One of the most important steps you can take to improve the look of your home--and to increase its resale value should you be in the market--can be done for little money or supplies. It's the step of uncluttering your home. Take a look at your closets, your "storage rooms," and most importantly, your basement and garage. While I'm sure you feel like you must have some place to "store" things, keep in mind that organization in these areas goes a long way toward impressing potential buyers.
We'll spend most of this article talking about how you can organize your garage and basement.
Childrens Storage Shelves
Step 1: Hang shelves.
It always strikes me as funny that when people fill a room with furniture, they feel they've used all of the space in that room. But the truth is, they've only filled the bottom plane. What about the space above the floor? That's where shelves come in. Shelves make use of the rest of your garage, and most importantly, they help get your stored items off the floor. This saves a lot of your valuable floor space, increases your garage or basement's overall storage capacity; plus it just looks a lot neater.
Step 2: Put in some cabinets.
Cabinets serve much the same purpose as the shelves, except you'll probably want to keep on the shelves those items you use frequently. The cabinets hold those things that "I might need someday."
Step 3: Be strong enough to throw stuff away.
Once a quarter, make an appointment to go through everything in your garage or basement for the sole purpose of throwing things out. As you go through the items there, ask yourself first of all if you have used them in the last 3 months. If you have, it stays (preferably on one of the shelves or in one of the cabinets you've now installed). If you haven't used it, ask yourself if it has real sentimental value that is absolutely irreplaceable? If not, then ask yourself what specific circumstances will have to exist for you to use this item in the near future. If it holds no real sentimental value and you can't imagine a specific instance when you will need it, throw it out.
Finally, after you've gone through all of the steps above, and think there's nothing more you can possibly throw out, go through them once more, with an eye of throwing out 25 percent more. You'll probably be surprised to find that maybe that paper airplane your old childhood second-best friend made doesn't hold that much sentimental value after all.