Useful tips: Under-bed Storage

Nowadays with living spaces getting smaller, we have to be creative to come up with extra storage areas without cluttering our homes. One good way is making under the bed a neat storage area instead of what our mothers used to do with shoe boxes. In the old days, what we did was to keep all our stuff in shoe boxes or old fruit or milk cardboard cartons and pushed it underneath our beds. Although this worked fine while storage is concerned, but when it came to cleaning time, it was a real hassle to have to remove box by box and vacuum and mop before having to pile the boxes up one at a time again.

In keeping with the old tradition of shoe boxes and cardboard cartons, these are still good containers to keep our momentos but to make it easier for the cleaning process, a plank on wheels comes in handy as all you have to do is to pull our the plank and the whole lot of boxes comes with it. No muscle required. The good thing is you can make this simple but useful contraption yourself just as I did at minimal cost.

If you happen to know someone who has a plank lying around somewhere, that's fine, if not just purchase a cheap piece of chipboard or plywood board to your specifications. Get four casters (roller wheels) from hardware shop or supermarket. They come with four holes to each of the rollers and the screws are also provided most of the time. Just screw in the roller wheels in each of the four corners of the planks and there you have it. A rolling plank that will hold all your boxes when it goes under the bed. If you want to be more creative, you can screw in two hooks on each end and attach a rope to it. This will act as a handle that will make it easier for you to pull out the plank when you need to vacuum under the bed. Useful for keeping your shoes too if you are like Imelda Marcos. I think it cost me about RM25 total for one but then if you can find any old planks for free like a table that's broken or someone has thrown out a cabinet and the doors are still good, then all these can be converted to this useful plank on wheels.