Do you remember Parkinson’s Law? It says that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. The same applies to the drawers we keep our socks in and the garages where we used to park our cars. We can move from a cluttered studio flat to a spacious four-bedroom spread but the clutter catches up with us sooner than we think, and it’s time to think about self storage.
In fact there could be a number of reasons you suddenly have more stuff or less space for it such as moving in together with your partner or downsizing your home. But when those smart garage storage solutions are overflowing, you’ll be glad to declutter your home with self storage, here’s why.
Self Storage, Not the Same as Warehousing
A decent self storage unit is a separate, individually-alarmed garage with a tip-up door you can drive right up to. It should be in a complex with onsite manager, 24-hour video surveillance and automatic lighting. This makes it more secure than the average Victoria home. Self-storing is the obvious solution thousands of Australians have already cottoned onto.
A Fresh Approach to Where We Keep Things
The self storage mind-set involves keeping the stuff nearest to us that we use most often, so we save time and effort. This is why the most popular pots and pans find their way to the front edge of the kitchen shelf. If you have a soup tureen you only use for Christmas, you could take the concept further and keep it in the attic – or in your self storage unit if you rented one.
How to Decide What Goes to Self Storage
There are four categories of things to list as you go from room to room. These are seasonal stuff, keepsakes, documents, and junk. Here are a few examples.
- Seasonal Stuff includes the box of Christmas decorations, surf boards and other kit you don’t use in winter, and your skis and sticks if you like to visit Falls Creek in the snow. There is probably more down in the basement in the form of mud-caked hiking boots but you will have to look.
- Next up are Keepsakes including hard copy photo’s you are emotionally attached to, road maps that are out of date, family heirlooms left to you, a child’s pram your daughter might still want, the model boat you once built and the knitting machine you once used with passion. If you do not use it but do not want to chuck it, then get yourself some self storage.
- Australians have a habit of keeping a lifetime of Documents ‘just in case’. If you are in business, you have a similar problem although this time you have to do it. Documents stored in cardboard boxes are a perfect candidate for keeping in secured rented space, and you can access them any time you want.
What Not to Use Self Storage For
If you have anything that is broken, superseded, does not fit you anymore or you are never going to need again then donate it to the charity shop, or dispose of it responsibly at the recycling depot. By now, you will have realised the value of using self storage for the overflow of things you want to keep, but hopefully not for the things you don’t need anymore.
