overdue project and it feels so good to have it completed. I can enjoy the nesting feeling inside, now that I know the garage is in order.
 

Happy October 1st.
 

For more DIY inspiration, follow True Value on Facebook, Twitterand Pinterest, and visit StartRightStartHere.com.
 

If you’re looking for more fall cleanup tips, be sure to check out True Value’s project guides, Fall Clean Upand Organize your Garage.
 

I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.