Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, landed her on Time’s 100 Most Influential People list. Why? Basically, the overall concept is that you categorize all of your items, like clothes, and get those into the same room. Then you go through all of your like items at the same time (instead of how you probably usually do it, which is one room at a time). You hold each item and ask yourself “Does this spark joy?”. Watching a man do this is rather entertaining, but the underlying idea is a good one because instead of looking for things to throw away, you look at what makes you happy and what you should keep!
How can you use the KonMari approach to self-storage? It’s easy!
- Set aside time to “tidy” – this is going to depend on how cluttered your life is, but it’s safe to double the amount of time you think it will take you.
- Imagine how you want your home and car and office to look.
- Get all of the like items into one spot – kids’ toys, clothes, books, etc.
- Hold each item and whisper “Does this spark joy?” – if not, discard; if yes, keep.
- Make sure to discard of your discard pile before you start putting things back. Donate it, recycle, etc., but get it out of the house so that you don’t keep tripping over things.
- Now figure out how you’re going to put everything back – and this is where self-storage can really help you. If you have a whole category, for example, sports equipment, that gives you joy (or maybe it gives your kids joy), but takes up a lot of space, think about using a small, 8x8 self-storage unit as your off-site locker. Or, if you are passionate about snowmobiling but it’s the middle of summer, don’t just put your stuff back into your garage, consider renting a medium sized, 8x20 self-storage unit and store some of your other winter equipment that you want to keep, but that is bulky.
- Once you’re done thinking through the new “home” for your items, pat yourself on the back because decluttering is really hard work!
Storage Solutions can help you spark joy! Not just because our prices are great and we rent month-to-month so you don’t need to commit, but because our units are all drive-up, we have 24/7 security and we have an employee on site. We care about your belongings and we pay attention. Come and visit us at 9200 Twiss Rd, Milton Ontario, L0P 1B0, call us at 905-854-1008 or check out our website at www.storagesolutionsontario.com.
Your friend in self-storage,
Storage Solutions