Welcome to the bonus installment of my blog series on what order you should declutter your home in. We've looked at why you should start in the kitchen, move to the bathroom next, declutter your closet third, all the way to tackling your sentimental items last. But what do you do if you have a storage unit?
Should you wait to declutter your storage unit until you're mostly finished with your house?
Or should you do it first before the kitchen?
Or... should you declutter your garage first so you have room to put items from the storage?
The answer is, it depends.
As I've been saying in every installment of this series, one of the biggest hurtles of decluttering is making enough progress, fast enough that you can see some positive change and therefore, keep up the momentum.
When it comes to seeing positive change fast, there's nothing like emptying a storage unit and saving all that extra money each month.
Using this point, the other questions above, and other practical issues I've learned from decluttering with my clients, I've made the following decision map for you to follow if you have a house full of clutter AND a storage unit you want to empty and you're not sure which to tackle first.
When to Declutter and Empty Your Storage Unit
Decision Map
Do you have the emotional energy to deal with emptying your storage unit right now? If you can't think straight, easily make food in your kitchen, use the bathroom, or get a decent nights sleep, then you probably should not even think about your storage unit right now. If you are freaking out about finances (question 2) figure out a way to pay your storage unit fees via credit card or ask someone to help you pay for a month or two. Then, get some help to declutter and organize your home, babysit your kids, do some basic cleaning, laundry, cooking/takeout, or anything else you need to start functioning again. THEN and ONLY THEN, should you move on to the rest of this process. Your physical and mental health comes first.
Are you freaking out about finances? Or, are you out of money to pay for your storage unit any longer? If the answer is, "YES! I am out of money," Skip down to question 4. If the answer is, "No, I'm doing okay financially," go on to question 3.
What's a higher priority right now? Clutter free space in my home? Or saving money? If more clutter free space in your home is higher priority for you, then skip to question 5. If saving money by not paying for your storage unit is more important right now, than go on to question 4.
Is there space to empty most of the storage unit into your garage or other free space? Do you have room to put some things in your house or on your property that come from the storage unit? If the answer is yes, prioritize decluttering and emptying your storage unit ASAP! You need the money and you have the space so make it happen in the next few weeks if you can manage it! If the answer is no, you don't have room to put some boxes anywhere in your house or on your property, then make that space, then empty the storage unit. This might look like working hard on decluttering and organizing in the garage for 2-3 weeks until you've made enough space for a big pile of boxes, then head to the storage and start decluttering and bringing some things home to the garage. Once you've made some space, empty that storage unit as fast as you can.
Can you function well in your home as it is? No matter what your answer to this question, you should focus on your house for the moment rather than your storage unit, but let's look at what your answer means for when you should empty your storage. If you answer yes to this question and you can function pretty well in your home right now, then you can keep working on your home until you feel really great about it. You may not have dealt with sentimental items yet or that one corner you've been avoiding for years, but at least now you are proud of 90% of your house, NOW it's time to deal with your storage. No matter how much money you have, there is no reason to keep a storage unit just to have one so now's the time to tackle it! If you answered no, then you should prioritize your home until you CAN function well in your home. Then maybe come back to this decision map and see if you're ready yet to empty your storage or if you need to keep working on your house.
Here is a more succinct version of this decision map in visual form. However, it assumes that your answer to question number one above is yes. So make sure to answer that question first.
Of course no matter what my decision map "tells you" to do, you do what is best for you right now. It's just a tool to brainstorm all the important factors involved (money, time, space, emotional energy, your personal priorities, etc). It is NOT some rule book you must follow.
Other factors that may impact your decision:
your mental health
how much time do you have
who lives with you
what's in the storage unit
do you really need or want to park your card in the garage
how expensive is the storage unit
how long have you had things in storage
who's stuff is in the storage unit
who is paying for the storage unit
NOTE: If it's not your stuff and you aren't paying for it, it's not your responsibility. Period. Even if it belongs to your significant other, child, parent, or relative. You can encourage them to declutter it or even share this blog post with them, but ultimately it's their decision how and when to deal with it.
Need help deciding when to empty your storage unit?
Or want help to empty it?
Contact me today for one-on-one declutter coaching.
Read the whole series:
BONUS: When to Declutter Your Storage Unit (this post!)
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