Once you've soaked, sprayed, scraped, and sponged, you're ready to brush. Brushes are good for getting into crevices and corners, but frankly, pressure is better. Again, the bottle of Simple Green works tremendously well at this. I tend to use Simple Green in water for big surfaces or surfaces with plain old dirt on them, and Brakleen for smaller parts or surfaces with baked-on grease and oil. It's in an aerosol, but let me remind everyone that aerosols have had no CFCs since 1978.
Most brands come with a thin tube for accurate, high-pressure delivery.
Just keep it on the top shelf so that Li'l Punkin doesn't see how well it gets Magic Marker stains off the cat. When you get serious about your garage shop, you'll buy a parts washer. I use mineral spirits in mine, as they're cheap and I have really good curbside recycling. What makes parts washers special is an electric pump that keeps up a continual stream of the cleaner so that you can keep a steady flow of light pressure on the grimiest of parts. This is where a wire brush comes in handy, as you can wash it in the stream and keep the bristles free of gunk.