The three critical areas of your home storage are the basement, garage, and attic. Here’s how to clean out and reorganize them like a pro.
Why wait until spring to clean? This new year can motivate you to give your home a refresh sooner than later. There’s no better place to start than tackling your home storage. Aside from closets, the majority of our belongings accumulate in our basements, garages, and attics. If you find yourself stressed by looking at the mess in your home or frustrated by not using the space efficiently, you may benefit from a cleanout and reorganizing your storage system. And, if you are planning on selling your home this year, letting go of some objects and fixing up the appearance of these essential home storage areas will make your home more attractive to prospective buyers, plus make your move more manageable when the time comes. Here are the best tips for sorting through all your stored belongings.
The Basement
Often, the basement becomes the catchall for extra household items, old clothes, children’s toys, sports gear, additional furniture, mementos, and things you just can’t seem to let go. Whether your basement is finished or not, haphazard storage is a major eyesore. To tackle all your basement, we recommend sorting through everything and evaluating what to get rid of and what to keep. You’ve probably been meaning to donate old clothes and toys or find a new home for your lovely but unneeded furniture and antiques. Going through your belongings can help you assess what’s special, useful, and worth keeping in your home. Plus, it’s easier to organize everything when you have less.
The Garage
The best piece of advice for organizing your garage is to make sure everything has a place. Sounds simple enough, but how does one go about achieving that? With plenty of built-in storage in the form of racks and shelves. Hang up power tools, extension cords, bikes, and boards. All your gardening tools, big and small, can have a designated shelf or cabinet. Vertical storage along the perimeter of the garage can maximize storage potential, so much so you could probably start parking your car in the garage again, not just in the driveway. Some homeowners like to keep bulk items, like pet food or paper products, in the garage as well. Storing these off the ground helps keep pests away, and keeps them clean.
The Attic
Many people store seasonal items, like holiday decorations and clothing, in their attics. Attics tend to feel the most extremes of hot and cold weather. Additionally, not all attics can support the weight of stowed items. To use your attic storage wisely, store every item in organized boxes and bins. You’re more likely to keep track of all the smaller and lighter items when they’re packaged this way. Store non-temperature or humidity sensitive items in the attic space — so no flammables, important papers, photo albums, and electronics, just to name a few.
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