How To Organize a Basement

Sort through boxes, closets, and shelves and get rid of as much stuff as possible. Be ruthless! The worst that can happen is that you’ll throw out something you’ll have to buy again.

Take everything you are keeping and decide where best to store it. If you’ve done a good job throwing stuff out, you’ll have extra space in your closets and on your shelves for items that have been languishing in boxes.

If need be, install extra shelves to hold household goods like paper products and light bulbs. Use milk crates or storage bins to hold shelved items, and mark the contents on each one, like camping, holiday decorations, or games.

Hang hooks and pegboards for tools, extra pots and pans, toys, and so on. Group like items together.

Throw out your garbage and donate the rest of the items you don’t want to charity. Go through your “undecided” box one more time before stashing it in a closet or corner to revisit on another day.