13 Oct Confessions of an Organizer
Happy Fall Y’all! I took a little hiatus from the blog this summer, but I’m back!
In June, I stepped up as the Director of Marketing for the NAPO SF Chapter, and that took up a lot of time as I settled into some very big shoes. I spent July traveling between Salt Lake City, Seattle, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Santa Monica working with several clients. The travel was exhausting, but I had a lot of happy clients. In August, I was working locally which allowed me to finally check something of my to-do list (yes, of course I have a to-do list).
I’m going to confess something shocking as an organizer: I had a storage unit for a year and a half! I tend to move every 6 months to a few years; I’m a nomad at heart. In the spring of 2014, I ended up with a storage unit for the majority of my belongings. An opportunity arose that I had to act on quickly, and I left my furnished living situation within a few days to move in with my best friend’s parents. Yup, at the ripe-old age of 33; it happens kids. I took the necessities with me, and left the rest in the storage unit over an hour away.
By June of 2014, I launched Let Me Organize It. I ended up living with my best friend’s amazing/generous parents for 6 months before I finally found another safe place to land, albeit temporarily. This place like the last few was furnished, so my belongings continued to sit in the storage unit, literally collecting dust. Believe me, the irony was not lost on me that I was helping other people clear out their storage units, and here I was with one of my own. I fully believe in transparency, so I admitted this to my clients. Actually, it worked in my favor because we organizers are placed on some pretty high pedestals, and this made my clients realize I’m just like them.
My temporary digs turned into permanent digs by early spring 2015, and I was truly thankful. Business was booming, and it didn’t leave me much time to do anything personal. However, it did bother me that I had already spent $2000 storing my stuff – stuff I hadn’t needed in over a year. At that point, I realized I could buy a lot of that stuff all over again for $2000, and that’s when I realized I had to ditch the storage unit ASAP. Well, ASAP turned out to be August 22nd.
I loaded the 15ft u-Haul truck with my 10 x 10 ft storage unit of stuff and brought it back to my current place. Needless to say I experienced what it feels like to live amongst chaos for about a week and a half as I sorted through everything; following my own advice that I dole out to clients. I separated items into those to donate, sell, and keep. I had to be very selective as I don’t have a lot of extra storage space here, and why should I store stuff? If I’m not using it, shouldn’t I get rid of it? Yes! I hauled off several car-loads to donation, sold some items via Nextdoor.com, eBay and Amazon, and had a charity come and pick up the larger furniture.
I probably still have too much stuff, but I cut my belongings in half and it felt great. Want to know what felt even better? Deleting the storage place as a payee on my online bill pay! I put the money I made on sales in an account to use if I ever do find my ‘forever’ home. But for now, I’m happy living with what I have and I’m thrilled that that giant task was finally checked off my to do list! This how a storage unit should look – EMPTY!
Do you have a storage unit burning a hole in your bank account? Want to rid yourself of it? Please contact me for help! Since launching LMOI I have helped clear out 5 storage units, and that means 5 very happy clients. You could be next!
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