If you are someone who likes storing things under the bed, understand that it needs to be decluttered and cleaned more often than any other area in your house. Given how dust-prone the area under your bed is, it’s extremely important to remove every storage box or item and vacuum the area before sorting through your stuff.
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Most people use their underbed area to store random stuff that they don’t use on a daily basis. In my home, the underbed space is used to store off-season clothes, unused antique ware & home décor. For a really long time, I didn’t care to clean and declutter this corner of my bedroom because it was hidden (or so I thought). But underbed area can turn into a safe haven for all kinds of allergens and dust if left neglected for more than a few months.
Ideally, you shouldn’t store anything under the bed. But since space can be a big constraint in many homes, it might become a necessity to store stuff under your bed. As someone who has spent most of her childhood in a 1 BHK apartment with a family of 6, I know how important it is to utilize every bit of space including the area under the bed. My mom hated cleaning or vacuuming under the bed because it would always give her a stuffed nose or a flu.
If you want to make sure that your family stays in the pink of health, you need to look through the underbed area right now. Here’s how you can do it without exhausting yourself:
1. Pull Everything Out
While sifting through the area under your bed, it’s extremely important that you start with a clean slate. Pull everything out and make sure that there’s nothing left under the bed. If there are boxes or bags laying in the middle of the space under the bed, knock it out using a broomstick.
2. Dust And Vacuum
Now that all the clutter is out, it’s time to clean the space under your bed. Grab a dust mop and a vacuum cleaner to reach every corner until it’s clean and shiny. Don’t forget to get to those cobwebs and dust bunnies that have been living rent-free in the space under your bed for years.
3. Sort Through The Boxes One By One
It’s now time to sort through the stuff you’ve stored under the bed one box at a time. You can start with the box of seasonal clothing items before moving on to the bedding, serve ware and other items. Go through every piece of clothing and decide whether to keep or discard it. And if you decide to keep it, ask yourself if it needs to be stored under the bed or can be shifted someplace else.
You may find some old home décor items and photo albums that can either be shifted somewhere else or trashed. Look through the clothes and similar items that you’ve kept with the hope to fit in some day and decide if it’s the best decision to hold on to them.
Storing items under the bed can sound great until you have to scramble on your knees to access them. So, it’s best if you try not to use this space as a storage area unless absolutely needed. If you haven’t used an item stored in those underbed boxes in the last one year or so, it’s highly unlikely that you need it.
4. Declutter Random Items
The space under your bed can end up being a hidden spot for many items in your home. You may find things that you thought were lost while they were accidentally kicked under the bed.
Your kids or pets may just have carried some toys or books to the bedroom and ended up kicking them under the bed. Or you may have knowingly slid an important item there and forgotten about it over time. Whatever is the case, go through these surprise items and make decisions as to whether to keep, donate, sell or trash them.
Items that don’t belong in the space under your bed should be returned to their rightful homes. If there are any kids’ toys or socks or books that your kids have outgrown, you can either donate or trash them.
5. Get Creative With Storage
Now that you’ve sorted through the stuff that had been sitting under your bed for years, it’s time to put the items back in an organized way. If you are in the habit of using your underbed area to store frequently used items like toys, books and shoes, use an underbed cart with wheels. For heavy stuff like blankets and comforters, use large capacity storage bags that are sturdy enough to store these items.
You can also go for a few foldable storage bags to keep seasonal clothing items and kids’ toys. This underbed shoe storage organizer works great for people with small homes as it can easily be slid under the bed and taken out when needed. You can also get a wrapping paper storage bag to store all your gifting supplies.
6. Organize The Space Mindfully
Make sure that you put everything back in a way that the items that are used more often are stored in a place that is easily accessible. Keep the least used items in the middle of the space under the bed as this area is the hardest to reach. I usually use the space under the head to store stuff like old home décor and off-seasonal clothing. The stuff that I use frequently, like cleaning supplies and my lap desk, is stored in an easy to reach place.
While this guide can make it easier for you sort through the stuff under your bed, you need to make sure that you don’t let too much time pass by before decluttering it again. Besides that, you need to be very mindful of what you store under there. Don’t let the underbed area become a place to hide unwanted clutter in your home.