The consolidation of storage - a project of a different sort

The trouble with living in a small house and having the kind of hobbies I do? Storage. Where do I put the various and sundry stashes? Why do you have one, you ask? Ha, if you have to ask, I'm not sure you would understand. It's a "thing" hehehe. Besides, I have squirrel tendencies. It's true, I'm afraid. Fiber, food or space, it doesn't matter, I have to be well supplied. I'm more than happy to share things (at least some things!) but run out? Horrible thought. So what to do? Well, if you're me, you get storage since that's considerably easier and less costly than a new house. Great. You are tempted but refrain from investigating warehouses and aircraft hangars since those REALLY have space....and power.....and you could......no, no, no, you don't need to go that far!

And then you tell people you have this new storage. Suddenly they have things, too and do you mind? No, of course not, I have space. Or someone dies.....and you aren't allowed to do anything with of the majority of their things (literally true here). Oops. What was true.....multiplies. Note the past tense here? Things stay crowded at home and you get another storage space so you can clean out and breathe again before you go bonkers. They're like rabbits :-). Ok, maybe not really but you're getting the idea here. I have lately had three storage spaces, two large and one small. Last fall I did some major reorganizing and cleaning up of these spaces. In part because I couldn't understand how I, having just gotten the third so I could finally PLEASE reorganize at home (it's temporary, right?), didn't seem to have much space in either storage or STILL at home. Good deal, more space again. I start to think about consolidating. (Except I still hadn't cleared things out at home!) Well it was still a good thought and one that grew. One thing led to another......and then, just a couple weeks ago, I found a storage space that is slightly larger than all three COMBINED. One location to keep up with. A single bill to pay. And it will save me money (compared to what I'm paying now). It's convenient as in close AND I can get to it 24x7. This is important. Why? Ah, it seems you may be one one of those that have no stash :-). It's important because it means when I have a brilliant, creative brainstorm at some strange, non-business hour of the day, I do not need to wait for "business hours" and therefore I have no excuse not to allow the stash to live in storage instead of in the house. This may be incomprehensible to some people. That's ok - you do your thing, I'll do mine. It's also important because it might be that I'm cleaning out a room at some other odd hour of the day and I need to add stuff to storage. Now I have a warm fuzzy because I CAN. Whether I want to or not is another matter, lol.

So.....having run the numbers and realizing this is the best option for the time being.....I rented said large storage space. The project here? To move all the contents from the other three into the one. Sorting, organizing, etc as I go. Sooner rather than later, of course, otherwise what was the point?

And there you have the history of the storage consolidation project.

The status? As of today, the first large (nearly full) space is entirely empty, swept out and done! The second large (slightly less full) space is close to 50% empty. And I still have space. I have added a couple of things from home.....and still, plenty of space. I was also rather surprised to realize that at this moment, the contents of that giant storage space are less than 50% mine. I feel considerably less guilty about having sooooo much stuff. Both remaining storage spaces still have things of mine, it's true. But they also still have things belonging to other people. Kind of interesting. I hadn't quite realized....although after the fall re-org I had been starting to suspect.

For those of you reading this that I'm storing things for....PLEASE, don't feel bad or guilty. I said yes. Most of you have asked sometime since the first yes if it was still ok. I said yes again. And today, I still say YES. It's ok, really......next time though, I will have the sense to have YOU help me move it, hehehe.

Before the end of April, I will have consolidated all three, while organizing more as I go. I may or may not also have time to build the platform units that I want to help make better use of the space by putting the odd-shaped things like chairs, Christmas decorations, etc up high where they don't take something silly like 3 sq ft of floor x 10ft of height. That part remains to be seen. It could become the storage enhancement project?