Summer is quickly approaching. Kids everywhere are counting down the days to summer vacation and the sunshine beckons us to spend time outside. As the weather gets warmer, you might start feeling like pulling the summer toys out of storage or doing a few projects in the garage.

The average garage is essentially a concrete room with little to no insulation and an entire wall that slides up into the ceiling. It’s not exactly the most hospitable place any time of year, and certainly not in the dead of winter. And if you didn’t spend much time in the garage during the cold season (who can blame you?), things will not be as organized as they should be.

If you find that a little bit of clutter has built up in the garage since last summer, or if there are old, unnecessary, or even dangerous objects in there, it’s important that you donate, repurpose, or dispose of them before summer playtime begins. Here’s what you should look out for.

The garage can be a buffet of hazardous chemicals. Common fluids found in garages include antifreeze, motor oil, cleaners, fertilizers, unused paint and paint thinner, and more.

Antifreeze is one of those things you only need to replace every few years (unless you’ve got a leak), so if you’ve got a half-used bottle lying around after a recent refill, it’s unlikely you’re going to use the rest of it anytime soon. That’s true of many of the fluids and chemicals found in the average garage.

Ingestion of these chemicals, and sometimes even just skin contact, can result in serious issues like kidney and lung damage, burns, heart problems, blindness, and death. Unless you plan on using them soon (assuming they aren’t expired), you should get rid of them. It’s important to note that these items need to be disposed of properly, at a hazardous waste disposal site. Contact your local municipality to find out how to dispose of hazardous items in your area.

If you work with cars or other dirty and greasy objects, you probably have a collection of old oily rags. It’s worth getting rid of those and replacing them on a regular basis. Oil-soaked rags are a potential fire hazard and are especially prone to starting a fire during the heat of summer. About 900 home fires every year are caused by oily rags, and about 1,700 are caused by spontaneous combustion or chemical reactions. Don’t let one of those be yours.

Certain compounds commonly found in garages, like oil-based stains, varnishes, and paints, not to mention the oil and grease commonly found in and on automotive parts, are flammable. Rags used to clean up these liquids are similarly flammable. As they dry, they release heat. If rags are piled up (like in a bucket or drawer) that heat can build up and spontaneously ignite.

Rags can be safely dried, cleaned, and re-used. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recommends laying oil-soaked rags flat outside, weighed down so they don’t blow away or pile up in the wind. After they are dry you can place them in a metal container with a tight cover, filled with water and detergent. If you don’t want to do that, you should dispose of them. Check with your local authorities to learn how to do that safely.

Unless you’re very meticulous about organizing and storing your tools, you probably misplace one or two every once in a while. It happens to the best of us. Things like screwdrivers, Allen wrenches, and tape measures sometimes seem to disappear right when you need them. Rather than spend hours searching, sometimes it’s easier to just go to the hardware store and get a replacement. As a result, you probably have some duplicate tools lying around.

You might also have some tools that didn’t live up to your expectations or tools you never really use. Things that are too powerful for your actual needs, or that serve a niche purpose you don’t encounter very often, probably don’t need to stay in your garage. As you’re cleaning things out of your garage, pick the best tape measure and put the others aside. Keep the things you actually need and get rid of the rest. Besides, clearing out unnecessary clutter from your garage opens up some space for your new tools.

We get it, it’s hard to let go. That old box of cables is like a security blanket. There’s something reassuring about having a tumbleweed of charging and connecting cables, just in case you ever want to break out your old Palm Pilot for some reason.

The hard truth is that you probably don’t need your collection of old cables, at least not all of it. If you can’t bear to get rid of the box completely, at least go through it and remove all the duplicate and unnecessary cables. You probably don’t need six extra HDMI cables lying around. Detangling and assessing what you have can be a good first step, but if you find old cables in formats that are no longer in common use, and you don’t have the associated machines anymore, you should throw these away, too. If you do find cables you think are worth keeping, you can move them into a smaller container to save some shelf or cabinet space.

Pro tip: Wind up each cable and throw it in a sandwich bag labeled with a piece of masking tape. It will keep things from tangling together and help you find them if and when you actually need them. And remember, old cables don’t have to go in the trash. They can be repurposed, donated to non-profits, or recycled.

During the course of a project, it’s not unheard of to drop a nail or two and struggle to find it. If it’s been a while since your garage had a good cleaning, there could be bits of loose hardware (screws, nails, nuts and bolts, etc.) scattered in corners or other tucked away places. It should be obvious why having stray nails and screws lying around could be hazardous, so we won’t dwell on it.

By the same token, if you’ve got an old coffee can or other containers filled with loose hardware, it’s probably time to let them go. The only real function for a bucket of rusty nails is as a torture device. Having it around is planting the seeds for a future accident. It’s a hazard with negligible benefit, so you should throw it out.

