Spooky Storage: What’s Hiding in Your Closet, Attic, or Basement?
As Halloween draws near, everyone is gearing up for trick-or-treating and visiting haunted houses. What you might not know is that the visit isn’t very far away - the haunted house and tricks of light are right in your own home!
What might be lurking in those creepy cupboards, in the abominable attic, and behind the boogie in the basement? And better yet, how can you survive such horrifying sights? Take a flashlight to those cobwebs and an organized mind to your clutter, and you just might make it to next Halloween…
Cleaning out Creepy Closets
Closets are second only to the junk drawer when it comes to hoarding miscellaneous items. With ample space and dark corners, before you know it, that closet is full to the brim and who knows what’s lurking in its shadows. When tackling creepy closets, set aside some time to pull everything out and figure out what’s there that you might not even remember. Old coats, broken hangars, and boxes of taxes from the past decade – you might wonder who even put those things there? Once everything is out in the daylight, you can sort through what needs to stay put, what can go away, and what might need a new home. After that, it’s simple! Donate or throw out what you no longer need, find a new home for what doesn’t belong, and put everything back that actually should live there. Creepers be gone!
Accessing the Abominable Attic
Within the Abominable Attic lurks creatures and frights of all shapes and sizes: forgotten clothes, old furniture, years of unneeded papers, and mementos of a forgotten past. What enters the Abominable Attic sometimes gets stuck there for eternity. Like your closet, set aside some time to go through the attic and figure out what exactly you have up there. This may be a project you have to do in parts, since the attic is a popular place to store holiday decorations and seasonal clothes, as well as larger items that you want to hold onto. Once you’ve decided what should stay and go, look at how you want to organize the space in a way that makes everything accessible and easy to reach. Especially in smaller attics, it can be easy for everything to pile up, and before you know it, there are creepy crawlies making a home in there. It’s also worth taking a trip up to the attic every once in a while, to prevent this from happening – this is your home, after all. Keep the abominable attic dwellers away!
Back Off, Boogie in the Basement
Your closets are no longer creepy, and your attic is no longer abominable. Now it’s time to deal with the boogie in the basement. Like your attic, the basement often becomes a dumping ground for storing larger items, including seasonal tools and sports equipment. Unlike the attic, many basements are more susceptible to inclement weather, so you want to be careful about what you decide to store down there. Be aware of potential flooding or dampness that could cause mold. When you’re ready to organize, you’ll start again with your decluttering process, sorting through what you want to keep and what you’re ready to get rid of. Afterwards, you can find a home for what you’re storing in a place that’s safe, accessible, and unlikely to get damaged. Basements are great for canned goods, gardening and yard tools, paint cans, and other supplies you might not need all the time but that come in handy throughout the year. Any fabric or paper items stored in the basement should be kept in airtight plastic containers. Once you’re done, you can say goodbye to the basement boogie!
Decluttering and organizing your house can seem frightening at first, but you have all the power and tools you need to be rid of your personal haunted house and just have a happy home. Keeping track of what you own and giving it a regular home is perfect for upkeep, but occasionally, you might find you need to do a more thorough hunt for what lurks in the dark. Next time, save the spookiness for Halloween!