Closet...just for one reason, even one time in the year you need to take something, for example the winter season or the holidays and the upper storage in my closets are perfect for that, and the most important thing i don't have basement or attic.

I find that the dishwasher makes for an optimal hiding spot when company shows up unannounced! (We live in a war zone of partially completed reno projects and way-beyond-an-intervention "collections"). Tidiness is nil to impossible in our home. Any signs of organization is just smoke and mirrors with stuff spilling out of closets and other available areas. My mom would be ashamed!

First, I turned a bedroom into a closet. Yay! A 16 x14 area for mostly HANGING space. I sorted clothes into COMPLETE OUTFITS, complete with belts. I ordered 25, yes 25, brown 15" x12" sturdy cardboard boxes (wholesale via the internet) with lids. Bought only one roll of dynamic striped wallpaper and covered only the SIDES of the LIDS. Bought LARGE labels from WalMart. Then I started filling boxes. It was heaven...a space for everything! Yes, neatness INSIDE EACH BOX doesn't exist...but that's ok. And the 25 "decorated" boxes are in different closets all over the house & garage. Happy, Happy, Happy!

I have no basement, no attic, no garage, and no spare room to store my bins full of things I can not part with! What do I do?

Ellen Hudson: Find a blank wall in your house...anywhere except a toddler's room. If like most women you don't have a husband just dying to do a project, buy CHEAP matching bookcases to cover the entire wall. The key is that they MUST be matching. The shelf distances within the bookcase should also be the same. Then fill those shelves with those 25 cardboard 15" x 12" boxes with lids. In MANY rooms, the brown cardboard COLOR will work and you can wallpaper ONLY the sides of the lids. That BOLD wallpaper COLOR(s) is the key to making it work. If the brown color clashes with your decor, you'll have to wallpaper the entire front of each box. if you have to cover the entire front of each box, use a MUCH less bold wallpaper color & print.

Out of season clothes in downstairs closets. I have a spare bedroom off the family room with two closets. Hubby just put in a double rod in one for me. Also have holiday (Easter, Valentine's, Thanksgiving, etc) decor in bins on built in shelves in the same room.

basement

Basement - Barn and garage. We have way too much stuff!!

took a small unused bedroom and lined it with shelves. all out of season items are there along with mementos and extra bedding. still enough room for a guest bed

Basement. Totes and shelves.

I have a huge walk in closet so rotating seasonal clothing is easy and everything stays in that closet. Patio furniture is stored in the barn, seasonal decorations are in the basement store room, and gardening equipment (tractor mower, lawn sweeper, aerator, snow blower) is kept in the drive shed. I have always made sure that, wherever we lived, we had a room in the basement dedicated to storage. It always made life so much easier to have a place for everything and everything in it's place.

if I don't need it, why would I store it? donate to someone or someplace that can make use of it!

Marla's solution above is my ideal, and I do work on it sporadically. Finishing basement a few years ago reduced the space available for storing extra "stuff" so a lot got eliminated then, plus I'm more reluctant to just put stuff down there and leave it. Christmas decorations, luggage, and old tax documents go in attic. Our city resettles "official refugees," who arrive with little more than the clothes on their backs and need Absolutely Everything, which makes me feel better about giving things away.

My biggest problem is stuff I have collected to to craft-type projects with, that I've never gotten to. I need to put myself on a schedule to use or lose these things.

Seems to me like the basic problem is, the Stuff Collection grows to the size of the space available to store it, before I suddenly notice it's out of hand!

I have a huge pantry built in the basement. It is 14 feet long and 36 inches deep. It is awesome to store things only used a few times a year (ie turkey roaster and platter, 16 quart pot I make apple butter in every fall) It keeps the kitchen less cluttered.

It depends on what is being stored. Pantry items are on shelves in the basement along with Costco products and grill supplies. Gift wrap supplies, collectibles or things handed down to me that I don't know what to do with are in bins in the basement (with plans to sell, much has been donated already). Gardening items are in the garage. Off season clothes are in an extra closet along with items like decorative pillows, suitcases, items that should probably be donated or pared down (again). Photos, office items, paperwork and files are in an extra bedroom on shelves in a bookcase or near it. My husbands stuff is a whole different story!

Moving from a 2100 sq foot home with full attic and basement, to a 1400 sq foot ranch with no attic and a single car garage helps you to downsize and organize!

First, we sold and donated over 50% of what we owned. It made me realize life could be so much simpler...

The organized basement is our life-saver! My husband built a large closet in the basement where we rotate our seasonal clothes. In addition, we "split up" the basement into different areas/ rooms: his, mine, and ours.

His - tools, woodworking, etc.

