15 Ingenious Ways to Declutter Your Basement

Here’s how To Properly Declutter Your Basement!

Truth be told, there has never been a better time to declutter your basement than right before winter. After all, winter is that time of year when you take the pillows out and stuff all the things that might lay around your backyard completely unbothered.

That’s probably why tackling the cleaning and organizing aspect has never been more important. If you leave the job unfinished, it will only add to the clutter you’ll have to tap into one day anyway. So you might as well just give it a go, right?

If you want to keep your basement as clean and tidy as it gets, here’s what you should know:

Work 15 minutes at a time.

As you might know already, organizing your entire basement could prove to be overwhelming, especially if you want to tackle it all at once. Instead, you might want to break up the task into 15 minutes.

Why? Well, as you might know, small steps make the process go way smoother, and it also seems less intimidating.

Choose a starting point and have an extra plan.

By trying to tackle the project all at once, not having a plan in place before you start could add unnecessary stress to the entire decluttering process. You have to deal with clutter as you go. For instance, working through the basement from your starting point and going from left to right

Use a staging area for sorting.

If you’re having issues figuring out how to organize things as you are standing right in the middle of it, you might want to create a totally separate area in your home to do the actual sorting. Just pick up a box or even a bag, take it to the staging area, and deal with it before you move on to the next one.

Designate zones for every season.

One of the easiest ways in which you can keep your basement organized for a longer period of time is to divide your storage space into seasons. If you have some zones where you can keep the clutter and chaos under control, it will be a lot easier to find what you need when you need it.

Use airtight containers.

If you also want to keep the items you’re currently storing in proper condition, you have to make sure you have airtight containers at your disposal where you can actually put everything.

This way, it will keep out the silverfish, crickets, and any other critters. Moreover, you might want to add desiccant packets to each container to limit the moisture.

Label everything

Just because you’ve organized everything into containers doesn’t necessarily mean you are completely done with the basement makeover. In fact, in most cases, people forget what they have in their basements, as they don’t go down there too often.

You have to make sure you’ll add large, clearly marked labels to all items to make sure you know what you’ve stashed in the storage. Also, if you want to get the rest of your home in order, you might as well try this method.

Think vertically

The trick here is to make sure you’re keeping your things somewhere accessible without actually cluttering the room. Well, a great way to do that is to maximize your vertical storage space.

If you have this option, don’t be afraid of the height of the room! Using vertical shelving units, walls, and ceiling hooks to keep things “hanging” is more effective than you’d think.

Put the items you use the least in the back.

If you’re about to search the whole basement just to find something you need, then you definitely need to reorganize things. You might need something that’s hiding somewhere behind all the Halloween, Christmas, and Fourth of July decorations.

Well, chances are, you’ll probably forget about it and buy something else. Instead, we highly recommend putting away all the items you never use in the back of your basement and out of the way.

Use the front for items you use the most.

If you’re constantly using your basement to store goods, such as paper towels and pantry snacks, just set them up toward the front of the room and display them in such a way that makes it easier to grab something whenever you like.

Also, you could create a “store” where you could shop for anything you like. To make it more convenient, position it close to the stairs and lighting. You know, it might get a bit dark down there.

Set aside space for holiday items.

If you want to keep your basement as clutter-free as you can, choose a specific area for storing your holiday goods. If you have extra space, you could even add a wrapping area to limit the clutter elsewhere in the house, too. You can keep your holiday stash in another part of the basement, so you can make better sense of whatever is left over.

Designate an area for doing your laundry.

If you do all your laundry in the basement, at least make sure you’ve condensed all the needed accessories to one specific area. In other words, store your detergents and products somewhere within your reach, keep a spot for a drying rack, and make extra room for sorting and folding.

Consider multipurpose storage furniture.

If you also want to use the basement for more than just storage, you could invest in a couple of storage pieces that will have a double function. For instance, you could use a stuffed bean bag like this one to store the blankets. This way, you’ll have a great storage solution that will double as a place to sit.

Get rid of all the “just in case” items.

I should know: I have lots of them. You could banish items to the basement so you won’t have to think about them later, but you’ll have to do the same with your basement at some point.

If you’ve decided to keep your space organized for good, you need to ditch what you no longer need. The secret to a proper decluttering process is deliberately trip-checking if you really need something or not.

If it’s just something that you’re hanging onto with the intention of using or fixing later, then it’s time to let it go.

Use a dehumidifier.

Your basement might have turned into a damp environment. If that’s so, then you should know that all that moisture could ultimately lead to mold and mildew damage.

If you want to keep clutter away and keep those precious items usable for longer, use dehumidifiers. It will keep your items safe, especially in damp basements.

Reassess the storage choices every couple of months.

A couple of weeks after you’re done with the decluttering process, make sure you look back and reassess whether it helped you or not. Also, if you don’t like the idea that you have to go downstairs every time you need something, why struggle?

I’m sure you could find a way to store what you need in the house, too.

If you enjoyed reading this piece, we have many other articles in store: Avoid Using Paper Towels to Clean These 4 Items