What is Decluttering?

Have you seen Marie Kondo’s Tidying Up series on Netflix or read her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing (which landed her on Time’s 100 Most Influential People list)? She loves a good mess and has sparked joy for many individuals and families overwhelmed with and drowning in the chaos caused by clutter. 

Why are people so captivated with decluttering?

• You can function better because everything is in its place.
• With less stuff and less piles of stuff, it’s easier and faster to clean.
• It eases conflict in the home.
• It helps you to detach yourself from ‘stuff’ so you can focus on more intangible things.
• It makes you more aware of your spending or collection habits, which helps you make more mindful decisions about future purchases (or saying ‘yes’ to free stuff).

Decluttering is often synonymous with physically getting rid of stuff. And sometimes it comes with regret. We have all heard someone say (and likely have said this ourselves with a longing sigh), “I use to have that, but I had no room to put it, so I gave it away. On man...I wish I still had it.”

What Actually is Decluttering?

• It is an action that one takes.
• It means removing unnecessary items from an untidy or overcrowded place.

Where do put the items that you have removed? This is the challenge faced by most homes, and business owners too. They have limited spaced, even when you count the basement, attic, garage and shed. Moving to a bigger house or renovating to add more space are not often realistic or feasible options.

With no space, people often quickly act by throwing out, recycling, or donating cherished personal belongings that they still wanted, but had no room for. In these cases, they have moved from decluttering to living a more minimalism-like lifestyle, which may not be what you intended. It’s ok to have stuff, and some people like to be surrounded by their stuff or have it close by. They just need more space.

So, how do you get more space? With local affordable self-storage!

By renting a local self-storage unit:

• You have a more spacious, organized home that is livable.
• You don’t have to sacrifice the things that you love and enjoy (or want to love and enjoy but can’t because you honestly have no room for it at home).
• You have more time and breathing room to deal with belongings and make those tough decisions on whether they’re worth keeping or not. No more rash decisions.

A huge benefit of using self-storage as your extra space is that you can use it all year round as your off-site shed, workshop, basement or attic. Your vintage record collection, school memories, hockey cards and cherished baby clothes and toys you want to pass on to your next generation all have a secure space to call home. It’s perfect for seasonal storage too. In the summer, you can store items like snow suits, Christmas decorations, a snow blower, sleds, outdoor equipment and seasonal clothing. In the winter you can store a kiddie-pool, lawnmower, BBQ, wheelbarrow, patio furniture, fishing and sports equipment and your kayak or canoe. Self-storage units are perfect year-round

If you’re planning to declutter, we hope you’ll consider Storage Solutions. Our prices are affordable, you can access your storage units anytime, and we rent month-to-month. And because we care about our customers and your belongings, we have 24/7 security and an employee on site.

Contact us to learn more about how renting self-storage can help you spark joy!

Your friend in self-storage,

Storage Solutions