ISSUE 982 - SEPTEMBER 2023

Last month, I wrote about selling my house and being excited about a life unencumbered. Although this is still true, there have been some complex (and costly) lessons on this journey to downsizing and a significant wake-up call surrounding the problem with stuff!

We are Americans, and we are known for our overindulgence, our materialism, and especially for our consumerism. We are not called the land of plenty for nothing. And what do we do with all our "plenty"? We store it! 

The United States has one of the largest self-storage industries in the world. We have more storage units than any other country due to our consuming culture. But we don't only consume; we keep. I came face-to-face with my own "keeping" during the journey of selling my house. 

Reality hit me the morning of the last day before I needed to be out of the house for the buyer's walk-through and closing. I realized I had way too much stuff that I had been storing in every nook and cranny all over my cavernous house. They do say we expand into the space we have, and oh boy, did I ever! 

With only six hours left, I raced to UHaul and rented a 15-foot truck. I realized there was too much stuff to move in the allotted time. I never in a million years thought I would underestimate as severely as I underestimated how much stuff I needed to move, how much help I would need to move it, and how much time it would take. A warning to the wise (and not-so-wise); if you are thinking about moving, plan three times more of everything than you think you need. 

Despite my efforts to purge, sell, and give away item after item, I still had a long way to go. Every new closet was another mound of forgotten treasures. Another drawer opened was filled with sentimental yet useless stuff. You know the drawer, the “What do I do with this, but I can't get rid of it?" drawer. Some call it the 'guilt' drawer. Whatever you've named it, you know you have one, or two, or three. I thought I was being ruthless, but when it came down to it, it was hard to let stuff go.

No wonder Marie Kondo made a fortune with her book, "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up." We are fascinated by the idea of simplifying our lives, but as I came to find out, it's a complex issue and much more challenging to achieve than just reading a book. 

In the last hour, my two overworked workers and I sprinted through the house, up and down the stairs, dripping with sweat and throwing my stuff in the truck. No boxes and no order. Just get it in the truck and out of the house. 

At the end of this marathon, I was the not-so-proud renter of four storage units. (Now that you've gasped, I'm already down to three because I got a bigger one and consolidated. Oh wait, that's not so good either). 

Now that the sale is over, I know what my weeks ahead look like; more purging and emptying the storage units. Stuff begone! If I'm going to do this “life unencumbered” thing, by golly, I'm going to do it right.