Try one of the beds where the whole mattress and frame can be lifted up with the help of gas pistons. You can fit a lot of boxes, photos and luggage underneath a Queen or king size bed this way!
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My sister-in-law was a master with storage and organization. I donāt think she had a single piece of furniture that didnāt open in some way: Chests for coffee tables, armoires, covered baskets, etc. Almost every piece had a storage function ā and looked great.
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^^^ Adding to that great idea, storage ottomans. A bench ottoman with storage is sort of like the adult toy box - you can hide/store all kinds of things in there!
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to multi-use furniture, especially in small spaces. In our cabin, the ottoman top converts to removable tray tables and the storage space is sized for hanging files (or anything else youād want to put in there).
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When we used to look for our first houses, Iād ask myself - āWhere would I store suitcases? out of season clothing? vacuum cleaner?ā. (that was before I had started storing a lot of family stuff for my mother). The split entry homes, which we called āraised ranchā in NY, had lots of bright living space and initial appeal. But with no attic or basement, storage was somewhat limited.
I donāt need to do this in our current big house, but you can store suitcases under a bed with out of season clothing or shoes inside. For low bed frames, you may need to use the clamshell style, opened.
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Am looking for a bedframe with at least 7" under bed clearance. Have four long, flat containers filled with fabric to store in the guest room. Worst case, Iāll get some of those risers everyone takes to college.
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At this rate, I may need to find a lofted bed with 7 FEET of clearance if I canāt bring myself to part with more photos 
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Photos and fabric are what I collect. Have thirty large tubs of fabric, plus a closet full of quilt tops that need batting & backing so they can be quilted together.
Plus, there are boxes and boxes of photos and slides ā Iām the family genealogist, so I have pics from both sides of the family. I also do photography. Many boxes of my pics need weeding and scanning, plus I have 150k photos online to cull/organize.
My plan is to ruthlessly downsize everything else. That part wonāt be as difficult.
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If some of the photos are album bulk, you could take photos of the pagesā¦ then disassemble (and keep only the best ones). I may do that someday. But most of the albums are from my mom and her parentsā¦ itās still fun to look at them.
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One thing Iām looking into for H is garage ceiling storage racks. There are plain metal racks, fixed to the ceiling, that run around $150 - 200. The only problem with them is that a ladder or stepstool is required to install and use. For a bit more you can get a ceiling hoist, and, if you donāt mind the cost, for about $2K - $3K you can get a motorized rack with remote control. That might be useful for your sporting and outdoor equipment.
Last month I bought a second dresser for our bedroom, and just wish I hadnāt waited. We already had underbed storage boxes in our room, but the bed in the guest room is too low for them. Itās mainly used for extra bed linens and throws. Any additional furniture will be required to provide storage.
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At this point, the ravages of inflation makes staying in our house more worthwhile. We would end up just paying more in rent, when we could just payoff the house we have. We opted not to buy a big fancy house. Our Chihuahua would get lost and starve to death.
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Rents do keep going up up. Of course homeowner expenses doing the same. The advantage with the home owning though is (at least on average, longterm) equity growth.
We have looked very carefully at home ownership vs rent for our new retirement living. Our current home, which we have owned for 35 years has doubled in value (I am making an assumption of value based upon the current local market). That seems like a decent investment until you factor in the costs over these 35 years. If we add up our real estate taxes over the same 35 years it almost is exactly equal to the profit from the house. Then you have to consider the other expenses over this time (some capital but others not). The huge amount of money I have spent on the 2 roofs I put on, the 3-4 water heaters, the 2 central AC units, the 2 heating units, the hardscaping, fencing, siding, windows, thousands in tree removals (more likely tens of thousands), new patio, new deck, kitchen remodel, two bath remodels, painting, carpeting, wood floor refinishing, and electrical work. Then the annual costs of mowing, landscaping, snow removal, gutter cleaning, pest control, drain cleaning, etc. Oh, wait, I forgot the interest payments for my mortgage (which is long paid off).
We have looked at this and decided the equity growth is not there. Increases in rent will be matched by increases in homeowner costs. Not having to deal with either repairs or upkeep at this stage in our life is an important factor.
