Turn Unused Space Into More Storage

After living in the same home for years, homeowners amass a collection of clothes, books, papers, etc., and they find that there doesn’t seem to be enough room to store everything. Fortunately, the average home has many unused voids that can be converted for storage. Usually the potential space must be fitted with shelves, cabinets or hangers to convert it to a usable and efficient storage area.

But before installing new units, sort through your possessions to decide if you really need everything. You can devote 10 minutes to getting rid of old catalogs on one day, sorting through boxes in the top of the closet the next and tying up old newspapers on another.

The sorting process entails more than simply discarding old, useless items. Possessions should also be grouped into one of three categories: frequently used, seasonal and rarely used items.

After you’ve discarded the worthless possessions and grouped the rest, start to organize existing storage space. Many stores and mail-order companies offer a number of gadgets to help arrange clutter into neat systems. Basically these items are variations of three simple components: the hook, or hanger, the box and the shelf. Knowing where to use each component is the key to efficient storage management.

Start with the closets. Hang all clothes by length with the shorter items at one end. Consider folding some garments and placing them in boxes on the closet shelves. Be sure to label the boxes so you can retrieve the items with a minimum of effort. For more space, remove seasonal garments and store them in shallow boxes under the bed or in the attic.

After organizing all the closets, move to the kitchen. Open the cabinets and remove as many items as possible so you can inventory and group them according to their utility. Place the most-used utensils and appliances on shelves above knee level and no more than 10 inches from the top of your head. As a safety measure, place the lighter items above waist level and the heavier ones below. Avoid piling too many pieces in a single stack.

Once all the frequently used items are positioned, place the leftover pieces in the remaining space. Again, store the heavier, rarely used things on the lower shelves and the lighter pieces above.

After you’ve gone through each room, organized it and discarded useless articles, you can evaluate your needs for additional storage space. The most logical places to look for space are in the basement, attached garage and the attic. Since basements and garages frequently double as activity centers, like laundry areas or workshops, they are the logical choices for storing frequently used items. Store the seasonal or rarely used items in the attic.