One of the greatest joys parents have is watching their children grow up through the years. From experiencing their children take their first step to helping them settle into their new home after they leave the family nest, parents experience a lot of special memories over the years.

As the years go by, keepsakes are given, hobbies are established, and various items are purchased and added to the home, representing special family times. While each family belonging and moment holds a significant place in the family home, sometimes too many items accumulated through the years can add to clutter for mom and dad once each child has left the family nest.  

If you are empty nesters, and all of your children have grown up and moved out of your home, you might be considering making some updates and changes to your home now that you have more space. You might also be wondering how you can minimize cluttered areas without getting rid of precious memories.

The good news is that you can do all of the above. Now that your children have grown up and moved away, you have space within your home to make updates and changes, and add space back into your home.  From remodeling an old bedroom into a home office, or turning another room into an exercise room, there are several ways you can change up your living space as empty nesters and avoid clutter.

One of the easiest ways to utilize your newfound space is to get a storage unit. A storage unit will enable you to place various items into storage so that you can remodel rooms, redecorate or move out clutter taking up valuable space within your home. A storage unit will also allow you to hold onto the memories of your children growing up without having to keep every item from their youth or childhood within your home itself.

Here are a few items that a storage unit works great for:

Old Furniture
Perhaps you want to turn one of your children’s old rooms into a home office space, but the room is full of old furniture. Large pieces of furniture can take up valuable space when you are converting a room into an office. Obtaining a storage unit will allow you to move the furniture from the old room into storage where it can still be kept and protected. While you remodel the old bedroom, you have clear, workable space, and a clean slate to redecorate as you choose.  You can still allocate room for your children to stay when they come home to visit, but at least you can manage the amount of items you have in your home a little better when some of them are placed into storage. Storage means that you don’t have to give up your precious memories but rather move them to another place to free up space.

Old Sporting Equipment
A storage unit works great for housing large amounts of equipment from school sports and extracurricular activities your children used to play in their youth. Storage will enable you to free up more space in your home, but still hold onto the past memories of cheering on your children at their various games and events.

Old Clothes/Toys
Items such as old clothes or toys hold special sentimental value, but depending on the amount or size can end up taking up quite a bit of space in your home. From large dollhouses to big collections of toys, items from the past can be placed into storage where they can be protected but saved. This will allow you to enjoy your empty nest, and some additional space in the process.

New Projects
Whether you decide to add a hobby room to your home or extend one of your children’s old rooms into another living area, storage works great for empty nesters because storage allows you to develop a new platform in which you can make changes in your home. With items that have been stored for years cleared out of the way, showing the actual amount of room and space you have, it is easier to determine where to make various changes in your home, and where you can expand with new projects. Placing items in storage offers the ability for renovations to be completed a little more easily, and protects and preserves stored items.

We hope that you enjoy your new empty nest, with the reassurance that storage is a great alternative as you transition the space in your home. If you would like additional storage tips or more information on ways that you can gain more storage, visit our Storage page or our Blog.