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Moving internationally is a stressful task, and the fact that everything you own is moving abroad with you doesn’t help. There are a lot of things you need to think about, including where you will store all those things after shipping overseas. So here are a few creative storage ideas to help you out.
Whether you’re moving overseas alone or with someone, moving across the world is never easy. But an advantage to moving alone is that you will have fewer things to store away in your new house, especially if you’re downsizing and trying to figure out how do you store a lot of stuff in a small space. So here are a few moving tips for creative storage ideas for small spaces when moving internationally.
The Less Stuff You Have, the Easier They Are to Store In a Small Space
The biggest relocation mistake people make when moving to another country to a smaller living place is bringing too much stuff. When working with a limited amount of space, you can’t really afford to bring all of your childhood memories or your whole closet along with everything else you own. Before we start talking about what are the best storage ideas, we need to cover the basics – the best tip we can give you is to declutter.
You can’t bring everything you’ve ever bought to live abroad with you to your new house. The closet isn’t big enough. It will make packing your things impossible, not to mention that you will have to unpack everything once you get there, and adjusting to a new place is quite difficult when you’re suffocating in boxes. So you have to add decluttering to your moving to-do list, it will make your life much easier.
You Need to Declutter Before Moving, But How Does It Work?
Everyone knows decluttering is key to having an efficient move. It’s the best moving hack, and it’s on everybody’s moving checklist for a good reason. You have to figure out what to keep and what to leave behind. There are many ways decluttering benefits you – movers will spend less time when the overseas shipping company comes to take inventory, and you will pay the packing services less because you have fewer things to pack. Not to mention how grateful you will be once you start unpacking all the boxes the movers have brought after the move.
So, if you want to do some decluttering, here’s a simple way to do so – separate your belongings into four columns – A, B, C, and D. Column A is for things you want to keep and take to your new place, column B for stuff you should throw away, column C for anything you could donate, and column D for things you could sell online or in a garage sale. If you need some more advice on how to declutter, watch this video.
Learn How to Use Your Small Home to Your Advantage
While there are a lot of advantages to living in a smaller home, such as lower rent or mortgage and less time required to clean the whole place, one of the disadvantages many people have a serious problem with is that it could be hard to find room for all of your belongings. So, how do you store things in a small house? Ask yourself – How do I make extra storage by using the space I’ve already got and start brainstorming some ideas. People have found numerous innovative solutions to this problem over the last few years because smaller homes have become more and more popular in the last decade due to their practicality.
When dealing with small spaces, shelves are your best friend. They aren’t just meant to hold books and decor and other trinkets, a shelf is a great way to store almost anything. You can and you should add them anywhere, just pick a design. Add a big, freestanding classic shelf to your living room and put heavy books and anything else you can fit in there. Leaning shelves were practically made for smaller spaces since they are slim, but they can hold a lot of items, and they are especially great for decoration pieces. An option you can’t skip are floating shelves. You can place them anywhere and they will hold all of your necessities. Just be sure not to put anything too heavy on them, and fix them to the wall properly.
Once you move to a smaller place, your mind starts working in strange ways. You can no longer just look at your bedroom or a piece of furniture and think nothing of it. The only thing you will be thinking about is how can I create more room for my things here. And that’s how genius creations come to life, such as storage space under the stairs. The extra room underneath the stairs is no longer reserved for Harry Potter or mice, it’s now a place where you will stash your winter jackets instead of your closet, your skiing equipment, or other bulky items you don’t use year-round. Another great example is banquette seating. It’s both beautiful and practical. Put a bench by your bedroom window and add some pillows to it, no one has to know the bench opens up and holds your extra pillows and blankets.
When looking for furniture for your new place, you need to look for the pieces that are most practical, not the most beautiful. Of course, be sure you like their appearance since you’ll be stuck looking at them for the next couple of years, but also be sure you can store things within them. Get a giant closet. Look for a hidden storage room in your furniture. For example, find couches and beds that lift up to reveal giant drawers.
Having a thousand shelves and drawers in your house can get pretty messy, which is why small-house owners love adding baskets, plastic boxes, jars, and other dividers anywhere they can. It makes everything neater and gives it a clean look, especially if you label every basket. And you must add dividers to your drawers – otherwise, they will turn into a mess very quickly.
The key to making a smaller home look neat is not overcrowding it with stuff. You can already barely fit all the belongings you brought with you after moving, there is no need to go and buy more decorations and knick-knacks. Keep everything tidy and clean, and your home will not only look beautiful but feel great as well.
When you’re low on the free room in the house, you need to use it up in the smartest way possible. A great trick for doing that is by finding multipurpose furniture. Plan ahead before buying the furniture. Get a table design you can use as a desk for work, a vanity, and a kitchen table. Find a kitchen island with built-in drawers. Buy a couch that folds out into a comfortable bed, and be creative.
Creative Bathroom Storage Ideas
The place in the house that creates the biggest problem is usually the bathroom, especially when it comes to women. There are a lot of things you need to keep in there, and not a lot of room to do so. Just think about all the cosmetics, appliances, medicine, and other products you need to have in your bathroom. That’s why there are many tricks to maximize the space you have in your bathroom.
For starters, cabinets with lots of drawers will make it possible for you to fit everything you need. Also, if you were planning on having a mirror above your sink, it has to be in the form of another cabinet where you can keep smaller items like medicine and skincare. Keep your towels on a wall hook or a towel rack on the wall, it visually saves a lot of room. Add a floating shelf above your toilet bowl to keep scented sticks, toilet paper, or any other products. When it comes to your shower, a shower niche is a perfect solution for holding all of your shower products. If that’s not possible, a simple in-shower hanging rack will do the trick.
One of the Best Creative Storage Ideas for Small Kitchens Is to Hang the Dish Rack In the Cabinet On the Wall
This is a truly unique storage idea that saves a lot of space. When looking at a kitchen countertop layout, the things that take up the most space are the sink and the stovetop. And then you need to add a dish rack on the little part of the countertop you have left. That pretty much leaves you with an inch of countertop space, which is why some genius out there thought of putting your dish rack inside your kitchen cabinet.
No one likes to cook in a crowded, messy kitchen. Your kitchen needs to be neat and clean, but there are a lot of appliances and tools making that pretty difficult. So, here are some more excellent kitchen hacks to help you out:
- Add a built-in cutting board to your top drawer,
- Use your kitchen island as a table,
- Hang your pots and pans on the wall above your stovetop,
- Add an open shelf instead of large cabinets with doors,
- Use jars and baskets for your ingredients instead of keeping them in boxes.
Reorganizing Doesn’t Have to Break the Bank and Be Expensive
Moving is expensive, an average international move can drain your savings account, and in most cases, it does. That means you need to set a moving budget and stick to it. Plan ahead and see how much money you have left once you’ve paid and tipped the movers for the work well done. That is the money you will have to spend on renovations. But there is no need to worry since reorganizing your smaller home doesn’t have to be expensive. There are many affordable ways you can redecorate, and even saving money on the little things can make a massive difference. For example, you can find a lot of cheap furniture design pieces or smaller items like baskets or jars on sites like Craigslist. Every penny counts.
Hiring the Right Overseas Moving Company Will Make Your Life Easier
If you want to get rid of some moving stress, you need to hire the right international moving company and choose whether you’ll be moving your belongings by air or will they be shipped by sea. You also need to think about overseas vehicle shipping if you want to move your car with you. And remember, find a moving company that offers storage services as well. That will help you out a lot and ease your mind until you find other creative storage solutions. Just focus on planning the move, and don’t stress thinking about what you will do with your stuff once it gets to your new home. Simply prepare for movers and let them do all the work.
