Homes with basements typically use them as an extra storage room. Over time, the basement is filled with various equipment, tools, and forgotten junk. Hard rubbish removals fill the best of us with dread, but, with organization and perhaps the assistance of professionals, it doesn’t have to be that difficult! If you need another room and think your basement fits the bill, then it is time to clean out your basement.
Most American homeowners accumulate junk without realizing it. It is an unpleasant fact. Unless the homeowner consciously exerts the effort to keep their house clean and clutter-free, many garages and basements in homes are filled with personal belongings, sports equipment, and larger pieces of furniture and equipment.
Basement cleanout is challenging
You need to devote time when you decide to declutter your basement. You should come up with a plan, as well. Since most of the stuff you store in the basement is larger and possibly heavier, you might want to consider hiring a professional basement cleaning service, or a Miami junk removal or hauling service company if the job entails removal of a huge volume of stuff.
Beside the option to hire a professional service provider to clean your basement, you also have options on how to organize the cleaning task.
These options include:
- Means developing a storage system that can be easy to re-use or re-arrange
- Means to arrange items that you need most of the time to be easily accessible
- Means that the items you store should be easy to identify and locate
Break up the cleaning job
It is not possible to clear your basement of junk in one day. What you can do is break it up into zones and tackle each area separately. Move the items in one zone to another area and clean the wall and floor. Sort the items you’ve moved aside and see what you want to keep and what to discard. Transfer the things to keep and do the same for each zone.
Sort
Gather the things that you want to keep, sell, donate, or discard. Use separate boxes for each category. Label things that are too big to fit into the boxes. You might need another box for things that you cannot decide whether to keep or discard and check them again later.
Sell or donate
You might organize a yard sale for the things that you do not need but are still useful. Donate everything left from the sale instead of bringing it back into the basement.
Buy storage boxes
Protect the things that you want to keep. Store them in bins or boxes that are waterproof. You can purchase shelving and plastic totes. They are stackable and come in different sizes. Label each box and indicate what each one contains, so you can locate items easier.
Shred paper
Shred every piece of paper with identifiable information such as credit card numbers, bank account numbers, SS numbers, and other information before putting them in the trash.
Make sure that you sweep, wipe, vacuum, or wash every surface in the basement. See to it that you maintain a minimalist approach to ensure that your basement will not be cluttered like before.