Attic Storage Ideas

You've decided to take the step to organize your attic, but as soon as you walk into that room, you feel a sudden urge to run in the other direction. It's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate over the years! While it may seem intimidating, if you take a simple approach to taking inventory and sorting of the items in your attic, you'll have a much more manageable task on your hands.

With a notebook and pen in hand, begin by going through the items in your attic and recording what you find. Do box labels match their contents of their boxes? If they don't, look at what's there and re-label the box.

As you compile your list, you'll begin to see some natural categories developing: out-of-season clothes, craft supplies, sports equipment and so on. These categories will be helpful when you begin to sort and organize the items you decide to keep.

Once you have a list of the items in your attic, it's time to really investigate what's there so you can pare down what you're storing. A helpful start is to organize the list into three groups: always used, used on special occasions and rarely used [source: Heloise].

Not only will this help you in deciding what to part with, but it will also help you decide where and how to store what you're keeping. If you want to break things down even further, you can separate items into these categories: things you definitely want to store, things you can throw out or donate, and things you want to think about [source: Ewer].

At this point, reorganize your list. You'll find you have a much better grasp on what you have and you'll be able to identify the next step, which typically is getting rid of the items you've decided to throw out or donate. By doing this, you'll have much less clutter to work with when you start organizing what you're going to keep.

Now that you've made this first big step, read on for tips on how to sort through what you have left.

Now that you have an idea of what's in your attic, you can begin to sort through and organize what you have left and want to keep. A few simple guidelines will ensure that you look at your space objectively and set it up in the most organized fashion.

Don't be afraid to toss items that you don't need and can't see yourself using in the foreseeable future. However, even if you're doing an organization overhaul, you don't have to toss everything in the garbage. If you don't want to part with it and you have the space to store it, keep it [source: Leeds].

Once you have your attic contents narrowed down to what you want to keep, start sorting these items into categories. By grouping your belongings this way, you'll be able to box and store them by category, which will make it easier to keep tabs on everything. For example, put all holiday decorations in one pile, all paperwork in another and all out-of-season clothes in yet another pile.

One important thing to consider is that your storage method should have a purpose, and with something like an attic, a good purpose is being able to access everything whenever you need it. Don't just stick all of your boxes back into your attic without some thought -- think about how often you need access to certain items, and place the items you use most often toward the front of the storage area [source: Steill]. What do you do with those family keepsakes you don't want to part with but never get out? They can probably go toward the back.

Keep reading for tips on how to properly store the contents of your attic.

You've inventoried, thrown things out and sorted your attic contents into manageable groups. At this point, you're almost finished, and most of the difficult work is done. The final step is storing your items in a practical and accessible way that maximizes your available space.

The first step to consider is whether you need to bring in more shelves. If your boxes are currently on the floor, a shelving system will help you maximize storage and keep your items at eye level, making them easier to find. A trip to the store for more shelving will likely you a lot of time and energy in the future.

The next step is to box and label everything -- trying to store loose items will lead to unnecessary clutter and broken belongings. For some things, such as holiday decorations, you can find bins that are specifically suited for your needs.

Choosing the right attic storage containers is very important. Be sure to pick the container that works best with your space and that protects its contents -- plastic bins are great for protecting important things from roof leaks or other unforeseen accidents [source: Good Housekeeping]. Clear containers or clear boxes are event better. After you've boxed up a pile of stuff, be sure to label the container if it isn't transparent.

Organize your important papers by using boxes with file folders in them. You can decide how detailed you want to be, but try to keep boxes dedicated to certain types of paperwork. For example, you may have one box marked "bills" and another marked "college application papers." Anything important, such as legal documents, should be stored in a fireproof or fire-resistant box [source: Good Housekeeping].

In addition to placing all items in labeled bins and boxes, consider labeling areas of your attic by the type of item stored in that section. You can color code your bins or even paint areas of the floor of your unfinished attic, so you'll have an easy reminder of where everything is. When you've finished organizing and inventorying everything, it's a good idea to type up the inventory list up and keep it on file.

Now that everything is stored properly, be sure to maintain it. If you need to add a few more items, don't break away from your organization system -- you'll be making more work for yourself in the future. For more tips on how to keep your attic free of clutter, and even more unfinished attic storage ideas, see the links on the following page.