His - small basement room built - srore paints, empty boxes, bubble wrap, etc.

Ours - Holiday decorations were pared way down - now in labeled bins in basement.

Ours- Large "hand" appliances (fryers, etc) rarely used on shelves in basement.

Ours - One of the hardest things to part with was our artwork. So we rotate and keep the "resting ones" stored safely in shelves in basement.

Mine - Craft items (paints, canvases, silk flowers, etc.) are stored in labeled bins.

Mine - washer, dryer, folding table

i clean and purge the basement once a month. What a difference in our lives!!!

Only the no attic, no basement and no outside storage units keeps me from using those to rat hole all that is not needed but cannot be thrown away. You never know what use lurks around the corner. Unfortunately opposites attract. My spouse does not like clutter, nor long term storage of the useless or non-used. Would say the only really safe items are garden tools, home tools and Christmas Decorations. Form and function would protect the first two. Sentimentality (mine) would protect the third.

When I moved into my small condo, I purged about half of my possessions. I quit collecting magazines and, now, after reading, donate them to the senior center. I have two antique trunks on which I did decorative painting and lined the insides. These are used as end tables and store my Christmas ornaments and decorations. After I retired, I started seriously downsizing, donating many books to the library for their fundraisers, getting rid of all of my "work" clothes, donated pretty much anything in my kitchen that I hadn't used in a year. I have long containers under my bed for "slide out" storage of shoes and out of season clothing. Each condo in my building has a very small storage locker in the basement, and I store the very few things that I don't use but don't want to part with down there in covered, plastic see through bins. I feel like a weight has been lifted.

Donate it to Goodwill or ARC

We use our second bedroom solely for storage. There was never any hope of it being set up as an office or guest room...

I have ONE display cabinet, and just a limited amount of Christmas and seasonal display, which I store in antique chests, which double as end tables and coffee tables....otherwise, if I don't use it, I don't keep it

We have rustic decor - steamer trunks are my go-to. And a huge wardrobe armoire in the att'd garage for seasonal decor & seldom used kitchen appliances/servings.

I have cubbies along one wall in my basement and put all my out of season decor and crafts there.

the basement tends to be the abyss

Home Depot has a huge storage bin (not pretty, but functional) that is ordinarily used for outdoor furniture pillows and pool stuff. I have one for that purpose. However, I have one that contains all of my bulky bed linens, pillows, bags & boxes of other stuff that I use seasonally, & clothing packed in large plastic. It is on my back deck outside my bedroom. Trust me, the elements don't seep in. After a heavy rain, I merely lift the top and all the water runs out onto the deck and/or yard below. Costs $99 in Home Depot.

Basement

Other than seasonal decorations ( Christmas ), I don't. Since I live in a very mild climate my clothing works year around. Anything I don't use I donate to charities.

I use closets, cabinets, and storage bins that are stored in my basement! I have an online business and I store 99% of my beads and jewelry findings here in my quilting/sewing/craft and computer room! I have to store my fabrics in the storage bins in the basement because that's where I have the most room!

I sure wish I had time for all this purging that many of you are doing!! It is so low in the priority column that I have given up saying "next year". I have decided to take all purging off my to-do list until I retire -- there are too many must-do's to do when you are single and work full time -- but I do make time for enjoyment with my dogs, cats, and fun-things in life -- because tomorrow may never come! and wouldn't that be a shame wasting it purging. :-) :-) [ok, I secretly envy those that have accomplished it! :-) ] I do have a spare bedroom that started as a place to put boxes of things that I had when I moved here but never got around to take out -- but that was 30 years ago -- lol!! It will be such a hoot when the time comes to clean out that room. I'm looking forward to going down memory lane. :-)

well, we're going from 5000 sq feet to 850, so I would say, do it a little at a time, not like we're doing it...I am looking forward to the freedom of not taking care of things...I love my pets and children and want to do more fun things....it's VERY hard to part with things you've had forever, so, do it while you still have the energy!

I have a spare bedroom that I call the "ghost room". That's where I toss all the stuff I don't currently have room for or just want to store.

