Decluttering: Store or Keep?

What to keep and what to store?

As you look around your house, you realize that you have accumulated more than will fit into the square footage available in your home. It may be that you cannot abide junk and regularly rid your home of worn-out items and things no one wants anymore. Still, you see that too many things are cluttering your home and hiding its style and pizzazz. You decide to rent a self storage unit. It will allow you to rotate your treasures in and out of your house at the whim of your inner design guru.  Now comes the hard part – decluttering. What should stay and what should be tucked away in your self storage unit?

Decluttering Keepers

• Hold onto clothes that are in season and that you wear regularly.
• Keep at home practical items in regular use like silverware, towels, bedding, and soap dishes.
• Retain often used furniture.
• Keep photos and wall hangings that add a spark to the décor.
• Hold onto board games and enough toys to fill your child’s toy box.
• Keep enough of your college student’s personal objects to make them feel at home when they visit.
• File current bills and private documents like social security cards and bank account information at home.
• Show off collectors’ items in a display cabinet.
• Make room for sporting gear that someone in the house uses every few days (basketballs, yoga mats, bikes, and more).
• Carve a niche for that emergency household tool kit.

Storage-bound

• Store out-of-season clothing and footwear.
• Box up extra items that clutter your cupboards like excess towels, the good silver used only on holidays, extra blankets needed only in winter, and toothbrush holders that have been replaced by a fresh design.
• Store the rocker that only grandma sits in when she visits every six months or the footstool that no one uses but everyone trips over.
• Store photos and wall hangings that make the room look too busy or just don’t fit your current design scheme.
• Pack away extra toys that you have no room for. Rotate them in and out every few weeks so that your child can enjoy all of them. Involve your child in the decisions.
• Put away your college student’s bags, balls, and other belongings that spill out of his closets into other rooms or that make his room uncomfortable for guests.
• Stash tax documents and other papers that may be needed but are seldom reviewed.
• Store collectors’ items that take up too much room and don’t look good on display. If you have several collections or many items, you may want to rotate them.
• Pack up the out-of-season sporting gear.
• Bundle garden tools together in the off-season and stick them in a garbage bin in your self storage unit.
• Ultimately, use your discretion to decide what stays and what goes. Label your stored goods well. If you are keeping them, you should rotate what you can into daily use every so often.