Pick the right time
Yuba City summers make garage work brutal by midday. Plan your cleanout for spring or fall, or start early in the morning and stop before the afternoon heat. Give yourself a full weekend for a two-car garage that hasn't been cleaned in years.
Sort into four piles
Set up four zones on the driveway: keep, donate, sell, and haul. Work one wall or shelf at a time instead of jumping around. If you haven't used something in two years and it isn't sentimental, it probably belongs in the donate or haul pile.
Be honest about broken things. A treadmill that hasn't run since 2019 or a lawn mower that won't start is junk, not a project.
Set aside hazardous items
Garages collect things that can't go in the trash or in a junk truck: old paint, motor oil, pesticides, pool chemicals, propane tanks, and car batteries. Gather them in one spot and take them to a household hazardous waste drop-off.
Clear it out in one trip
Once everything is sorted, schedule a single pickup for the haul pile and any bulky donate items. Then sweep the floor, wipe down the shelves, and put the keep pile back in labeled bins. You'll finally have room to park inside again.