During the early stages of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, your inventory space is limited. Not only are you restricted in what you can carry with you, you’re also restricted in what you can store for later use. Fortunately, you have a few options that’ll let you expand the total number of items you can hold and store. To explain further, we’ve put together a guide on how to increase inventory space in Animal Crossing: New Horizons!
How to increase inventory space in Animal Crossing: New Horizons
© Nintendo
- Increase inventory space by exchanging Nook Miles for pocket upgrades.
- Increase home storage by exchanging Bells for home upgrades.
- Max pocket inventory space is 40.
- Max home storage space is 1,600.
In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, there are two forms of inventory: the items you carry with you, and the items you store for later in your home. At first, you’re limited to how many items you can store each way. Thankfully, inventory space can be increased for both. First, you’re going to want to expand the inventory space of the items you carry around with you.
You can view your inventory at any time by pressing X. To increase your inventory space, you’ll need to pay off your island getaway fee of 5,000 Nook Miles. After that, you’ll need to rack up an additional 5,000 Nook Miles to spend on the Pocket Organization Guide. To purchase this, head to the Resident Services Center and interact with the Nook Stop Terminal.
From there, redeem your Nook Miles and select the Pocket Organization Guide. In doing so, your inventory space will increase by 10. We recommend doing this immediately as it’ll help you gather more resources and items to sell for Bells. You can expand your inventory space again later after you’ve invited three new Villagers to live with you on your island.
Once you’ve done this, Tom Nook will upgrade the Resident Services Center. It’ll take a bit of time to upgrade, but once it’s done, you can visit the Nook Stop Terminal again and exchange 8,000 Nook Miles for the Ultimate Pocket Stuffing Guide. With this, you’ll get 10 additional inventory slots, increasing the overall total from 30 to 40.
© Nintendo
Along with inventory space for your pockets, you can upgrade the storage space of your home. To do this, you’ll want to upgrade your tent into a home. When you have a home, you can put unwanted items into storage. To view items in your home's storage, press right on the d-pad when you're inside your home.
Again, the storage space is limited but can be increased gradually as you pay off your home loans and expand your house. Below, we’ve listed the total storage space for each home upgrade level.
- Tent to House: Agree to home loan of 98,000 Bells. Gives you 80 storage space slots.
- House Upgrade #1: Pay off 98,000 Bells, agree to a new home loan of 198,000 Bells. Makes your home bigger, adds 40 storage space slots for a total of 120.
- House Upgrade #2: Pay off 198,000 Bells, agree to a new home loan of 348,000 Bells. Adds a second room, adds 120 storage space slots for a total of 240.
- House Upgrade #3: Pay off 348,000 Bells, agree to a new home loan of 548,000 Bells. Adds another room, adds 120 storage space slots for a total of 360.
- House Upgrade #4: Pay off 548,000 Bells, agree to a new home loan of 758,000 Bells. Adds another room, adds 40 storage space slots for a total of 400.
- House Upgrade #5: Pay off 758,000 Bells, agree to a new home loan of 1,248,000 Bells. Adds a second floor room, adds 400 storage space slots for a total of 800.
- House Upgrade #6: Pay off 1,248,000 Bells, agree to a new home loan of 2,498,000 Bells. Adds a basement, maxes out storage space slots at 1,600.
If you pay for all of the home upgrades, you’ll be able to hold 1,600 items in your home, which is useful if you get an item you’re not quite sure how to use. You can also use it to store crafting materials. One trick we personally recommend is having a crafting station in your home or in your home storage.
That way, you can quickly grab the necessary materials and craft what you need, then put those items back into storage. Convenient, right?
To recap, you can expand the inventory space of your pockets by exchanging Nook Miles for pocket upgrades. The max pocket inventory space is 40 items. You can also upgrade the storage space of your home by exchanging Bells for home upgrades. The max home storage space is 1,200 items.
Now that you know how to increase your inventory space in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, be sure to read through some of our other guides including what the Drop-Off Box is for in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, what a Bell Voucher is in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and how to open Town Hall in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
