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Posts Tagged ‘attic’

What Will Inflation Do To Soft Goods Prices?

March 31st, 2009 by Matthew C. Keegan | 3 Comments | Filed in Home Tips

This past February we posted a pair of articles about food safety — Managing Your Food Storage Space Wisely and Should You Stock Up On Groceries In Advance Of Inflation? — sharing our thoughts about buying food in bulk and keeping it on hand for many years to come. Basically, we were looking at two reasons for taking such an important step: possible food shortages created by any number of events (political, natural catastrophe, etc.) and as a hedge against inflation.

basementAnother area for consumers to consider making bulk purchases is with soft goods items. That category includes napkins, paper towels, tissues, toilet paper, feminine products, paper plates, paper cups, etc. Oftentimes we can overlook buying these items in bulk for the simple reason that soft (dry) goods demand on storage space can be quite high.

Where to Store Your Soft Goods

Beyond stuffing a linen closet to the rafters, where else can dry goods be stored? Several places actually, some better than others:

Your Garage – If your garage is fairly well regulated as far as temperature and humidity goes, then you quite possibly have an area in your home ready made to store large quantities of soft goods. Even if your garage is humid or gets very cold in the winter, plates and cups have a better chance of withstanding harsh conditions, while some paper towels and napkins may turn yellow or attract a musty smell.

Your Basement – As with your garage, if your basement has a fairly even climate, then it could be the best place to create a dry goods storage area. Recommended: a dehumidifier. You want to control moisture and eliminate mustiness.

Your Attic – Not recommended unless it is finished off and used more like a “bonus” room found in some homes with a room above the garage. It probably isn’t worth your investment to redo this area of your house to turn it into a storage area especially if it is unfinished. You’ll also want to think of the potential fire hazard – dried paper goods can go up in flames in mere moments, taking your home with it.

Why Store Soft Goods?

So the question that remains is this one: why would you be interested in storing dry goods in the first place? Probably for one reason mostly: as a hedge against inflation.

Many economists are worried that inflation will rear its ugly head sometime in 2010, perhaps before this year ends. With inflation comes price increases, some which can be enormous. If your soft goods are petroleum based (cups, plates, plasticware) then these prices can increase sharply if oil prices climb as they did last summer. Few people expect gas prices to stay below $2/gallon for much longer with prices expected to climb above $3/gallon later this year, perhaps topping $4/gallon when expected tax increases become law.

Regardless of what takes place at the pump, a $3.6 trillion spending spree by Congress and the Obama administration will saddle generations to come with debt. Of course, one way to handle debt is to devalue your assets which has the same effect as inflation: it makes whatever you want to buy more costly to you.


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What To Do About Your Storage Space!

July 31st, 2008 by Matthew C. Keegan | 1 Comment | Filed in Home Improvement

I thought that it was only we Americans who had difficulty managing all of our stuff. Our homes are bigger, our play things more abundant, and our lives are seem much more complicated. We just have Garage Saletoo many goods to manage, but we’re not the only ones who are finding their space too limiting.

Rather than just being an American problem, the accumulation of goods is a middle class phenomenon, something people in Canada, the UK, Italy, Japan, and yes, even in China and India are dealing with. I can’t speak for the rest of the world and probably not for every American, but when was the last time you actually put your car in your garage?

Yes, the family garage is now a storage room as is the attic, basement, and the storage shed out back. If we’re honest with ourselves, we should cut back on possessions and keep only what we need.

I’m not here to dispense to guilt, rather to encourage you to consider some ways to manage your clutter.  Managing your possessions keeps them clean and usable and can have a good side effect: your garage suddenly has room for your car!

4 Tips To Help You Organize Your Stuff

If you’re in need of a decluttering, I offer to you the following tips:

Sell Or Give Away What You Don’t Need – Garage and yard sales are a great way to reduce clutter, allowing you to move out stuff you don’t need, while taking in some cash. If you absolutely would rather get rid of what you have without holding a sale, consider donating your goods to Goodwill, the Salvation Army, Vietnam Vets, or some other organization. Mostly anything can be given away instead of thrown away, keeping our dumps from accumulating household goods.

