Yesterday I held an informal poll on my Facebook page asking my followers to click "like" if they thought they had too much stuff. It was one of the most liked posts on my page ever!
Clearly too many of us are living with clutter. We have bigger homes than ever before and yet we have less space for our things. Expensive cars are left parked in the laneway to make room to store inexpensive junk in the garage. To say the self-storage industry is booming would be an understatement.
The United States alone now has over 2.3 billion square feet of self-storage space. That's more than 7 square feet for every man, woman and child. There are 7 times more storage facilities than there are Starbucks in the country. "Human laziness has always been a big friend of self-storage operators", says Derek Naylor, president of the consultant group Storage Marketing Solutions. "Because once they're in, nobody likes to spend all day moving stuff out of storage. As long as they can afford it, and feel psychologically that they can afford it, they leave that stuff in there forever."
And it's not just the stuff that's hidden away in storage facilities. Many people could be considered tidy packrats. Mr. P's grandparents emigrated from Holland in the late 1940's. They were in Holland during the war and learned to "waste not, want not". Every little thing was kept "just in case" and yet, Oma kept an immaculate home. It wasn't until we went through the closets, basement, garage and various out-buildings that we became aware of just how much stuff was saved. Their clutter was hidden away where no one could see it.
Even if your stuff is out in the open or hidden away, you can get rid of it. It's not going to be easy and it's not going to happen overnight but it will be so worth it! It has been scientifically proven that people living in clutter and disarray also have increased stress. My next few blog posts will geared to showing you how you can get rid of the clutter for good. Our homes should be a place of refuge from the outside world not yet another thing that causes you more stress.
"Cockroaches may or may not last through a nuclear winter, but that old crib will survive forever hidden behind your furnace." - Thane Burnett, writer for the Toronto Sun
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