We’ve discussed, many times before, the concept that the next time your treasures are looked at may be after your demise. I know many of you who read this column are young, but I bet you have a relative who is up in years and who is a saver. You have my permission to tell them what I have said. “The next one who sees these things is there to clean out the basement – without your permission or input.” Please don’t wait for that day to come. No matter what your age, store things in the basement that you need to keep.

It is really important to let go of a lot of the old in order to have room to store the new. This is true whether you are young, middle aged or a senior citizen. Each of us, with very few exceptions, saves more than we need to. This month, I hope you’ll tackle your basement (or the basement of a loved-one) and feel the difference when you admire your handiwork and de-cluttering skills.

Now, go into the basement. First of all, if you have shelves on one or two of the walls, that’s good. If not, could you see fit to buy or build some? (Don’t discount using used shelves. For the basement, it may not matter if they are in good shape.) I don’t believe in sending you out to purchase expensive items to get your house organized. I feel even more strongly about not having you spend a lot of money for basement storage. You know, there is every kind of storage device from beautiful built-in cupboards with laminate doors to keep everything hidden to bricks and old boards to create shelves just to get things up off of the floor. (You never know when you might get a flood.)

First, try to devise a way to create shelving on a wall or two. If you already have shelves and they are full, now is the time to empty them one at a time and assess what you have stored away. It is really important to examine what you already have and to eliminate much of it, if possible. It is equally important to re-store your items in an organized fashion so that when you are looking for something in particular, you should be able to go directly to that general area to find the item.

Let me digress, for a moment, with some generalized categories of items to be stored: clothes, kitchen items, electrical, plumbing, hardware and tools, mementos, out-of-season holiday things and paperwork to be saved. When you start putting things on the shelves (or back on the shelves) it is really important to map out a plan ahead of time so you’ll know approximately where to put the things you are re-organizing. Try to put the things you might be apt to use frequently near the stairs and then work farther into the depths of the basement with storage you probably won’t use at all.

Next, do you have plastic bins or tubs? If not, watch Target or Wal-Mart for sales and buy several of each size. (Keep the bill and later you can return what you don’t use.) Each of your kids needs at least one or two for their prized school possessions, but only prized things, not all things. If they want to select their favorites, that’s great. Ask for their help or ask for their approval if you do the selecting. You’d be surprised how many things accumulate that seem so important when you put them “in storage” but really lose their glamour when you have several dozen of them for each family member. A great idea is to take a picture of the project(s) and file the picture. You can let the project go and still have the picture for the memory box.

I just heard of a wonderful idea for all you moms and dads with grown children who are still storing their old mementos in your house. Next Christmas or Chanukah, wrap up one memoir for each of your children from their stored things. Give it as a gift and understand it will become a favorite annual event when mom surprises the “kids” with their own things! Both of you will come out good. Your basement gets more space and they start taking care of their own things.

Now, back to cleaning the basement. There should be bins also for things like your mementos, things perhaps passed down from family members that are not being displayed at the moment. If you really have a lot of those types of things, only save the things that could be valuable in future years. Every glass ashtray doesn’t have to be kept. Also, spreading these collectibles around the family is always a good idea. Typically, family members a little farther away than the core group could be very grateful for a dish or vase from a favorite relative.

You should have storage bins for Christmas items or other holiday items. Buy color appropriate bins for those things. Have bins for out-of-season clothes if you don’t have enough room in your upstairs closets, for tools and for old (but important, only) paperwork and tax records.

Now, if you have a bunch of empty boxes from appliances you have purchased, pitch all but the newest which might require a box if they are to be sent back under warranty. I have convinced many people to pitch the empty boxes from TV and stereo and computer equipment. The boxes are years old and, if you needed to send something to a factory for repair, you’d probably go to a packaging store to make sure the package was secure and insured. Unless you have lots of room in your basement, get rid of the big boxes.

If you have old clothes that don’t fit, donate them to a local charity or to a women’s shelter and perhaps even get a tax write-off. If the clothes are too good to donate to a charity, take them to a resale shop and generate income for yourself. Regardless of which way you get rid of them, the whole idea is to let them go and get them out of your house.

If you have sports paraphernalia that isn’t being used, sell it or donate it and take a tax write-off. There are also school fundraising sporting goods sales. Everyone benefits if you take advantage of this type of charity.

Another hint: use only heavy duty black plastic bags for trash. You don’t want to use clear plastic and have most of the stuff brought back in on trash day when everything is at the curb. If you have accumulated enough stuff to have the walls closing in and you don’t intend to move to a larger house, take a tough look at what you have and then allow yourself to “let go” of things you don’t need and haven’t used in a long time.

As I always say, as you create an empty space in the area you are working in, bless its emptiness before you start filling it up again. Fill it only with essentials and let the rest go. Make room for new memories and for the future. Don’t get bogged down in the past. Take time to be thankful for and enjoy this season of the year.

Nancy Kalef is the retired owner of Let’s Get Organized! and formerly went to client’s homes to organize their closets, cupboards and paperwork. If you have an area of your life you would like to get organized, email your questions and/or subjects to NancyKalef@comcast.net.