Your Spring Cleaning Tips and Hacks

Part 6 - Digging Through Storage Spaces

Last week we gave the home office a much-needed revitalization which breathed new life into your productivity. This week we’re turning our attention towards our favorite part of the home: the storage spaces! These areas are often forgotten until you need to store something away or get something, yet they serve an essential role in our lives.

Storage areas can include anywhere you store items that you don’t frequently access, typically to put away items you won’t need on a daily or weekly basis. We will define storage spaces as garages, attics, and crawl spaces in this blog, however, if you use other areas of the home for your storage the tips we offer still apply.

Let’s get to work!

The Forgotten Zones

Home storage spaces are easily one of the most forgotten areas since they’re usually out of sight and out of mind. This isn’t a bad thing either, we want the storage areas to be out of the way to help reduce clutter and maintain organization throughout the home. Unfortunately in doing their job to counter clutter around the rest of the home, they can quietly build up quite a mess over time. Normally, we don’t consider regular cleaning in these areas, instead we pile away our belongings and walk away, slowly accumulating more things without taking away other stuff.

These areas are convenient for accessing stored items quickly, but they may not offer the ideal conditions we want our belongings to sit in. There’s typically limited airflow causing moisture buildup, uncontrolled pest activity, and extreme temperatures with fluctuating weather patterns that can cause storage of items.

Garages

Establishing Shot Of Empty Workplace With Old Desktop Computer In Retro Garage With Random Appliances. First Office Of Successful Computer Engineering Startup In Nineties. Nostalgia Concept.

If you have a garage then this is likely one of your main, if not only, storage space. The garage is the go-to place to store items you don’t need in the home. However, the garage is a harsh location for stored items since it’s typically more vulnerable to excessive heat and cold temperatures depending on the weather outside. Typically, the garage is a great place for seasonal decor, tools, workout equipment and other random items.

Spring cleaning in the garage can turn into an all-day or even multi-day affair depending how large it is and how much you store. To begin, first start by removing everything out of the garage that’s on the ground. If you have shelving units, leave them for now, because we’ll be working our way from the ground up.

Once all the items are removed from the garage using a push broom, air compressor, or even loaf blower begin to sweep or blow the ground pushing everything out the garage door. Even if the garage remains closed every day, there’s still debris that can find its way inside. After the garage floor has been swept and cleaned, start putting back the items you took out, but sorting through them as you return them.

Using the “Keep, Store, Donate, Toss” method, decide what you’ll do with each item as you put it back in its originally stored location. After finishing this process for items on the ground, repeat it for anything stored on shelves or hanging items in the rest of the garage.

Spring Cleaning Tip: Start creating a pile of items you want to donate, because you can later host a garage sale to try and sell these items before donating.

Crawlspaces

Unlike the garage, the items you store in the crawlspace will likely be less used as frequently. The garage offers a location to put items you use on a semi-frequent occasion, but anything in the crawlspace is generally used only once a year like seasonal decor. You can’t necessarily clean your entire crawlspace; however, it’s a great idea to inspect the crawl space and make sure there’s no obvious issues since it’s not often we spend much time in this area.

Pull out all the items stored in the crawlspace and sort through them using the same method for garage items to decide what will stay or go. Before you begin placing items back in the crawlspace, spend some time looking around the crawlspace for any signs of damage. Pest activity, specifically rodents, is an unfortunate home for many crawl spaces because they provide an ideal shelter for critters.

Inspect the insulation for any signs of obvious tearing, normally accompanied by bits of insulation spread around the ground. Additionally, inspect for signs of rodent droppings and an exterior check of all crawlspace vents to ensure they’re still intact, blocking easy access points for rodents.

After inspecting the crawlspace and addressing any damages, return all of the stored items back to the crawlspace. The crawlspace isn’t necessarily an ideal location for stored items, because of obvious pest activity, but also because there’s even less insulation to protect items than the garage. The crawlspace vents do allow for air flow, but also makes this area more prone to flooding in the event of pipe bursting or heavy precipitation. Additionally, crawlspace mold and mildew is common due to the overall damper conditions.

Spring Cleaning Tip: In addition to looking at all of your stored items, inspect the containers or boxes for any signs of pest activity. If there are signs of rodent activity in or around the boxes, it’s best to get a pest control company to inspect the rest of the crawlspace. Rodent activity can be an uphill battle once they make it inside, so staying on top of it is the key.

Attics

After the garage, the attic is likely the second most used location in the home for storing items. Attics offer a more dry environment than crawlspaces normally, however, they are susceptible to extreme temperatures being the first point of contact for the sun, rain, and snow.

