Did you take my advice last week and embark on Step 1 of the Great January Decluttering Extravaganza? If you did, you have put all your like things together. If you didn’t, you still have time to catch up.
You may discover in the process that you just don’t have enough storage space for some categories. No, you may not rush to the Container Store and buy a bunch of cute storage gear. That is not cheap.
What you must do first is sort ruthlessly through your things and decide which you don’t really need. We spend a lot of money, as well as time organizing, reorganizing, dusting and moving stuff we never use.
Take a critical look at your clothes, tools and kitchen equipment. Which have you used in the past year? Which books and decorative objects bring you pleasure and which do you keep only because Aunt Martha gave them to you?
The traditional advice is to sort into three piles: stuff you know you will keep, stuff you know you will give away and stuff you’re not sure about and will revisit later. Those categories are good, but add a fourth: stuff you think you can sell.
Be tough. If you have things you’re not using now but think you may need in the future, weigh the cost of storage vs. the cost of buying new ones down the road. (Be grateful you don’t have a basement and are forced to make the hard choices now.)
Once you have removed the things you don’t want from their usual storage places, you may need to rethink your organizational scheme. Maybe the washcloths should go in the bathroom cabinet and your stockpile of canned beans in the linen closet.
If you are convinced you truly do not have enough shelving or storage containers, see what you can find on Craigslist or at clearance sales. But your goal should be to pare down your stuff to fit into the storage space you have.
Next week: Sell your excess stuff for cash.