Renovate The Garage — One of the least costly ways to get more room for all of your stuff, is to renovate an existing part of the house to hold what you need. Buy shelving, storage bins, hang up hooks, build counters, etc. along the perimeter of the garage to house what you know that you will use. If not the garage, consider the attic or basement areas of your home for a storage make over. Finally, if you don’t see something being used ever again, get rid of it.

Build A Shed – If you don’t already have a shed, consider building one. Raised floors, shelving, windows, and doors will add to the price of the unit, but if you plan on storing anything of value, then don’t spare on the project. Metal sheds are priced from $350, plastic sheds run about $700 on up, and wood sheds start around $900 and can easily climb to over $5000 when shingles, double pane windows, drywall, and electrical hook up are included.

Rent Storage — All of those storage units sprouting up are housing something, right? Well at about $50 per month on up, you can store everything you want, can’t get rid of, but don’t need right now at these types of facilities. Some are climate controlled, gated, and manned by security personnel. Others are much more basic, but every one of them allows you to secure your own space.

Easily, we can sort through our stuff and get rid of what we don’t want or need. But, when you need the room and you’re dying to declutter, then expanding your storage capacity makes perfect sense. Otherwise, selling your home and getting a bigger one becomes a costly and time consuming way to manage what you own.


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Turn Your Garage Into Valuable Living Space

July 9th, 2008 by Matthew C. Keegan | 8 Comments | Filed in Home Improvement

Home Improvement on a Budget!

cluttered garage

When it comes to unused spaces in many homes, garages are usually at the top of the list. After all, who really parks their cars in them anyway?

Seriously, if garage space could be better utilized for something else, then why not convert your garage into living quarters? Homeowners looking to add a spare bedroom, living room, or an office are the chief reasons to convert a garage and, compared to the cost of extending your home in a bid to add living space, a garage conversion makes perfect sense.

Of course, before you convert your garage for residential use, you’ll have to find a place to stash all of the stuff now stored in it. Do the following and you’ll get garage clutter under control in no time:

Hold a garage sale – Yes, sell off whatever you don’t need by holding a sale in the very room to be converted. If too cluttered for that, your driveway or lawn will do, but make this a top priority. Likely, you have boxes of old dishes, books, and knick knacks that aren’t ever going to be used again, so why not devote part of a Saturday to selling unwanted stuff off?

Rearrange the shed – Snow tires, tools, outdoor furniture and the like can be stored in your shed. If you don’t have an “out building” head over to the local big box retailer and invest in one big enough to store your seasonal items in and then some.

Recycle, reuse – Some stuff in your garage you may not find reusable, but throwing everything in the dump isn’t particularly environmentally responsible either. Give away what you don’t need as, even if something is broken, a handy person could see that piece of trash as a potential treasure find.

With all that stuff in your garage moved to the shed, up to the attic, or off of your property, you’re ready to begin the job. Of course, if you can do-it-yourself you’ll save thousands of dollars on a home renovation, but if you want to contract the project out you’ll need to hire someone to do the job for you.

When contracting out, consider:

Hire a general contractor to handle everything – Having one person in charge of the project is usually the best way to go. The contractor can determine exactly what needs to be done and get the right people to complete the walls, ceiling, floor, carpeting, electrical, heating, cooling, plumbing, etc.

Do some of the work yourself – Maybe you have a talent for drywalling or you prefer to hang your own lighting fixtures. Give those projects you don’t want to do to your contractor and handle the rest yourself.

Assemble a team of weekend professionals – If your garage conversion isn’t all that complicated, that is, only the garage doors need to be removed and replaced, one wall added, and flooring put in, assembling a team of handy friends could help you knock out the project in just one weekend. Naturally, if plumbing or electrical work needs to be done, then you’ll have to have one or two professionals among your team or hire these people to step in as needed.

