It’s amazing what people spend annually for storage. It’s
more amazing that so many of those dollars are protecting
worthless junk. This is because it’s too easy to dump it off
at the storage place and decide later. "Later," as we
all know, becomes "never." And the storage unit
becomes more of a dump than a vault for cherished possessions as
we originally had envisioned when it was first rented.
Get out a fresh new highlighter and let’s get started,
because help just arrived.
Step #1.
A Simple Organizer
First, take a legal pad and divide the page into three
columns, labeled thusly:
- Must Have Every Day
- Prized Possessions
- Sell, Give Away or Toss
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Step #2.
Take Stock
Now comes the time where you decide what possessions are
truly important to you. What you want is to end up with is only
the items relevant to the person you are today, not the person
you used to be. This means going through every room, closet,
attic, trunk—every storage unit in your domain including
offsite storage.
Under Column #1 Only items that must be within easy reach
everyday pass muster (e.g.s. appointment calendar, address book,
personal computer or personal digital assistant.) Anything used
within the last month probably qualifies.
Under Column #2 Next comes what you won’t need for a
while, but that you wouldn’t want to lose forever. Start here:
Items with high monetary or emotional value
Important financial and legal records
Home videos, old diaries, other personal mementos
(that set of candlesticks your great grands
brought with them when
they immigrated.)
Woodworking or gardening or sewing equipment (whatever
you
can’t wait to use as soon you have a place where you
can use it.)
Everything else is a good candidate for Column #3.
Under Column #3. "What in Heaven’s Name was she
saving this for?" These are words you never want
uttered by surviving relatives upon your departure. Therefore
you must make a blood oath with a close family member or friend
that you will neither move… nor store… the items in
this column. Congratulate yourself. You’re one step away from
lightening your load and simplifying your life. Possible
suspects are…
Items not used in the past two years. (a thick coat of
dust is a
good guide)
Clothes that don’t fit (trying them on again’ll only
make you feel worse)
Out-of-style clothes (trying these on again will lower
property values
in your neighborhood)
Sports equipment (if you were still using it, the old
clothes would still fit)
Obsolete gizmos. (get over it, many of these were
obsolete the day
you got them)
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Step #3.
Lighten Your Load
The weightier decisions are out of the way, so now it’s a
matter of disposing of the items in Column #3. Take a separate
page and divide it into three columns labeled:
- Sell
- Give
- Toss
Under Column #1. More than once you thought about taking
a flame thrower to these, then a better thought came along. One
man’s junk is another’s treasure. Right, most of these
items can be converted to quick cash. Garage sales and
classified used to be the tools of choice for this. Then the
Internet came along and it seemed like the whole world switched
to cleaning out attics and garages via eBay auctions. Both take
time, however. The truth is, there is no best way. The good news
is, you have many options.
The more valuable items… paintings, musical instruments,
fine china, collectibles… reserve those for posting on eBay.
You should get more money this way than from a garage sale, plus
there are many hot tips on using this tool right here on this
site under… How to eBay
Space huggers like patio furniture, wheelbarrows, artificial
Christmas trees, old clothes… put those in a garage sale. It
isn’t practical to ship these.
Under Column #2. Stop waiting for that perfect moment to
pass along family heirlooms. It’ll never get here anyway, so
just do it and get on with your life. What doesn’t end up with
family can go in Column #3 or be donated to your favorite
charity for a tax deduction.
Under Column #3. Anything you’d be too embarrassed to
give away goes in this column. It also goes in a large black
plastic contractors bag positioned on the curb where the trash
man can’t possibly overlook it. Don’t even bother listing
it, just get the bag and cover it up before anyone else notices.
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