Keep, Toss or Store it

Storage space-we never seem to have enough of it. Many people fill every nook and cranny of their home with stuff and what can’t fit in closets, bedrooms and hallways, seems to ooze out of the house and into self contained storage units in the back yard. There’s no doubt people like their stuff and they like to save their stuff. Whole television shows are built around the need for some people to keep or hoard their stuff and how it affects their ability to live a normal life.

No one wants to become that person, which is why it’s important to get a handle on what you keep and what you toss before you find yourself on a reality television show crying over the prospect of tossing a pizza box your kid drew on ten years ago.
The most important step is to decide how much room you want to allot for storage. Once you determine how much room you will allow for things the next part is whittling it down to fit in those allotted spaces.

You may find some things like artificial Christmas trees, holiday decorations and the like take up a great deal of room but are used annually and its not always economical to toss and replace things like this. If you want to take the clutter out of your home, a good option would be to rent a storage unit to put things that you don’t need daily access to. This way you know your property is safe and you have the advantage of feeling like your home is becoming clutter free.

Just be careful that you don’t start transferring all of your treasures into a storage unit without some careful consideration first. The test for most items is to ask yourself if you have used the item in the last year. If you haven’t used it you probably don’t need it and won’t miss it when it’s gone.

If it’s an item you have used in the last year, ask yourself are you likely to use it again? A sweatshirt you wore because it was laundry day and don’t like can be tossed into the discard pile for example.

Once you have sorted through your items you should have a pile for storage, a pile for discard or the thrift store and a pile that you can put in rented storage to get the clutter out of your home, garage or attic.

You should be pleased with your new found space, but resist the urge to start refilling those empty nooks and crannies, that is after all how you got into this mess in the first place.