Cheap Storage

It seems that every year that goes by sees us accumulating more "stuff". This is especially true if you have children, or a tendency to buy things before asking yourself if you really need them. If you feel like you are starting to drown in your own home under a collection of junk, you may be starting to wonder what cheap storage options are out there for you. after all, if you;ve spent all that money accumulating this stuff, you probably don't have much left over to spend on storage. Storage doesn't have to be expensive, and we will be looking at ways that you can cheaply store your household items and reclaim your home. Before we do so, however, you need to  be honest with yourself. Do you really need all of that stuff? Is there any way that you could cut back on your collection and reclaim some space in your home without having to go overboard on storage? For most people, the answer is yes. And if this is the case, you could look at having a garage sale to offload some of these unwanted items, or you could even consider selling some of it on eBay. The money you make from these sales will help you in your cheap storage quest, and lessen the amount of stuff that you actually need to find a home for.

Once you have got rid of everything you don;t need, everything else is going to need a home. Here are the common "problem areas" of your home that you will need to concentrate on...

The Office - If you have a home office, or a particular place where your computer lives, then you will notice an ever growing pile of papers, CDs, DVDs and office paraphernalia. The office is a tricky place to find storage for, because a lot of this stuff will be needed on a regular basis. It's no use storing your CDs somewhere that is hard to get to if you are going to be scrounging around for them every week. You need something that is out of the way, yet easily accessible. For CDs and DVD a really cheap storage solution can be CD books. You can get books that hold hundreds of CDs and are flat enough to slip into a drawer. Those CD cases that they come in really take up a lot of space, and eliminating these will be a real help.Another thing that you can do is get some plastic tubs to store papers, bills and other office paperwork that you only need for historical records. If you get two or three of these tubs and stack them on top of each other, you can throw a tablecloth over the top of them and have an instant table to hold items on top of.

Digital Storage - As mentioned above, the office seems to be a breeding ground for CDs and DVDs. A lot of these items are installation disks for software, or audio CDs, but some of them are also backups of files that you just couldn't bear to lose in the event of a computer crash. If you stop and think for a moment about how much important stuff sits on your computer, you will realise that backing up your data is not only important, it is a necessity. CDs aren't the only medium that you can use to backup your precious data to, in fact CDs are notoriously unreliable and you may end up finding that the data has been lost after a few years. Other cheap storage options for your digital possessions include an external hard drive (which can be surprisingly inexpensive), Flickr (for all those precious photos) and Gmail (you can email yourself important documents and files and store them in your email account). The benefit of using these off site storage options is that they will be safe even in the unfortunate event of your house burning down, or a break in.

The Bedroom - When contemplating cheap storage for the bedroom, it will really depend on whose bedroom it is. Adults don't usually tend to accumulate a lot of stuff in the bedroom, as this room is only used for sleeping (and the occasional other activity which we won't get into in this article). A child's bedroom, on the other hand, seems to be a magnet for junk. Dirty clothes, toys, nintendos, CDs and books all seem to make their way into any nook and cranny that they can find. Getting your child a corner desk with shelving can be a real godsend for a parent, as the shelves can hold a lot of those items that your child insists they need every day, without you having to trip over them every time you enter the room.

The Kitchen - There are so many different collections of pots, pans, microwave dishes, cutlery and food items that get stuffed into a kitchen, that sometimes it's hard to imagine how any cooking can go on in there. Indeed, quite often families end up giving up on the notion of cooking and live on take away junk, because it all just seems too hard. A really great cheap storage solution for the kitchen is to get an old ladder and hang it from the ceiling over you kitchen sink. Buy a few hooks to hang off it and you have an instant place to hang up all those pots and pans once and for all. Just make sure you hang it high enough, as there's nothing worse than banging your head on a large pot every time you try and wash up. A lot of people are storing large supplies of food in the event of a disaster,m and while this can be a great idea, all these foodstuffs do not have to be at arms reach, you may want to pack all these stuff in boxes and store them in the attic or basement to free up some precious space in your kitchen.

The Bathroom and Laundry - One of the most important consideration for your bathroom and laundry is safety. This is particularly tru if you have young children in the house. These two rooms usually hold all sorts of chemical cocktails that can be fatal to your children. Ideally, they should be stored under lock and key so that young inquisitive finger cannot reach them. For other less dangerous items, you can get bathroom sinks with plenty of storage space built in. You may also want to consider some laundry hampers so that dirty clothes do not end up piled up on the floor.

Finally, if you just don't have the room to store all of that stuff in your house, you could start to research cheap storage options off site. There are many places where you can rent a garage or a shed to store all of those belongings that you don't need on hand. Sometime people will find that a relative has passed away and left furniture and other items in their will. These are things that you can't bear to part with because of the memories they hold, but that you can't necessarily fit into your already bulging house. Another reason for looking at off site storage would be if you are in the process of moving and need somewhere temporary to hold all your stuff. If you are considering off site storage, you need to make sure that the site is secure. Ask the owner what security measures are in place. Do they have security cameras? Are they patrolled by a security guard on a regular basis? And do they have guard dogs on site? If you are storing your items off site, then you will  also need to consider insurance options. You can never be too safe.