[lindaelane]

My tip is to make use of high ceilings, if your home is like a majority - but not all - homes in The Villages. You will have a closet in your spare bedroom(s). Also a master closet. The Villages did not bother to install "high up" shelves, but they are simple to install - you can match the cheap shelving of the type The Villages provided for less that $20 per shelf, plus labor if you pay someone to attach the shelves. These "high shelves" can go in all your closets. Of course, you can put shelves in your garage for anything that can take the heat. Finally, the guest bath is a great place for shelves and/or cabinets placed high up. Plus those inexpensive "3 Shelf Over the Toilet" things are useful - you can put paper products (toilet tissue, Kleenex) and air freshener on them without anything looking messy and then other things can fit under your sink.

Your house probably has an attic - but of course it is very hot and probably has no "pull down" ladder such that you can access it without great difficulty.

The kitchen will be one of your greatest challenges because there is not enough kitchen space in most homes. There is generally a wall without any installed cabinets - you can buy a stand-alone cabinet. If your kitchen leads right to your garage you can store things like foil or spare dishes, pots and pans on a shelf or in a cabinet in the garage beside your kitchen door.

If desperate, I've seen people install walls in rooms that are bigger than they need to be. They place the wall about six feet back from the main wall, with a door in it. Then they have a 6 foot by 12 foot (or so) storage space which is air-conditioned and which can be filled with all manner of stuff.