Spring-cleaning is tradition for most people. We want to get our house in order, and have everything neat and tidy for springtime. There's just something about the season that makes us want to nest. This is also the time of year that I do my annual garage cleaning spree. We don't park in the garage; we just use it for storage purposes. I know it isn't going to stay clean long, but that's okay, for a minute it was organized.

My garage has dirt floors. It's no fun sweeping dirt, either. I decided I would make a temporary floor so I went to Wal-Mart and bought a few tarps and some tent stakes. I stretched the tarps out and used the tent stakes in the corners (and out of the way so no one could step on them) to fasten them down. The tarp floor works perfectly.

Since the main reason we use the garage is to pile stuff in, we decided that shelves would be a great idea. You can buy pieces of wood and brackets to fasten them with at most any home improvement store. They are pretty inexpensive and take just a few minutes to assemble. You can stack them, or build them side by side. They are terrific additions to any garage.

The garage also doubles as a work shop for my husband so we hung large roofing nails along the walls for shovels, rakes, tow chains, or anything that we did not want laying in the floor. This makes things look less cluttered and assures that everything has its own place.

Nails, screws, and bolts can be very hard to keep up with. To store them, we used old mason jars. I make sure to save jars, clean them out well, and then use them to organize tiny things we otherwise might lose. Tupperware containers can also be lifesavers when it comes to keeping things picked up and out of the way. Anything that does not have a designated place, goes in a Tupperware container. Then, we just slide them under the shelves.

Now that everything is organized, how about a touch of something personal? I hung up some blue curtains over the windows. It is amazing how much color a simple pair of curtains can bring into a room! I also hung up a few pictures that I picked up at a yard sale and a half-naked woman calendar for my husband. Find a way to put your own creative touch on your garage. You can use these ideas or make your own. It's yours, do it any way you want.

Learn more about this author, Laura Leigh Fields.
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