Life in a Storage Unit; or, How to Declutter Without Losing Your Sanity
This all began with my desire to do a deep cleaning of the apartment. As I contemplated the task, I began to realize how difficult it was due to the overwhelming presence of – stuff. All kinds of stuff that had accumulated over the years since I moved from Greece back to the United States.
It began with the best of intentions. I needed to create a home for my sons on a severely limited budget. Relatives came to the rescue, first with a vanload of items to help clothe us and furnish our unfurnished house in San Diego, and again with more donated items when we moved from San Diego to Yakima, Washington. We sorely needed the assistance and made use of almost everything we were given. Later, when we finally made the leap to Seattle, my sons came and went as their destinies called them, but when they left they usually left some of their stuff behind. I personally too, as a result of relentless poverty, had a tendency to hang onto things long after their usefulness had passed. After the last son moved out, I downsized from a two-bedroom to a one-bedroom apartment, but due to a lack of time, I had to bring most of the accumulated things with me and somehow cram them into the smaller space. It was a complex jigsaw puzzle of a task, and I supposed that when I had finished I had done the best I could.
But I hadn’t. What I should have done was get rid of as much as I could. Instead, the clutter seemed to grow. Until recently, as I said, when I realized I’d had enough. By this time I had three desks and two dressers, and I only used one of each. I also had six bookshelves bursting with books, DVDs, and games. I had to do something.
I started with the books, and over the course of a few days I gathered three large bags full of volumes I knew I’d never read or refer to again. I managed to sell most of these to a used bookstore, and the others I distributed in the neighborhood little free libraries.
To inspire me, I began reading a copy of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo that one of the boys had left behind on a shelf. I don’t agree with everything the author proposes; for instance, she anthropomorphizes her belongings, takes the perspective of the affluent, and goes to extremes about what should be kept or tossed. Still, I agreed with her that purging and organizing belongings is good for the spirit, and I realized that I would feel better if I attacked the mountainous clutter threatening to overwhelm my small apartment. After the books will come the papers, the clothes, the broken or outdated electronics, and the odds and ends. I’ve even arranged with one of my sons to rent a U-Haul while he’s here for Christmas and get rid of the unneeded furniture. (It turned out that weeks before Christmas one of my brothers came by with his pickup and helped me get rid of the excess furniture.)
What is the goal of all this? For one thing, it will make cleaning the apartment much, much easier. For another, as I clear my living and working spaces, I am confident (or at least hopeful) that my thoughts will become clearer as well.
I’ve never owned much. Even now I own much less than most of my contemporaries. After decades of traveling and living abroad, and also moving from one place to the other in the States, I realize that it is not the quantity of possessions that is important. Some people need or crave more than others. That’s fine by me. The important thing I need to attend to, though, is whether I personally have exceeded my limit. If I have, these extra things will only weigh me down and make me miserable. And so: out with them! I’ve made mistakes, sure; only today I threw out something I afterwards deeply regretted discarding – but I couldn’t get it back. To put it in perspective, though, we’re talking about things. Just stuff. Nothing that can’t be replaced. Or abandoned. Or forgotten.
