It all starts so innocently. A box here, a box there, and then the chair is the table. You tell yourself it’s OK. It’s not.
In a small place, things are weighty. Not physical, emotional. You feel it when you walk, when you can’t find things, when your home is a little messy, even when you are alone. Click our extra resources for another topics!
The solution, declutter. People say that a lot. But life is not so simple. You need some of these things, but not right now. Enter the small storage unit, and it works quite nicely.
You don’t need a big unit. Smaller is usually better. The trick is not to move house. It’s to get rid of the things that don’t need to be in your home.
Think about what you need for a week. Clothes, some odds and ends, maybe work things. But what about all the other stuff you have, the things that are for the seasons, the extra, “just in case” things. That’s the junk.
Store that stuff in mini storage and your home opens up.
It’s not bigger but you feel like it is. Corners open up. Surfaces clear. You don’t need to stack stuff on top of each other. And it feels a bit more open and you notice it more than you might expect.
I once moved two suitcases, a fan and some documents out of my apartment. I didn’t think much of it at the time. But when you went back in, you felt it. The apartment was quieter. Less busy, less busy in a strange way.
Here is the key. It is not storing, it is sorting.
Your house is a place for things. Other things go in a place nearby. It’s not in the way, but you can still get to it.
And there’s less moving things. You don’t have to rearrange it every weekend to make it look nice. In, out, gone.
Admittedly, you have to be a bit careful. Just not as a dump. But if you’re careful, it’s like having an extra room for free.
And that’s why it works. Not because it’s cool, but because it works and the problem is not solved.