My Radical Storage Solution

I am one of the many Pinterest addicts you always hear about. I could spend hours upon hours on that site, constantly clicking "see more pins," until my eyes are dry and throbbing and I realize the children would like to be fed at some point during the day.

One of the more common boards to which I see people pinning is Storage Solutions or Ideas. These always catch my eye, but for reasons different than the pinner had intended.

Many television shows, magazine articles and websites devote countless hours to storage solutions; how to increase your cabinet space, where to hang more shelves, or systems to get the most out of your bedroom closet. I have seen quick fixes and permanent fixes, beautiful solutions and eye sores, frugal purchases and budget-busters. There are literally millions of ideas for creating more storage space in one's home.

But why?

I tend to do the opposite of most people and try to limit my storage space as much as possible. The less space I have to store things, the less stuff I have and the less stuff I have, the less stuff I have to clean, manage, sort through or attempt to find storage for.

In my adulthood, I have lived in everything from a small college dorm with a dresser and desk to a modest apartment with an incredibly small kitchen to my current 1,800 square foot home. I have filled each of these spaces to the brim. No matter how much storage space I have, I will fill it. If you create storage space, you will eventually fill it and then look for more storage space. Who really needs all that stuff?

Most of us have more stuff than we really need. This is obvious in the many decluttering blog posts or series offered by so many. My tip to you is to stop searching for more storage space and start purging until what you own fits in the space you all ready have. Take the time you spend searching for storage solutions and use it to go through your cabinets, closets and boxes and start throwing out, donating or selling as much as you can. Your storage problem will eventually solve itself.

A few quick and simple things I recommend looking into downsizing are:

• Books. If you have no intention of ever reading it again and it serves no decor purpose, throw it away. You will forget about it within a week or two.
• Linens. If it is not currently on a bed, you do not need it. I remove and clean all the linens in the house once a week then put them directly back onto the beds. No storage necessary.
• Kitchen Items. Over half of what resides in your kitchen has probably not been touched in years, and if it has, you probably could have used something else instead. I recommend boxing up half of your kitchen (utensils, gadgets, small appliances, etc.) for one month and trying to live without those items. If you find you absolutely cannot, then keep that item. Everything else, get rid of it.
• Toys. Check out my recent post on downsizing your large toy collection.
• Beauty products. Keep the basics that you use daily and throw out everything else. This includes old nail polish, makeup, half-used bottles of lotion, excess cotton balls, hair clips and so forth.
• Tools. Purging applies to the husbands as well. Does he have a jam-packed garage or shed? Can his toolbox close? Force him to do with his tools as you have with your kitchen. Box it up for a predetermined amount of time and toss or sell whatever is not used.
• Decorations. I am good at holding onto old decorations in hopes of finding uses for them in the future, but I rarely do. Cleanse your decor stash and free up a ton of closet space.

Once you manage to get your belongings to fit into the storage space you all ready have, I challenge you to take it one step further. Toss a bureau. Sell a toy box. Donate a bookshelf. Now take its contents, purge what you can and find places for the remaining objects in the all ready existing storage locations in your home.

I am convinced you will find this radical storage solution to be not only mentally cleansing and freeing, but also enriching and encouraging. You will help others by donating items. You will make money by selling what you can. And you will free up all that time you used to spend searching for storage tips so you can better use it on Pinterest perusing for new recipes, cute clothes and humorous sayings.

You have a lot of stuff. I promise, you don't need it.