We?ve reached that time of year again when the denizens of de-cluttering rear their stackable bins and felt tip marking pens and righteously command us hoarders and litter bugs to “Get organized.”
I?ll get to it.
First, let me tell you about the fabulous feeling that washed over me on a pivotal day in August 2007 as I stood in the doorway of my rented self storage space photographing the emptiness. With the exception of the gray Royal manual typewriter that sat in the middle of the floor, the 5-by-10-foot unit I thought I would rent for only six months in August 2003 was now, four years later, finally empty.
My journey into the world of public self storage started with two storage units. It was the summer of 2003. I sold my 1500-square foot condo and bought another one half its size, resulting in lots of stuff with no where to go. Not all the stuff was mine. Books, toys, memorabilia forgotten by my adult children were abandoned in my space.
My ex mother-in-law, a major pack rat who never lived with me, decided she didn?t need winter wear in sunny Florida where she moved with her daughter but wanted to have a cold weather wardrobe handy when she came back north for a visit. During a weekend stay with me she sneaked her stuff in the closet of my spare bedroom. And there it stayed for nine and a half years. None of us seemed able to let go so we let it pile up and stay.
Ready to move I became one of the 10.8 million U.S. households who haul overflows and unwanted items to the 51,500 public storage facilities spread out over 2.2 billion square feet of space throughout the United States. Divorce, deaths, military service, small business storage needs, foreclosure, bankruptcy are the storage facility back stories, says Chris Wilmot, manager of Allender Storage in White Marsh. Storage space needs have increased by 65 percent since 1995, according to the Self Storage Association.
The inventory in my storage units represented 25 years of acquiring things I hadn?t used or needed for at least 20 years. I could not bring myself to part with them. A five drawer tool chest on wheels, saw horses, old metal boxes of random wires, clothes, bed linens, pots, dishes, office supplies, small furniture and a feather bed. Remember the manual typewriter? It didn?t work, but I kept it.
Feeling guilty and foolish, every month when I paid the storage bill I told myself the same thing: “This is the last month.” Of course, fulfilling that promise meant figuring out what to do with the stuff and that felt like such a burden to even think about so I put it off.
Writing the check for the monthly fee kept the storage in my consciousness which was a good thing. But when I unwisely decided to have the fee automatically debited from my checking account, I went months without ever thinking about the storage unit which is exactly how public self storage has grown into an industry enjoying $20 billion in annual revenue.
A notice that the fee was going up yet again brought me to my senses. I went into the unit, threw myself into a sorting marathon and gave away enough items to consolidate the two units into one. Pumped, I vowed I would clear out the remaining unit over the next month but the months kept coming and going. Finally, during the fourth anniversary of the birth of my storage contract I took three days and with complete detachment got rid of everything.
Outside the storage building, I saw a guy retrofitting a van into a moving workshop. I invited him to take the tools I had in storage. The ground rules: No cherry picking. Take all of the tool boxes or nothing. He happily complied.
After I snapped the picture of the last item in the deep cavern, I walked away feeling lighter and righteous, knowing that my collection of clutter contributed to the growth of a new economy and finally had come to an end.
Tips for De-Cluttering and Organizing
? Have a box of contractor plastic bags on hand. (They are big!)
? Relax your mind and look around the target area
? Plan to work with speed and deliberation
? Quickly section the space off into categories, i.e., magazines, newspapers, clothes, doodads, etc. and fill with the appropriate items.
? Sort through quickly; create a pile for Keepers and one for Gotta Go.
? Separate clothes and household items into Give Away and For Sale.
? Bag the throw aways; box the give aways; and forget about the “For Sales” because unless you already have an E-Bay habit, you?ll never do it. Give them away!
? Identify a home/space for everything you plan to keep. Give their containers or area a name.
? Choose see through storage and organizing containers with lids or pretty boxes themed by color or design.
? Follow the Golden Rule: Create a place for everything and put everything in its place. Immediately.
Allegra Bennett has covered cops, courts and politics as a journalist for national newspapers for 21 years. She is also the author of three books, publisher of Renovating Woman ? “The Do-It-Herself magazine” ? and is a home repair expert on “Home Made Easy” on the DIY cable network. Got questions? E-mail your question to [email protected]