What Will Your Town Say?

In some areas converting a garage to a home isn’t a simple process especially where local governments are concerned. Familiarize yourself with local building codes and check your association’s compact as any type of conversion could be a “no go”. Some municipalities will allow you to convert your garage as long as the exterior of that space still looks like a garage. In that case you can place a wall behind the garage doors or leave everything “as is” and convert the rest of the room.

Special Touches That Make A Difference

Natural lighting can be a problem in some former garage areas, necessitating the addition of a skylight or the conversion of a pair of regular windows into a bay window. Most certainly you can add recessed lighting throughout the room, but if you want to cut down on energy usage, considering maximizing natural lighting.

If extending the current heating and cooling system to the garage is too expensive, consider utilizing portable air conditioning and heating units to do the job instead. Modern, updated, and safe heating and cooling appliances can be a wise way to control your new room’s climate, regulating temperatures to meet the specific needs of that room. Besides, if you have plenty of computer equipment in the room, you may find having dedicated cooling equipment the best way for you to protect your investment.

Built in shelving can help you maximize floor space while keeping everything in order. A built in ceiling to floor wood cabinet unit can hold your television, stereo equipment, books, files, and much more.

Lastly, when deciding to choose a garage conversion, realistically assess how that new room could impact the value of your home. You may not have plans to sell, but if you do, would buyers want to change the room back into a garage to protect their Porsche 911 and Lexus LS? The more permanent your renovation, the less likely it could be easily changed. Then again, the addition of a new living area could add value to your home.

Resources

Finance Your Home Renovation

Look Over House Plans

Renovation Tips — Working With A Contractor

Take Out A Home Equity Loan


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For Sanity’s Sake, Organize Your Garage!

May 21st, 2008 by Matthew C. Keegan | 1 Comment | Filed in Home Tips

Your garage is cluttered and you can’t even get your car in it. Not that you imagined yourself wanting to leave your car inside the garage, but it is a nice thought. After all, a garage is built for cars, not storage.

Many homeowners long ago ceded their garage space, transforming the area into a storage room. As if the attic, basement, and shed weren’t enough, so goes the garage.

garage saleIf you would like to use your garage for storing household goods and for parking your car, you can do both. Read on and we’ll explore some tips on how to reclaim your garage as well as your sanity.

When is the best time to organize your garage? Right now! Seriously, winter is too cold and summer is too hot, so Spring and Fall are the best times to tackle a garage reorganization project.

Short of taking out a home loan to finance the work, you can do most of the work yourself and expend only a small amount of money on related supplies. Of course, if you need to actually expand the garage to make it work, then you’ll need to draft a blueprint, take your plans before the town zoning council, and plan on adding weeks to what shouldn’t be all that difficult of a project.

1. Keep It or Toss It! Go through all of the stuff in your garage and determine what you really want to keep and what you can get rid of. With the “I don’t need this stuff” pile, plan on holding a garage sale, donating the goods to Goodwill, or find some other way to dispose of it. If still useful, avoid adding your stuff to the landfills — you’d be surprised who thinks that your trash is a piece of treasure!

2. Check Out Home Storage Systems Once you have your “stuff” trimmed back to a manageable amount, consider what sort of storage systems work best for you. Shelving, hooks, pulleys, cabinets, and the like can all be used. Do some online research and/or visit your local home center for ideas. Tip: your home center probably has a free “organizing your garage” class which can be a wonderful way to get some ideas for your project.

3. Prepare, Then Get To Work! Before putting your home storage system in place, give your garage floor a good cleaning and paint the walls. You have the perfect opportunity to get this done before you move everything into place, so why not do that now?

Most garage organization projects can be completed on a Saturday or span the entire weekend if your garage is particularly cluttered. Hold that garage sale right away otherwise you could be tempted to restore what you don’t need. Whatever is left over, donate. You don’t need it and your garage no longer has the room for excess stuff and your basement, shed, and attic are already full.


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