You probably feel it: that horrible sinking feeling when you look in your closets and basements and realize that you have too much stuff.
Image: Ercwttmn
The good news is that you aren’t alone. Statistics Canada says that every Canadian has nearly three square feet of stuff in storage. Americans are even worse – they have double that amount. Every time you turn on the television, there are ads for closet organizers and storage solutions. Everyone has too much stuff.
But what should you do about it? Some people rent storage units to ensure they can keep all of this stuff, but is this the right thing to do? Why not get rid of some of it, instead? You don’t, after all, want to wake up one day and find your house looks like it should be on Hoarders.
Here’s a few tips for helping to get control of this overload of stuff.
1. Make a feasible plan to deal with it. Frequently, when we are forced to deal with the mountain of stuff in our houses, we try to tackle it all at once and over one afternoon. You spent years accumulating all of the stuff you are trying to get rid of, so it will take you a long time to deal with it. Break up the de-clutterizing into manageable parts.
2. Start to think about why you are storing things. Often, we just put things in storage so we don’t have to think about whether we need them or not. But that’s obviously not ideal. When you put things in storage, everything should be put away with a reason.
3. Divide and conquer. The reason why you put things in storage is to ensure that you have them later, for when you need them. For instance, you store seasonal decorations to save money buying new ones every year. You save art or collectibles to increase their value. You stow away sentimental objects to help you remember important times. You should not store things because you aren’t sure you’ll need them later. If ever you think – I’m not sure why I have this – it’s time to toss it.
4. Put everything you store in clear, durable plastic bins, and clearly label the top. It will help you retrieve the right container when you need to find it. This is also a good way to tell if what you are saving is worthwhile: if you can’t figure out a simple and accurate label for the bin (“Christmas Decorations,” “Old Letters”), you probably don’t need the stuff inside it. (For example, anything that says, “Misc.” should probably be tossed out.)
Heleen Jacobsen
Broker of Record with InfoMarket Group GMAC Real Estate
www.infomarketgroup.com
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