Yes, the basement, you know, the place where you store everything that you just know you are going to need very soon, but someone just never actually do.

Another thing that is often forgotten about the basement, of course until something goes wrong, is that there are usually some important things down there, like the furnace, fuse box, main gas line, etc. Bottom line is that sometimes you need to find something down there in a hurry. And on top of it, it needs to be a safe place. Storing your flammable chemicals and paints next to your gas furnace is not a good idea.

So what can you do with your basement? Here are 6 simple things you can do to make your basement a more organized, useful and most importantly, safer place…

1. Store dangerous chemicals (paints, cleaners, pesticides) above flood level. Flooding can result in dangerous chemicals leaking out. Even if you don’t live in a flood plain, heavy rain fall or a backed up sewer can cause you serious problems (as an aside, check your insurance policy for flood coverage).
2. Do not store items around the appliances or pipes in your basement. You need a clear path in the event of an emergency or when the repair man comes over.
3. Lighting – Make sure you basement, especially your storage area, is well lit. Much easier to find things when you can see them! Also, consider some sort of back up lighting that runs off of batteries, for those times you need to get into the basement during a power outage.
4. If you have appliances in your basement, like an extra fridge or your washing machines, try to place them on platforms that lift them off of the floor to protect them from damage in the event of a flood
5. What to keep? What to get rid of? First of all, if you haven’t used something in the last 2 years, get rid of it. The exception being luggage that is in good working condition. Second of all, do not keep something lying around just because at one point, you spent a lot of money on it. If you don’t use it, you don’t use it. If you are concerned about money, try to sell the item. Lastly – unless you are a teacher or professor – get rid of your old term papers and text books. Anything you could possibly want to look up again is available on the internet.
6. Now after you have laid waste to your basement booty, its time to arrange it in some useful order. The basic principle is to group things in some logical order. In other words, don’t keep your tennis racket inside of your suitcase. For one, you’ll never find the racket when you need it and secondly, when you pull the suitcase up stairs, you’ll end up leaving your tennis racket in your bedroom for the next 6 months. Consider the following groupings:

Tools: consider a wall rack for easy access to your tools and associated items, like screws, nails and fuses;

Home office supplies and old document: Store the documents off the floor in water tight containers. Do not keep things that are irreplaceable, such as original wills and stock certificates, in the basement;

Hobby and craft supplies: again, get the stuff off the floor;

Special occasion supplies: stuff for the holidays, parties, picnics;

Food and consumables: Canned goods, drinks, and other non-perishable foods, bath tissue, napkins, and paper towels, and

Luggage: place the small stuff in front of the bigger stuff. Take the items with broken zippers to the repair shop right away.