American homes are seemingly too small for the occupants who struggle to fit all their worldly goods indoors. Houses with storage sheds can easily alleviate this storage problem but families without this luxury are not so lucky. It seems that everywhere they look, material possessions are piled up with no space left to work with. Yet this storage problem is often the family’s own fault and can be solved with a little bit of planning and hard work. Homes with miscellaneous items stacked all over the place actually contain a surprising amount of space if it is utilized properly.
Spring Cleaning
Chances are, your home is long overdue a proper clean-up. This is an essential factor in creating more space in the home. Go through your home’s possessions and systematically remove what is no longer needed. Pick a room and organize the existing materials into a trio of piles: Items that are necessary for everyday usage, items that will be needed in the long-term and possessions you no longer need. Give the unwanted items to charity or recycle while placing the long-term items into several plastic boxes. Repeat this process in every room.
Build New Space
Get your creative juices flowing and make use of every nook and cranny. There are small cavities in every home just waiting to be filled with items. Obviously, make sure nothing is stored in such as manner as to interfere with electrical goods such as the washing machine. This means no stuffing old newspapers in the gap behind the fridge!
An often untapped source of space in the home lies right underneath your staircase. The vast majority of houses have this space which is normally used to store cleaning products in an unorganized manner. Why not use your hidden DIY skills to build a cabinet or some drawers in this space? Even if you lack the skills to build a garden shed, there is always the option to build a cabinet outdoors if you simply cannot fit all your possessions indoors. Be sure to plan ahead and have a method of making it waterproof however.
Some Simple Tricks
Don’t overlook the effectiveness of the humble box. If you have seasonal items of clothing for example, put them in sealed plastic bags and place them in the boxes. The bags need to be airtight to avoid damp and the terrible smell and mold that results.
Even adding lighting to certain storage spaces in the home will increase the amount of storage space. Often, dark spaces are not used correctly. The lights will give you a clear picture of what can and cannot fit in the space. A final tip involves creating hooks. If you have a garage and have no issues with placing holes in the wall, hooks can be inserted and they provide a huge amount of extra storage space.
It is obvious that storage space is a problem of our own making and one that can be solved with a bit of effort and ingenuity. Instead of lazily stacking items around the house until you can no longer move comfortably, try the above tips for cost effective ways to increase your storage and make your home more attractive.