“Surfaces are not for storage”

I found this excerpt a while back on a Facebook page called becoming a minimalist. I wanted to share it with you today because I think it will resonate with a few people. I am not one to hoard or have excess clutter, but this still resonated with me. The principle being that “surfaces are not for storage” is a perfect way to look at areas within your home. I read the comments and people agreed OR expressed they have a lack of storage stopping them in their tracks.

I have pretty good storage at my house, but I am also ruthless and throw/donate things pretty easily.

What happens though if you have a complete lack of storage within your own home? What if your kitchen bench gathers stuff (notes, bills, chargers…) and you just have no where to put them?? The thing here is that you will need to create your own storage. Pinterest is busting at the seams with storage ideas! People love to write about that stuff.

Here are just a couple of ideas to get you going:

1. Cheap shelving in your garage area. I picked up some free small bookcases and we stack all of our shoes in the garage against the wall. Shoes don’t live inside at our house (well my good ones do, but that’s about it!).
2. Designate a kitchen drawer to kitchen mess. I have a space for all the bills, notes and random things in a drawer in my kitchen. Nothing is on the benches, but rather tucked away where no one can see the crap we collect.
3. Can you use roof space? We can get up into ours through a manhole in our garage and we store all our Christmas stuff, spare suitcases, sporting gear (and god knows what else is up there!).
4. Rent a storage space. These are popping up all over the place. I know in Wagga there seems to be a real need and it must be successful because there are plenty around. Cost wise I know this might not be an option, but it might be your only solution. I think it’s a perfect idea if you don’t have the space to put everything, but you need it all.

Anyway, food for thought today. Nothing feels better than getting the rubbish out. You might also like to read this post I wrote on Why Decluttering Is Good For You.

♥ KC.