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How much of your home are you currently using for something practical? If you’re like most homeowners, you’re probably wasting a ton of space, in one way or another. For example, you might have entire rooms of your house that aren’t being used for anything, or you might have a perfectly functional room that’s being used to store items that you don’t really need.
Learning to maximize this space can help you live a more fulfilling life, maximize the value of your investment, and even help you think more clearly—and it doesn’t take much effort to make a difference.
Why Maximize Space?
There are a few practical reasons why space maximization is such an important concept:
- Price and utilization. Though pricing varies depending on where you live, the average price per square foot in the United States is $132. That means, if you’re letting a 140-square-foot room go completely unused, that’s the equivalent of wasting $18,480 of real estate.
- More opportunities. Using space effectively means you’ll have more opportunities to explore something important to you. For example, you could set up a workout room to motivate yourself to get in better shape, or a craft room so you can spend more time creating things that matter to you.
- Decluttering and psychological benefits. In many cases, wasted space is a result of storing items and furniture you don’t really need, and making better use of that space means decluttering. Decluttering, in turn, has some massive psychological benefits.
Phase I: Identifying Problem Areas
Now let’s dig into how you can maximize your space. First, you’ll want to identify “problem” areas in your home. These may range from inconspicuous to obvious, depending on your lifestyle, and may range from occupying an entire room to simply taking up a corner.
Are there any rooms of your house that you never seem to find yourself in, or that nobody in the house uses on a regular basis? These are likely candidates for wasted space. Do you have a room, or a section of a room, purely dedicated to holding items you’re unlikely to use or need in the future? How about areas of clutter that you’re looking to clear out?
Make a list of these areas and prepare to tackle them one at a time.
Phase II: Decluttering and Storage Solutions
Here, we get to the meat of freeing up unused or wasted space: decluttering. It can be hard to get rid of things, especially if you can imagine a scenario where you might need them in the future. However, there are a couple of tricks you can use to make this process easier.
For example, you could evaluate the last time you used each item in a given room or area. If you haven’t used or thought about this object in the past year, get rid of it; either throw it away or donate it, depending on its current state and reusability. If you struggle with sentimental items, consider taking a photo; the photo will remind you of the object’s existence, tapping into your nostalgia or emotional connection, without taking up physical space.
Even after applying a thorough decluttering, you’ll probably still have items that need a home. For those, consider more inventive storage space. For example, you could dedicate a section of your house for long-term storage and use it to store all the items taking up space in your more livable rooms. Making use of storage containers, shelving units, closets, and vacuum-sealed storage can all help you save space as well. Just make sure you label everything clearly, so you know how to find things when you need them.
Phase III: New Functions
There are countless ways to use an extra room of your house, but there isn’t really a “right” or “wrong” choice; instead, it’s a question of how often you use it, and what you use it for. In general, the more actively you use the room, the better, so just be sure to pick something you’re actually inclined to use.
If you have children, you could turn the extra space into a new bedroom or nursery, or you could turn it into a playroom. If you work from home in some capacity, you could convert the space into an office. If you’re interested in pursuing wellness, you could turn it into a meditation room or a home gym.
Some of these options require a bit of remodeling or the addition of new components that allow you to use the space effectively. Even so, it’s well worth the investment if it means using the space actively, rather than letting it accumulate clutter and go unused.
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This content is sponsored by Larry Alton.
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Photo credit: Shutterstock