ORGANIZING YOUR BASEMENT

A lot of people use their basement as a “catch all” room. Anything that doesn’t have a place anywhere else gets dumped in the basement.

Cleaning supplies, sports equipment, storage boxes, memorabilia, photo albums, holiday decorations and lots of other things…..

When storing things in the basement you need to consider the moisture that a lot of basements have. Also be sure to keep everything off of the floor (at least a few inches). You never know when you might have some flooding after a heavy storm. The one year that I decided to “hide” my Christmas presents in the basement we had a really bad rainstorm and the basement got a few inches of water. Of course I had all of the presents on the floor, lined up in a perfect line, wrapped perfectly, in perfect bags, all ready to go. I lost just about everything and learned a very valuable lesson (no, not the one about being too organized).

I learned that basements flood ! (and no, I’m not telling you where I hide my Christmas presents now…).

If you put any type of shelving units in your basement be sure that the bottom shelf is at least three (3) inches above the floor to be safe.

Keep in mind that mold, mildew, water and little critters might play a role in how you organize your basement and what types of storage bins you use.

It’s best to keep things in plastic boxes with tight fitting lids. Be sure to label the boxes so that you know what’s in them…but do not put the label on top of the lid, put it on the sides.

If you stack the boxes make sure that the heaviest boxes are on the bottom.

You need to decide how the basement is going to be used. Storage, workshop, office, playroom….. If the basement is going to be used for more than one purpose break the area into “zones” and section off each zone. For example, if the basement is going to be used for both storage and a playroom use some type of divider to keep the kids out of the storage area.

A dehumidifier might be a good idea to help remove the moisture in your basement and to help get rid of the musty smell.

Be sure to keep things away from the heater.

Remember, organizing any room that is cluttered is going to take time. Give yourself a break by setting a time limit (one or two hours) so that you don’t exhaust yourself and get frustrated and give up.

I’m sure that it didn’t get disorganized and cluttered overnight and it’s going to take some time to get organized.

Once the room is organized the maintenance to keep it that way will be minimal.


Organizational Consulting Services

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