We have been living a dual life for the past 1 1/2 years (living half time in our home and half time in a rental apartment near our daughter). We will be selling our home in the near future and continue renting.
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We sold our home and are renting an apartment while we work on moving the whole extended family to the same town/area. I donāt find our apartment too small, and it is freeing knowing that none of the maintenance is mine to manageā¦but I donāt love climbing several flights of stairs to get to the apartment, and I prefer living in a home that I own and can decorate however I like and that is farther away from other people. There are other benefits to living in a place you own besides just cost.
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No, we donāt want to deal with extra maintenance and costs, especially as we get older. Weād rather use the money for other stuff. We are definitely comfortable, but weāre not filthy rich. If we bought a vacation home, weād be using money that we would use for travel and other fun stuff. We like to travel to a variety of places, if we got a vacation home, weād feel compelled to always go there to get our moneyās worth. Yes, we could rent it out, but thatās one more thing to deal with. And why pile on one more thing in retirement?
We moved a few times when my kids were younger. It wasnāt bad, but then again we stayed in the same area. And my kids went to a private school, so they stayed at the same school. All of my kidās closest friends were either from school or extracurriculars and they lived all over our areaā¦so our kids kept their same friends.
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Dh and I just spent a week with friends who moved last year to a 55+ community in Colorado. Gave us some food for thought. He now loves Colorado as much as I do, but I canāt see us retiring there unless one of the kids moves there. He did agree to maybe Airbnbāing for several weeks in the summer to get some hiking in. Was interesting to learn about their volunteer HOA. Iāve never lived anywhere with an HOA and not sure I want to start now.
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HOA was a new thing for us in CO, but I think it is common in many new build areas(?). Ours is cheapā¦ $35/year to maintain a fence at edge of neighborhood along a big road where there are no backyards. But in some places it can be hundreds per month, especially in communities that maintain yard, roof etc).
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We lived in a large development with an HOA for 24 years, but we live in the city now so no HOA.
HOAās have pros and cons. Ours was pretty affordable but our development supported 5 swimming pools, 2 gyms and several tennis/pickleball/basketball courts. It was great when the kids were young. The rules were fairly strict which I didnāt mind (we were given a copy of the handbook before we bought) but my biggest issue with the rules was that they were not always enforced. We had next door neighbors with a yard full of knee high weeds (several able bodied young adults lived there) and while they were called out on it, nothing ever changed until they moved. Another neighbor violated several rules (we all let it go), but called the HOA to report others. All in all though, it did improve the appearance of the community.
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What is a āvolunteerā HOA? Do you mean run by volunteers, but dues are mandatory?
I think HOA dues in a 55+ community make sense if they are reasonable and covering costs you otherwise planned to pay for yourself anyway (landscaping, sidewalk maintenance, fitness facility/pool, etc.). But read the fine print about how increases are imposed.
Also look into the HOAās restrictions. I have seen some that are painfully burdensome: fining people who donāt bring their garbage can in by 7:00 pm or leave a car parked on the street overnight, requiring prior approval of any new paint color in a lengthy back-and-forth process debating different shades of gray, etc.
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A condo needs an HOA. You are not responsible for anything outside your unit (I remember a friend who owned a condo and the deed said something like he owned the sheetrock in). So they need to have reserves (for capital improvements when needed - new roof, stuff like that). They also pay for snow removal, landscaping, cleaning of public areas (clubhouse), pool and gym maintenance (if they have these), insurance, garbage disposal, etc.
An HOA is run by people who live in these condos and therefore how well they run can vary significantly (think of the condo association in Steinfeld that the parents had in Florida).
However, there are places where it is not a condo but there is still an HOA fee. I have a friend who lives in a community with a lake. She pays an HOA fee for the maintenance of the beach, the clubhouse, lifeguards, insurance, water testing, etc. Again there is a HOA of neighbors that run it.
I feel these two things can be very different - with a condo a lot has been taken from your responsibility, with a home you still have full responsibility but you need these fees for something extra.
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