From Guest Blogger Amelia Atkins: Green Storage Ideas

There are a lot of reasons to have an eco-friendly home. First of all, the damage we’re doing to the environment is becoming the most important social and political issue of the day and everyone should do their part to mitigate it.

However, there are other more practical benefits of having a green home, as well. It’s a great way to save money usually in the long run, and it’s often a more healthy way to live. Storage areas of your home play a big role in this and they often get overlooked.

Insulate your storage
Storage units are usually far away from your main living quarters and that makes them vulnerable to changes in weather and humidity. This is especially true when you’re storing most of the items you don’t need in a basement. In order to prevent the issues that might arise due to humidity, make sure you have insulated to storage with extra care.

The materials used for insulation are often rather harmful to the environment so make sure to ask the contractors what they plan to use and how it fits with the rest of your eco-friendly setup.

Packing materials
The material from which the packing containers themselves are made isn’t usually considered and it’s very important to decide on the material that’s both save to use with storing any items and one that can be biodegradable over time. Many opt out for using plastic because it’s versatile and easy to move but it’s a mistake to do so.

Paper towels can be used instead of a bubble wrap and the containers themselves can be made out of recycled wood. It’s usually a good idea to talk to the woodworkers in your area because they probably have pieces of used wood that you can purchase at a low price and make your own containers.

Shelving
One of the most important things to consider when creating a storage area is how much space you’re wasting and how you could utilize the space better. That way you’re wasting less energy on heating and cooling the storage area and AC is probably the biggest expense for an average household.

Investing in shelving solutions that suits your storage needs is always a good idea because it allows you to create your own system and keep track of all the items in your storage, thus preventing both shortages and wasteful spending.

Lighting
Most homeowners don’t even consider how much the lighting in their property affects the environment and how easily they could improve it. This is especially true for storage areas because they need to be lit almost all the time due to safety concerns and sometimes due to the type of items you’re storing.

Simply by changing the type of lighting you’re using, you may end up both saving on the energy bills and reducing the carbon footprint. LED lights provide the same quality of lighting, but they use much less energy than the traditional bulbs. They are more expensive to purchase, but since they almost never break the savings pay off in the long run.

Storage area like any other part of your home should be built with ecological considerations in mind. This is also a way to cut down on your energy consumption and save money.