If you need help finding and grabbing the loose hardware in your garage, you should consider a magnetic sweeper. They come in various sizes and grab onto small metal objects as you roll it around the floor. The strength of a magnetic field drops off quickly with distance. Magnetic sweepers take advantage of this property by keeping the magnet close to the floor while picking things up, then moving the magnet farther away when you’re ready to pick up what it collected.

If you have kids in your life, you’ve probably collected quite a few toys and games that they no longer use. Garages have a way of collecting old bicycles, kiddie pools, sidewalk chalk, squirt guns, and everything else the kids absolutely had to have last summer, but don’t care about anymore. In the same vein, if your kids play sports, you might have gear that no longer fits them or that they’re no longer using.

Of course, kids aren’t the only ones who gather unnecessary clutter from past interests. Looking through a garage can be like looking through a museum exhibit of your past interests. If you’ve picked up any new hobbies over the past year (or few years) that you’re no longer interested in, it might be time to finally let it go. Once you and your kids have figured out what you no longer need, it’s time to decide what to do with them.

If your items are still functional, consider donating them to a local thrift store or non-profit so some other child (or adult) can enjoy them. Alternatively, you could have a garage sale and put the earnings toward some new summer toy. Then, you can sell that toy at next year’s garage sale and let the cycle of fleeing interests continue. Just make sure those toys aren’t worth more than you realize before giving them away.

A garage often serves several purposes all at the same time. Its primary job is to store your vehicles, keeping them out of the elements, protected and easily accessible. On top of that, the garage is often a workshop and, for many, it’s a place to put things that have nowhere else to go.

You might have boxes from old purchases (like the container of your new TV that you kept, complete with polystyrene supports, just in case you needed to return it), receipts or invoices, magazines, posters, and other assorted souvenirs collected over the years. At this point, you probably know whether or not you’re going to return these purchases, so either use the boxes or get rid of them. And unless you have an emotional connection to the program from last year’s Renaissance Fair, you can probably toss that too.

If there are few magazine issues or other selections which mean something to you, pull them aside and decide on a better way to store, display, or use them. Magazines and books can be donated, while cardboard boxes and many other paper-based products can be recycled. For everything else, there’s always the garbage.

Listen, we understand. You had a burst of motivation, you really thought you were going to start working out and become the chiseled superhero lookalike you know you can be, but it just didn’t happen. We don’t blame you; With all the high-tech exercise equipment on the market, taking control of your health and fitness goals seems easier than ever.

The truth is, no matter how fancy your treadmill is or how supportive your online fitness network can be, exercise is still work. Now, months or years later, all that exercise equipment is sitting in a corner of the garage and gathering dust. Worse than that, you might feel a stab of guilt every time you see it because you wasted money and broke a promise to yourself.

You could dust it off and start using the equipment, but if you look inside yourself and decide it isn’t meant to be, it’s okay to admit that this just isn’t who you are, and get rid of it. At least, it won’t be staring you in the face. Besides, there are plenty of more affordable ways out there to work out.

Many homes have a pile of boards, wood scraps, drywall panels, pipes, or other building materials leftover from the original construction, a renovation, repair, or recent project. Once a project is done, it’s reasonable to lose motivation and put off cleaning up, and we understand the desire to not waste materials, but unless you have an actual plan to use these scraps, you probably don’t need to hold onto them.

That being said, just because they aren’t useful to you, it doesn’t mean they can’t be useful. Instead of throwing your leftover materials in the trash, consider contacting a local charity like Habitat for Humanity, to see if they can use them. Alternatively, look for a Habitat ReStore in your area. It’s a chain of thrift stores operated by local Habitat for Humanity organizations and the money from sales goes toward supporting programs like building new homes.

Rather than the focus on clothing and entertainment, as many thrift stores, Habitat ReStore accepts building materials in addition to appliances, furniture, and household goods. If donation isn’t an option, then disposal could be the best solution. Make sure to check your local regulations and dispose of old building materials appropriately.

If you have limited closet space, or you’re just trying to simplify your daily routine, it’s not a bad idea to package up your winter clothes in the summer and your summer clothes in the winter. There’s no reason to have shorts in your drawer when it’s below freezing and sweaters when the temperature is in the triple digits. It also gives you an opportunity to go through your wardrobe a couple of times a year.

If you have kids in your home, you know how rapidly they outgrow their clothes. Depending on how old they are, the clothes from last summer might be several sizes too small by now, and kids aren’t the only ones who outgrow or outwear their clothes. Just as importantly, styles and tastes change, so you may just not want to wear the same things you were wearing last year.

As you’re moving your winter clothes into the garage for storage and your summer clothes back into the house, look through your outfits and see what still works for you. If there are items you’re not going to wear anymore, find a way to upcycle or donate them.