Much like the crawlspace, your spring cleaning tasks extend to pulling all of your items out and sorting through them to see where you can consolidate, if anywhere. Since you don’t always use these items and acquire new ones throughout the year, there might be decor or clothing that you will no longer use or want to keep around.

While in the attic, give it a quick inspection for any signs of pest activity or signs of roof leaks. If you suspect any issues it’s recommended to address them before placing your belongings back in the attic otherwise you risk causing damage to these items.

How to Sort & Decide What to Keep

Since this week involves more sorting and organizing than deep cleaning as other weeks, it’s important to talk about how to decide when to keep or get rid of something. Sorting through stored items can test our will to let go and discipline, because we have an emotional attachment to our items in one way or another.

The best way to protect yourself against yourself is by setting up systems you can rely on to guide decisions. Mentioned previously, the “Keep, Store, Donate, Toss” method is where you designate different categories to determine what you’ll do with each item as you sort through them. The hardest decision will be deciding to keep something, so you have to be ruthless in your conviction to declutter and consolidate your items.

Generally speaking, if you haven’t used an item in over a year’s time then it’s a likely candidate to be tossed or donated. If there are items that you must keep, but they’re taking up substantial space for other home items then consider placing them in the “Store” category.

It’s important to remember the mental and emotional benefits of decluttering as you go through this process. You might find it difficult to let go of items, but you’ll feel better overall with less items to keep track and maintain. Plus, if you never consolidate items then you’ll never make more room for new items that fit your current lifestyle. Overall, you’ll have less stress, more space, and feel better in the long run.

Spring Cleaning Tip: If you’re struggling to get rid of items, bring a friend or family member who doesn’t live in your home to help you. They will offer an objective opinion and likely have less of an emotional connection to the items, offering judgement calls.

Why Self-Storage Beats Home Storage

When you’re sorting through all these items, you might find that you’re still hanging onto so many items and it feels like you hardly put a dent in things. Having a self-storage unit comes with so many benefits over storing at home which includes having a place to put the excessive amount of items you want to keep, but don’t have enough room to keep everything.

However, self-storage extends beyond just increasing your storage capacity and clearing up more room at home.

Climate Conditions

Many self-storage facilities offer more ideal conditions to safely store items, especially long-term storage solutions.

As your items sit in home storage, they’re susceptible to various temperature conditions that fluctuate with the weather patterns. Normally, items stored in enclosed and unregulated environments, the interior storage locations at home will reach higher or lower temperatures than the outside temperature. Items stored in these conditions are less likely to maintain their integrity and meet their expected lifespan than items stored in ideal conditions.

This is especially true for more valuable and sensitive items like artwork or other antiquities that can’t handle being in such varying environments. Climate-controlled storage units keep ideal conditions all year long no matter the weather outside, helping keep items in the best shape possible.

Pests

Pests can be highly detrimental to stored items and there is a higher likelihood pests will get inside stored items at home than at a self-storage facility. Even homes that receive regular pest control do not get services performed in the attic or crawlspace during their routine treatment.

Garages can receive treatment if the company offers it, but there’s still a higher chance of bugs and rodents getting inside stored items in the garage than in a self-storage facility. Self-storage facilities receive regular pest control treatments and are staffed with storage experts that can spot activity and monitor it more closely than most homeowners have the capacity to do.

Safety and Security

Finally, even with installed security alarms, home storage is less protected than items stored in self-storage facilities. The items stored at home rely on whatever security measures each homeowner incorporates which for some could be a simple door lock while others might have cameras and security alarms.

Self-storage facilities offer multi-layered security preventing breaches at many different levels. First, self-storage facilities themselves are gated and locked, requiring a personalized pin to access the facility. Next, the specific storage unit you rent will be locked and only the renter of that unit can access it.

Self-storage facilities are monitored 24/7 by security cameras and armed with alarms that trigger loud sirens and contact local law enforcement to respond. Typically, overnight hours are limited as another security measure where no one can get inside the facility. Additionally, there is an employee on staff ready to respond to any issues that may arise along with positive relationships with local police departments to add extra patrols to the facility overnight when the facility is closed.

Just like that you’re done with Week 6 and now your own storage spaces around the home are ready for another year of new decor and memories to store away. These areas serve you well throughout the year, so it’s important to clean them out and give them attention during your spring cleaning spree.

For Week 7 we will be turning our attention outwards and starting to clean up the outdoor spaces around the home!

Gaige Byerley Digital Marketing Associate

Gaige Byerley is part of the Digital Marketing team at West Coast Self-Storage and is a writer creating engaging content on self-storage, relocation, decluttering, and everyday living.