Five Things To Make Outdoor Cleaning Jobs More Bearable

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The Good Trash Bags

If you’re going to undertake a big outdoor cleanup project, heavy duty trash bags are pretty much required. They’re also great to have on hand before the holiday season gets going, what with its parties and boughs of holly and suchlike, for use in cleaning up after big gatherings with lots of bottles and cans. Hefty Strong Large Trash Bags are made from thicker plastic than standard kitchen trash bags, so branches (or, um, bottles) won’t pierce through, leaving you with a whole other mess to clean up.

A Power Drill Scrubbing Set

If you own a power drill, you should know that there are all kinds of attachments you can buy to help you clean things faster. For outdoor cleaning jobs, you’d want to go with a heavy duty brush attachment set like this one, that’s designed for use on concrete and brick. It has three different scrubber attachments: A scrub brush, and two flat round brushes, a 4 inch for scrubbing larger flat surfaces, and a 2 inch for getting into corners and other tight spots.

A Power Washer

But let’s say mere drill attachments don’t adequately feed your need for power! If you’re anything like me, I’m so so so sorry and also you probably have intense fantasies involving power washing tools. For those among us who’ve lost hours and hours of our lives to r/powerwashingporn, the dream truly is to have a power washer to call our own — and if you have a big outdoor cleanup project involving brick, stucco, pavers or even sturdy outdoor furniture, investing in a small-ish power washer is a good way to justify the purchase. This Greenworks model is great for two reasons: 1) It’s less than $100, and 2) It’s on the small side for these machines, at only 16 lbs., so it’s easy to tote around and won’t take up too much storage space.

A Gutter Cleaning Attachment

But let’s say you already have a power washer and you want to LEVEL UP on your fancy power equipment! There are all sorts of attachments you can get for a power washer, and as soon as I’m done writing this I’m going to go spend a few hours lost in a “oooooh look at THAT power washer attachment” hole, including one for cleaning gutters. So! If gutter cleaning is a thing you need to do, and you missed out on your chance to buy the now discontinued robot gutter cleaner (mmm-hm), that little add-on is well worth investing in.

An Upholstery Brush

But let’s say you don’t want to invest in something quite as advanced as a pressure washer. I can’t say that I understand you, but I’m here for you nonetheless: An upholstery brush and a little elbow grease will go a long way in cleaning outdoor furniture that’s gone grimy, or moldy, or bird shitty in the course of being outside. If you put your furniture away for the winter, it’s a good idea to clean it before it gets covered and stored, and this $6 upholstery brush combined with diluted dish soap or laundry detergent will more than get the job done, no fancy power equipment needed.