Pages

Friday, October 24, 2008

Law of Storage

"The amount of stuff to be stored automatically expands to fill the space available in which to store it. "Murphy was an optimist" corollary: ...automatically expands to excede the space available."

Over the course of the last couple weeks the hubs and I have not only put up our Halloween decorations but have gone through Halloween and Christmas decorations we no longer want. We have a pretty big tub of them and I will post on Craigslist this weekend in the hopes of making a little extra cash. If it doesn't go then I will donate.

We keep our holiday decorations in our storage unit under one of the buildings in our condo complex. Up until recently our storage unit was cram packed full. It was scary just to open the door. Even though we have shelves we have so much stuff that huge plastic storage tubs were stacked up on the floor making it really hard to get to anything at the back of the unit.

We are going to be putting our holiday decorations in smaller boxes and tubs so we can actually put them on the shelves (may need one more shelf unit) to free up the floor. It will be so nice to be able to walk in to our storage unit, choose the item(s) we are looking for and take them into the house.

Since we are in a condo and storage is priceless we need to be pretty choosy what we keep and what goes. We are avid campers so all of our camping equipment stays and get's stored out there along with our luggage, the aforementioned holiday decorations and some large tools. I think we might move our beer making stuff out there until we are ready to brew another batch.

Currently we have my old bed frame stored there too. It's an antique and has been in my family since my aunt was a teenager. It breaks my heart but that along with the matching dresser is going to be placed on Craigslist. I already got rid of the vanity that went with it. Some lucky little girl has it in her bedroom. When I look at the reality of the situation though, we have not used the bed for two years, I got it for free, it doesn't go with our decor and it served me well over the last ten years. It's a full size bed and the hubs and I want nothing smaller than a queen for ourselves and the kids room is to small.

We also have a dining table, a trunk and another farm table I suspect will end up on Craigslist this weekend.

What can be said for storage can also be said for your house. I have stopped getting magazine subscriptions because I never read them or they end up in a huge pile to look throuh some day. Most often I can find what I need online. Little piles throughout the house are dissapearing to never come back. Nonessential kitchen items we never use are going to go. Books we will never read again, movies we will never watch again and clothing we will never wear again are also on the donate list.

This gives me the opportunity to really see what is in my closet I am lacking so I can hopefully find it at a thrift store, on sale or make it.

What are you all doing to declutter your spaces instead of filling them up?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm trying to work on the number of magazines we subscribe to as well. I think there are 20 subscriptions coming into the house right now between my husband, kids and I and there are really only a few that we read regularly.
I'm on a book-buying/checking out books ban for myself until I get my reading pile down. After that, I plan on just checking out books from the library and only buying a book if I feel I need it. And now that the library fine is paid, the kids can check out books again. My husband participates in a book swap at his work.
We take clothes and household items that are in good condition to the consignment store on a regular basis. Everything else gets donated.
The basement, my office and my youngest's room are the biggest clutter areas at the moment. I plan on doing some 15-minute Flylady declutter sessions everyday so it's not so overwhelming.

paisley penguin said...

I have been utilizing the local library a lot too. Forgot how much I love it. There are a few books I've checked out that I definitely want and they go on my wish list.

I like fly lady and have definitely used a lot of her tips in the past.

Anonymous said...

Hey I thought the law of storage was a phenomenon applicable to me only - kind of like the same law that says no matter how big your handbag is, you'll find stuff to fill it so full it nearly breaks your arm! Glad to see I'm not alone!

paisley penguin said...

HaHa - I just cleaned out my handbag. Thought I found a family of five in there!

Jenn said...

When I was really trying to cut out the clutter (it's good enough that it doesn't make me twitchy anymore), I asked myself if I would want to replace it if there was a natural disaster and we lost everything. If the answer was no, then I got rid of it. It helped on books and CDs, didn't work so well on computer games. I'm terrible with computer games. We got rid of our old PS one and Super Nintendo in the spring. I'm still a little sad, but it's for the best.