Look at any organizational website or catalog, and you’ll find a plethora of boxes, bags, and containers billed as “storage solutions.” No matter what the item, there’s a vessel to hold it—big, small, tall, flat, thin, wide, clear, colored, fabric, plastic, leather, wood.
Put them on shelves, pile them in closets, stack them in your attic, basement, and garage. If you run out of room, gather them up and stick them in a storage unit across town.
And presto—your clutter problems are over!
Uh, not really. Storage is not a solution.
Just because it’s out of sight, doesn’t mean it’s out of mind. Your clutter is still there, hanging over your head, piled beneath your feet, lurking in the dark corners of your home. Just the thought of being surrounded by junk can be psychologically suffocating.
(And forget about dressing it up in designer boxes—making it pretty doesn’t make it go away.)
I re-learned this lesson myself, just recently. When my husband and I returned from England, we had our own little storage unit to deal with. Stuff we’d lived swimmingly without for 2+ years had come back to haunt us. It wasn’t all unwelcome, of course—we’re happy to be reunited with our bikes, and Plumblossom loves to cruise along our newly-reinstated futon/sofa.
But I’m also dealing with a box of books, a box of paperwork, and a box of clothing that I’d all but forgotten about. How tempting it was to toss them without opening them—after all, I hadn’t used (or really missed) their contents in years. Unfortunately, I had to peek inside and rediscover the “nice” office clothes that would be $$$ to replace (will I work outside the home again?), the dress shoes made in Italy, the out-of-print art books that will never be available in a library or on a Kindle.
Sigh. While three boxes is far from a clutter problem, it’s more than this minimalist wants to own. And in all fairness, the paperwork is mostly tax, housing, or medical-related, and necessary to keep. But my goal is to slowly detach myself from the rest (I’ve already started).
So take it from me: storage is not a solution—it’s just a way to hide your stuff until you (or worse yet, someone else!) must deal with it later. Instead: declutter, declutter, and declutter some more!
{If you’d like to learn more about minimalist living, please consider reading my book, The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide, or subscribing to my RSS feed.}
My husband is talking about getting rid of some of his hobby equipment– big telescopes he can no longer lift and carry around easily. Many years ago, I said this might happen. He gives a lot of his things to local junior colleges or junior high schools. When we are older, we don’t need as many things we can’t lift and carry without help. I never bought dining room chairs because we have 2 folding chairs and if I need more I borrow my son’s. We also have 2 desk chairs in our tiny den and we can move them by the table if we need them.
I get magazines free at the library. When I’m done, I pass them to my daughter, who reads them and takes them to work. Travel magazines are for my husband, who returns them when he’s done. My mother always had stacks and stacks and boxes and boxes of magazines all over her homes, and I can’t live like that.
I got a big stack of craft magazines at the library. They give them away. I kept 2 for the craft patterns and returned the rest plus 3 out of my collection I ended up not using. I don’t keep beading or quilting magazines at all any more because I just lost interest.
Had to laugh at this. I’m on a fresh dejunking mission. The new man in my life is happy to help and started suggesting storage solutions, including using my attic. I’ve never been one to put things in the attic unless it was only used occasionally, like camping gear or seasonal decorations, so I had to tell him you’re missing the point. I have stuff I don’t need and don’t want, far too many clothes that no longer appeal to me, some that no longer fit. I need to be shot of it, not shuffle it. He has been great at helping me go through my clothes, and it’s a bonus that I’ll always be wearing something he thinks I look good in :-)
I help people declutter and they make a donation to charity. My friend asked me how many bath towels I have. I said four, one for me, one for my husband, one for a guest, and an old one in case there’s an emergency like heavy bleeding. She was amazed. I have a small box of rags and when they are all dirty, I wash them all in hot water and dry them in a hot dryer. I said I never buy more than one or two of anything. I will never be an extreme minimalist but I get rid of stuff all the time. My friend said my kids will have it easy when I die.
I have noticed that some people regard piles of junk as security. My friend had a huge black garbage bag full of empty toilet paper tubes. I told her to keep 2 boxes full and recycle the rest because if she needed more she could ask her friends. She also had hundreds of empty egg cartons, potato chip tubes, etc. I gave a stack of ratty old towels to my veterinarian. I kept one for an emergency. My other friend can’t part with old sheets and towels.
When my sig other and I moved into our current domicile, we were thrilled to discover some built-in, floor-to-ceiling shelving units in the basement. They had been built and left behind by the former owner when they moved out of the house. We had been living in a smaller and older home with minimal storage areas. We weren’t minimalists at the time, nor were we when we moved into the current house, and so the massive shelves seemed like a most welcome salvation. Oh no, they were anything but the promised storage nirvana. We had filled the shelves about 3/4 of the way just on moving day, and the first few months were a juggling act of rotating things into and out of the shelves. The greater storage capacity of the shelves vs. our prior house only allowed our accumulations to fester and grow. Rather then jettisoning things that did not improve out lives, we just threw them into the basement, and over time, we added to them.
The real “ray of light” moment came when I discovered minimalism through this site, The Minimalists, and others about 18 months ago. After a year and a half of downsizing, we’re no longer hurting for storage space. “Holes” of emptiness have started to appear on the infamous basement shelves where once resided piles of clutter. We’re not “done” – living minimally isn’t ever “done” really – but we’re much happier with the empty space in our house. Storage is not a solution!
My friends know I do a lot of Paper crafts with various themes. They pick up craft magazines at rummage sales or garage sales when they see them. I check them out and pass on the ones I won’t use. There are people with boxes and boxes of old magazines. It would take several lifetimes to do all the projects.
I am scheduled to teach a Christmas program and a Valentine’s Day program. I was given garbage bags full of paper, ribbon, cards, etc. I picked out just what I needed and passed on the rest to other crafters and teachers I know. Everything fits in one cabinet or on one shelf. I just did a program at a forest preserve using faded, misprinted papers and glue. Friends keep enough craft supplies for years and years.
Every week I fill a bag for Goodwill. I just found 4 shirts to give away. My daughter has lots of clothes she never wears, DVDs she doesn’t watch, and more. I have gotten her to give away a lot of stuff. But there is so much more.
My husband wanted new night tables. We were given our current ones for our wedding 46 years ago. I picked smaller ones from IKEA. They won’t hold as much junk. Next DH wants my yard sale dresser gone. I will get a smaller one.
Once I have emptied a storage bin, I give the bin away. If it was a container I really like, I give a different container away.I like glass jars in the kitchen. In the bedroom and bathroom, my choice is usually plastic. I like clear plastic jars with screw on lids for buttons, ribbon, and other small items. I have hobby items in plastic toolboxes. Then I have a few plastic shoeboxes. I just gave away a few cases from my cupboards. They were pretty but I had plenty.
The current COVID19 lockdown and the toilet paper hoarding make me laugh. I have 12 rolls of TP, 4 boxes of kleenex, and a package of paper napkins.
I picked up a prescription and noticed bars of soap on the shelves. I have no room to hoard for the zombie apocalypse.