Do you have a guest room? Is your guest room closet empty? If you are like me, more than likely not. We have a guest room in our home whose sole purpose is to house guests (i.e., it’s not a dual purpose room, such as a guest room/office). But, the closet is packed full!
When expecting guests, I go into the closet and make room for guests to hang their clothes. I guess it’s my meager attempt at “purging” and “decluttering”. But, somehow, that closet ends up full again!
Why? Because I use it for overflow items that I can’t find room to store anywhere else! So, in continuing on with my household inventory project for emergency preparedness, I did not want to overlook this area of our house.
If this is your first time reading one of my list of 42 posts, welcome! If you are a regular reader, welcome back! Almost every Friday (I know, today is Wednesday!), I publish a list of 42. Usually it’s a household inventory list of some kind. I’ve published 67 lists of 42 so far on this blog and this one, today’s, is number 50 for the household inventory project.
The idea is to use my FREE printable checklists (available at the bottom of this post), to create your own household inventory binder. Print it, take it with you to whatever area the checklist is about, peruse your belongings in that area, check them off the list and make notes of items not covered on the list. Then, snap a photo. Done!
What do you do with it when you are done? I suggest you add it to your Fly-away Kit. If you remember to take your Fly-away Kit with you, you’ll have something to help refresh your memory in order to complete the household inventory list your insurance carrier will require.
Another option is to complete it, scan it and download it, along with photos of your belongings, to a thumb drive and carry that thumb drive on your key chain. Another idea is to download it to an external hard drive, but you have to remember to take the external hard drive with you when you evacuate. Another idea is to look into one of the many cloud-based storage sites.
Or, do all! Nothing wrong with redundant systems!
About a year and a half ago (June 2013), I realized that I had not done a whole house inventory on our new home. And, at that point, our new home was already 3 1/2 years old! So, I embarked on this project to rectify this oversight and decided to share my progress on this blog.
For new readers, we lost our home in the 2007 California wildfire, known as the Witch Fire. I’ve written a 20-part series about the loss of our home and the rebuild and you can read it here: Any Way the Wind Blows.
When we lost our home, we did not have an inventory to submit to our insurance carrier, nor did we have many photos. In other words, we were completely unprepared for a catastrophic event. So rather than be reactive the next time, should we need a household inventory again, I’ve decided to be proactive and work on it now.
It took me 9 1/2 months of working nights and weekends to finish our household inventory. I worked on it every spare moment. If we weren’t working on something regarding our rebuild, I was working on that inventory! This time, I’m working on it one small step at a time, once a month.
The 2007 California wildfires were catastrophic – we weren’t the only family who lost their home. More than 1,500 homes were destroyed, a total of 30 wildfires were burning in Southern California (17 of them major wildfires) and 1,000,000 people were evacuated.
Yes, one million people! The largest evacuation in California history.
Wildfire Season in Southern California used to be from June to October. Now it’s a year-round threat because of our severe drought conditions and increasing Santa Ana winds. In fact, just the other night (I believe it was last Sunday), I was awakened at 4:oo a.m. by what sounded like a freight running through our backyard. It was an extreme Santa Ana windstorm, with winds gusting at 60 mph.
It was terrifying. I stood at our bedroom window watching our palm trees, outlined in the moonlight, bend from the extreme stress of the wind. Fortunately, we didn’t lose any trees that night. Our pool, however, if full of debris!
I did not go back to sleep that night!
So, here we are in January with the threat of wildfire.
Here’s the list of 42 things in your guest bedroom:
- Closet systems, hanging shelves
- Shelves and shelf dividers
- Storage boxes, baskets, containers
- Storage caddies, bins, trays, cases
- Space saver bags
- Clothing storage organizers
- Moth protection, cedar blocks
- Luggage, garment bags
- Luggage rack
- Wrapping paper, ribbons, gift boxes
- Wrapping paper storage containers
- Greeting, gift and holiday cards
- Gifts for others
- Games, toys, puzzles
- Craft supplies and storage
- Sports equipment and gear
- Hobby equipment, supplies
- Workout equipment and gear
- Sleeping bags, outdoor gear
- Raincoats, raingear, umbrellas
- Snow suits, gear, gloves, mittens
- Extra bed linens, blankets, pillows
- Extra bath towels, beach towels
- Guest bathrobe
- Other household linens
- Overflow household items
- Shopping bags and hand carts
- Backpacks, tote bags,, handbags
- Holiday decorations
- Dining table extension leaves
- Folding table and chairs
- Emergency supplies
- Party supplies and equipment
- Family heirlooms, mementos
- Coats, jackets, blazers
- Formal wear (clothing)
- Wedding dress, costumes
- Off-season clothing and shoes
- Over-the-door hangers
- Door hooks and door racks
- Hanger stacker/holder
- Hangers: standard, skirt, trouser, coat, accessory (metal, wood, satin, plastic, fabric, flocked, velvet)
Here’s your FREE printable checklist of 42 Things in Your Guest Bedroom Closet: TS4T Checklist – 42 Things in Your Guest Bedroom Closet.
Tootles,
Related Posts:
(other lists of 42 household inventory items)
NOTE: the list below is not all-inclusive. For a complete list of 42, visit Archives – By Category.
- 42 Kitchen Basics for Your New Home
- 42 Must Have Kitchen Utensils
- 42 Nice-to-Have Kitchen Supplies and Equipment
- 42 Cooking Essentials for a Well-stocked Kitchen
- 42 Nice-to-Have Kitchen Gadgets
- 42 Things in Your Laundry Room
- 42 Things for Your Pets
- 42 Important Papers in Your Home
- 42 Storage Solutions for Your Home
- 42 Things in Your Foyer, Mud Room and Hall Closet
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