@Molly - lol! My room (mentioned in my post) I call the 'jungle room' :-) When I left a message with my sitter to turn the fan on in the 'jungle room' he said, didn't Elvis have a 'jungle room' -- don't know, but I'm guessing it wasn't anything like mine! :-)

I guess I call it a ghost room because going in there is kinda spooky. Stuff all over, no lights, no rhyme or reason. I tred there with much trepidation. LOL

I store stuff where they belong. Clothes and shoes in closet and drawers. Linens in general utility closet which includes pet stuff which is next to laundry. Jackets, hats, gloves, mudboots and raincoat along with my one carry on suitcase in closet next to general utility closet. Kitchen stuff in kitchen. Bathroom stuff in bathroom. I have a general closet for office supplies and other odds and ends, bookshelves for books and puzzles and folk art. Shop in back of garage handles most electric, gas and hand tools including garden, auto, farm, stuff. Machinery barn handles tractor, things that go with tractor, chains, diesel, and fencing equipment. Livestock barn has several storage parts from 10 bales of hay, feed, saddles, tack, first aid, shampoos & cleaners, conditioners, brushes, etc. Also have a small space for light tools such as clippers, hammer, screwdriver, wrench, etc. Well house stores lawn equipment and things like garden stakes, tomatoe cages, oil, gas, pump and other well equipment, pvc, some boards and other supplies necessary for the ranch. I also store a few boxes (about 5-6) of things I don't want to destroy but haven't figure what to do with them - like family photos and a few old interesting tools. My outdoor furniture - table, chairs, benches, rockers all stay put year round. Once a year I clean and oil them to protect the wood.

I do not buy seasonal decorations, however, I do use nature to augment things. I have a large clay pot I have filled with branches and things I find. I change it out periodically. In the house, I have vases for cut flowers and interesting leaves and natural items I find. Again it gets changed out periodically if I feel like it. LOL

I use top shelves of closets for containers of winter clothing, lower shelves for less used items while middle areas are kept for regularly use items.

Family albums I keep in square stool for easy access for anyone. In another stool I keep small fine table/or bedside tables covers etc..

Everything has a designated place to be in our home.

plastic totes in a small 2nd mudroom off the garage

I used to put my dishes in the oven when I was first married. Then one day I turned it on to preheat and melted all my plastic.

I don't mean to laugh, bonniedale, but ........... << small snicker >>

That's one way of getting new dishes, bonniedale! Bet it stunk up the house, too. :]

I understand that many states have homes without basements, but I would never buy a house without a basement unless 30-50% of my square footage was devoted to just storage. I store things in closets, under beads, in storage furniture, attics, the garage, and the majority of it is in the basement.

Je donne et je recycle. Je commence par la famille proche, les amis et ainsi de suite.Les centres pour les gens plus démunis.Et j'en conserve un peu trop.Pour moi tout peut être utile.

We moved from a 200-year-old house in Maine, where we had a basement with canning room, an attic, a barn with loft, to a house with no basement, not attic, no barn, no loft, not even a garage. There were a lot of hard choices about stuff, but in the end, getting rid of all those things was a godsend.

I don’t stash it.

If it is useable, I donate it; otherwise, I get rid of it.

Basement was not even a choice! That is where my plastic bins live to store out of season deco and extras

I'm blessed with a house that has tons of storage. It was well planned and the main reason we bought it. And we added lots of closets when we enclosed the garage to make an in-law suite. We have a walk up attic. The only thing we don't have is a basement. I miss having a basement, but we have so much other storage in closets, cabinets and builtins that we haven't missed it as far as for storage.

The basement storage space

Christmas decorations are in the attic. The big Christmas tree is in the garage as I can't get it upstairs then up to the attic. Outdoor Christmas decor is also in the garage. I don't have the storage I had in my previous homes (no Basement). I bought two sets of shelves that I put in the garage that holds stuff; the Christmas decor coolers, extra paper towel, candle holders. I also have less kitchen storage than I had previously. I have granite counter tops in the kitchen and when I bought the house 8 years ago, I realized that "stuff" on the counters detracted from the beauty of the counter tops. My small appliances that aren't used often are stored on the second shelf that is right by the entry into the house. My 10 cup coffee maker, toaster, toaster oven, waffle maker, etc. along with extra canned food, cases of water, and other miscellaneous items. Yes, my car is in the garage also (a one car). My second storage space are closets....

Planning a move in a couple years, and preferring to have no basement, less stuff to end up there. But what do you do when your kids have moved out, but have left stuff because they rent and aren’t living in a permanent place to accommodate all of it. Don’t really want to move it, but it’s stuff that they will use in a few years once settled.

We stash stuff in a variety of spots - closets, attic, basement. We also have a number of trunks, chests, etc. that are not only decorative but are good for storage of things like extra blankets.

@Imm5730: Since you are planning on a move in two years, give your children a choice. They have so much time to remove the items or it will be auctioned off at a moving sale; or suggest they rent a storage unit and store the things they want to keep there since you won't have any room in your new home. Do remind them about 3 months prior to the deadline set. And don't forget to follow through. If you want to make sure, send them written reminders every 6 months and at deadline. So even if they don't say anything, you have your bases covered and there are no surprises.