How to Organize Your Storage Room
Storage rooms are where you store everything you don’t really use anymore. But then, if you don’t use it, what are you keeping it for? We’re sure that Marie Kondo doesn’t agree with storage rooms. But for all of you who haven’t managed to declutter your home as much as you’d like, we’re going to tell you how to organize your storage room so that you can make the most of it.
Some of the things we keep in our storage rooms we only use very occasionally: Christmas trees, bicycles, suitcases, etc. And there’s nothing wrong with that. The problem comes when we don’t even know what’s in our storage rooms, or can’t ever find what we need. So, if you’re going to keep things in a storage room, there are some basic rules you need to follow.
Basic rules for organizing your storage room
Clean out
We’re going to try to bring a bit of order to your storage room. To do this, you need to start by doing a thorough clean out. You might have heard of the three box method: one for things you need to throw out, one for things you want to donate or sell, and a third for things you want to keep.
Using this method, you can get rid of everything that’s simply taking up unnecessary space. And, as Marie Kondo says, only keep things that really make you happy. Ask yourself: do I really need those DVDs or cassettes?
What to throw out
If you’re using the three box method and you find you’re a bit stuck, let us help you out:
- Don’t keep your old school books or notebooks.
- Say goodbye to old baby clothes and cribs if your children are older.
- It might finally be time to get rid of that old bike you’ve been telling yourself you’ll start using one day.
- If you’ve still got boxes from when you moved house, and they’ve been sitting there for over a year, don’t even bother looking inside – get rid of them.
Organize your things by category
Now that you’ve whittled it down to just the essentials the time has come to organize your storage room so that you know where everything is. This means you can easily access it when you need things.
Create different sections for different categories of items: clothes on one side, tools on the other, sports things at the back. Make sure you keep everything together and use sealed plastic boxes to protect your things from dust and humidity.
Label the boxes so that you know exactly what’s in each one. One good idea is to stick a photo of the contents on the boxes. We often fall into the trap of thinthat our our memories will be good enough to remember what’s in each one a year or so later… Trust us, you won’t.
Layout
The best thing to do is to clear a central passageway which will allow you to move freely around the room. Furthermore, you need to make sure your storage room is well-lit so that you can find what you’re looking for. Normally, storage rooms are dark places that you want to spend as little time in as possible.
You should also furnish your storage room with shelves, preferably ones that attach to the wall so that they’re extra secure. And if you can find adjustable ones, even better! That way, you can adapt the storage space to your needs.
Make sure your shelves aren’t too high. Now that you’ve organized and decluttered your things, the point is to be able to find and access them easily, so they shouldn’t be 10ft off the ground.
Make your storage room a pleasant place to be
Why do storage rooms always have to be dark and gloomy places? We’re not saying you should decorate with flowers, but you should definitely paint it, and try to find shelves and boxes that are attractive as well as practical. It won’t cost you much time or effort, and you’ll feel more comfortable in your storage room.
Storage room maintenance
Don’t let your storage room fall into disarray. Keep an eye out for damp or bugs. Once a year, you should give your storage room a thorough inspection to check for any issues.
Follow our advice and you’ll have a well-organized storage room. Remember not to overfill it, use plenty of storage containers and be strict about what you keep and what you throw out.