Reclaim Your Space: 5 Ways to Reorganise Your Personal Storage

1. Make a list

The first thing we recommend you do is make a list of everything in your storage unit, no matter how big or small. Every lamp, couch, stool, ornament, and box should be accounted for and written down. This way, when you’re rearranging, you can decide beforehand exactly where everything will go. You won’t forget about anything or get to the end of the process and realise you’ve forgotten something important that could have fit under some boxes, but not from where you are now.

2. Label your boxes

Packing boxes is busy work. It’s easy to forget to label a box here and there, or to think, ‘I’ll remember what’s in there.’ After a while, chances are good you’ll forget what you put, where. And that can make organising your space a tricky task. Because as we’ll discuss after this, it’s important how you pack your unit. Plus, you wouldn’t want to accidentally place a box full of crystal and other delicate items underneath a box of heavy printers and computer monitors.

Labelling itself can be a tricky process. You might not want to label three difference boxes as ‘lounge’—but how will you know what’s in each of them? It’s best to pack like with like and label that way. For example, you could pack all of your cold-weather clothing into a box and label that ‘winter clothes’.

3. Pack in the correct order

Making your list and labelling your storage boxes all makes sense when the time comes to rearrange. First, you’ll want to try place items that you’ll need frequently near the front with easy access. You don’t want to reorganise just to end up having the same problem as before!

We recommend packing large heavy items at the back. We’re talking couches, fridges, freezers, washing machines, and so forth. You’re not likely to need any of these belongings on a whim or at short notice.

When you’re packing boxes, it’s best to stack them and make use of your vertical space. But be careful what goes at the bottom. Items that aren’t likely to break when there’s the weight of other boxes should go at the bottom, and more fragile boxes at the top. However, don’t stack too high—you don’t want anything to topple over!

What happens if you have a sturdy box that you need to get items out of frequently? That, you pack separately from the other boxes.

4. Take apart your furniture

To maximise the space you have, we recommend taking apart the furniture that is modular and storing it neatly like that. Legs of tallboys can go into its drawers; extension pieces of dining room tables can live neatly on top of them. Wherever you can make something smaller, we suggest you do so. It also makes your storage unit look neater and allows you more access to more belongings.

5. Consider repacking your boxes

Before you call us crazy, we’re not talking about a whole reorganisation of everything—just the boxes that are severely damaged or that belong in a different kind of box. Fragile items are best placed in sturdy plastic boxes. So, if you’ve got drinking glasses in a cardboard box, now would be a good time to move them. Rows and stacks of clear plastic boxes also look neater, and there’s no need to label them as you can see into them.