We are stacking storage bins - heavy bigger ones on the bottom. It works fine for us - the 5x5 unit has 5 stacks of bins in it and it is still fairly easy to get to any box we want.
We deliberately put the 3 holiday boxes in the middle all in one stack, so they are easy to access once a year.
I only do one live tree, no holiday china, and very little décor. But still can’t find a place in this apartment for those holiday boxes.
1 Like
Yes, ditto! What has somewhat worked for us is I’ve requested/required his “stuff” to be confined to certain locations which I won’t touch. I sometimes re-locate “stuff” that is starting to accumulate in other locations to those areas (garage, spare bedroom, etc). I had a storage unit as an interim for about 2 years as I was working on downsizing and needed a place to park things to have room to go through the rest. Much became “out of sight, out of mind” and I was able to get rid of what I didn’t bring back to the house. No valuable or sentimental stuff went into it. Mostly furniture, decor, old magazines, etc.
Our kids use our basement closet as their storage facility. They used to rent a small space downtown but the price went up to $200 a month. So we offered our empty space. They have a key to the house and can come any time with minimal notice. Can’t beat the price, and parking is way better than downtown, too. 
My husband stores some of his crap in the attic of our garage. I keep reminding him how much work it was to get rid of a shed full of crap when we moved. It was literally a metric ton taken to the dump!! 
4 Likes
So far no storage unit, but I am married to a collector. It helps tremendously that I have a very large house (5BR for now 2 people) with a full attic with a permanent staircase, a very creepy basement, and a 500+SF shed (but no garage).
I told him when we downsize I refuse to buy a storage unit. However I could see having one temporarily until the kids have their own houses and can take their child room memoire stuff.
My inlaws had a storage unit for a decade after they downsized from their house to their condo. No one went to check on anything and when they finally went to go through it, almost everything had to be thrown out because there had been a leak at some point. Same thing happened to another family member except instead of moisture, it was mice that got into the unit.
Right now we have 1/4 of our basement unfinished that we use for storage. When we down size, we will purge. If it doesn’t fit into the condo, it’s not coming.
5 Likes
We have a friend. Her father had 4 or 5 storage units they had to empty. Really, there was nothing anyone wanted in any of them. But they had to go through it all, just in case something important was there. There wasn’t anything. Plus, there are 6 siblings and some insisted they all be present for the clean out…and they live in several different states.
This is making me think I need a dumpster again for my house. I’m sure there still is plenty that could easily be tossed.
Our kids have taken everything out of their rooms, and that is very lean now…which is nice. My DD has 50 teddy bears she wants. They are on a shelf about a foot from the ceiling in her old room. They really aren’t in the way.
If you have a college freshman who’ll need storage over the summer, start looking early! It may seem like storage units are everywhere, like Starbucks, but in some college towns, they’re in short supply. I learned that the hard way.
3 Likes
We rented one for a few months when we moved several years ago. When we moved/downsized 2 1/2 years ago, we spent a year getting rid of stuff. Gave away,donated, or Buy Nothing. H got rid of a lot more than I did because he had a lot more stuff and I periodically went through stuff I had and pared down.
I don’t regret getting rid of anything.
7 Likes
I never remember the CC board rules about linking to things, so I won’t attach a link. However, I follow a blogger/author, “Becoming Minimalist,” and there is a guest post on his blog that came through my FB feed today. It’s a couple of years old, but it’s about, “space budgets,” and it made me think of this thread. This guest writer even addresses budgeting space for seasonal decor.
He is my favorite minimalist person to follow.
1 Like
Is there a name you can provide? I wonder if he is on Instagram or similar.
Our house had an unfinished basement (more of cellar, only good for washer/dryer, furnace, shop) and a surprising amount of closet space for an old house. Plus we added pull down stairs for attic. When looking for a replacement, we were impressed by all the space in what we called raised ranches, aka spit entry… at the front foyer you go up half flight to main floor, down half flight to family room / garage level. Large living spaces, but limited on storage.
I’d ask myself these questions… where would I store?
- suitcases
- out of season clothing (which some folks store in suitcases)
- unneeded baby stuff (ie high chair between babies)
- holiday decorations
- shop tools and projects
Our kids and several friends refer to our basement as “the warehouse” because 90% of what’s down there belongs to them. And that’s fine, kinda fun to be their help and we certainly don’t need all the space ourselves. At times when it is obvious that something they saved isn’t gonna be used, we give it away on BuyNothing.
1 Like
It’s Joshua Becker on Insta. Becoming Minimalist was the title of his first book. He’s written a couple of others.
1 Like
We are very slowly trying to clear out the stuff in our basement. We’ve lived here since the early 80’s & have accumulated plenty of our own stuff. When my in laws sold their house to move to assisted living a few years ago, MIL was upset that we didn’t want her stuff. We did get stuck with a grandfather clock that is not being displayed in our house (it’s here, just not in a living area).
My SIL took pretty much everything that the in laws had that was not junk. She has two climate controlled storage units that are packed with furniture from my in laws and from her H’s mom. She also has a 2,500 square foot house that is packed with stuff & a basement where some very important documents from my in laws have gone MIA. Let’s just say that she is our motivation to just say no when offered things we don’t want or need.
4 Likes
Here…I hope this link is allowed.
1 Like
I once got a quote for adding a storage system to my garage…I decided that there wasn’t a single thing that I couldn’t rebuy new for much cheaper. Had a big garage sale instead.
I was once put in charge of looking for storage units for my hobby organization. And finally I concluded we’d be better off throwing the stuff out and buying new yearly than pay for storage.
5 Likes
I dislike clutter and too much stuff. Anyone who knows me knows I get rid of stuff often. My attic has nothing in it, my crawl space has about 4 clear plastic bins. My basement has plenty of wide open storage space. My Dh and I have lived in this house for over ver 25 years, all of our parents have died during this time and we therefore cleaned out their homes. There is nothing I’m that attached to and I’m not overly sentimental so I can’t imagine renting storage space- and yet I know in some situations it is a necessity.
But to rent space just to hold onto things that will never be used, I don’t get it.
7 Likes
I have gotten rid of my storage spaces in the last 10 years. The only one I have now is one in my building. It costs me 40/month. It stores all of D2’s books. Over last 5 years, we could have bought all of those books multiple times over.
I have not allowed my mom to have storage places. Every time she moved she purged. She lived in a 5000 sq ft houst and now she is in a 900 sq fr apartment
4 Likes
This should make you all chuckle. I volunteer at a charity thrift shop where we receive lots of donations when folks are cleaning out a loved ones house. When things are wrapped in newspaper, I always check the date on the paper, to see how long the stuff has been wrapped up. Friday, I unpacked a box that had things wrapped in brittle newspaper dated 1959. Someone packed this stuff up in 1959, and it was never used again….and clearly was stored someplace.
12 Likes
Same. It was part of our “vows” when we married. I would never ask my DH to get me a gift and he would never store non used stuff stuff in our home. Lol. The first thing he did to abide by that promise was to part with all of his college textbooks/notes he’d been keeping for years. When his mom passed away I had to make it clear that no we would not be brining in boxes if her stuff. Want a painting from her home? Tell me where you think it should be hung and done. Otherwise it’s gone. Etc….
7 Likes