Is clutter controlling your life? A cluttered home can affect your mental health, decrease your productivity, affect your sleep, and have other negative impacts on your home. Whether you're planning on downsizing or simply have too much stuff, it may be time for some decluttering. 

Read on to learn all about decluttering your home, how to do it, and how to take advantage of self storage for decluttering and live your most organized life yet. 

• What Are the Benefits of Decluttering Your Home?
• Why Is Self Storage Essential to a Clutter-Free Home?
• How to Use Self Storage to Declutter Your Home in 5 Steps
• Tips for Maintaining an Organized Home After Decluttering
• Say Goodbye to Clutter with a Self Storage Unit

What Are the Benefits of Decluttering Your Home?

Excess clutter in your home has all kinds of consequences, from increased mental stress to physical risk and more. By decluttering your house, you can: 

• Lower your stress and anxiety. A messy or cluttered environment can be overwhelming and leave you feeling helpless. Declutter your home to ensure a feeling of calm and relaxation. 
• Create healthy habits. Clutter tends to be a never-ending cycle. The more cluttered your home, the harder cleaning feels, which can allow more clutter to accumulate. By decluttering, you can set yourself up for success. 
• Improve your productivity. It’s hard to get things done when there’s a mess everywhere. By decluttering, you can create the right circumstances for a productive and mentally focused day. 
• Better sleep. Chaotic and cluttered environments can make relaxation difficult, leading to worse sleep. Get rid of excess to create a peaceful environment for a healthy night’s sleep. 
• Create money-earning opportunities. As they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Through the process of decluttering your house, you can gather valuable items to be sold second-hand. 
• Reduce allergens. Do you suffer from allergies to dust, pet dander, or other environmental allergens? A cluttered home offers countless cracks and crevices for them to accumulate. Get rid of excess to maintain a clean, allergen-friendly home. 

Why Is Self Storage Essential to a Clutter-Free Home?

It’s clear that decluttering your home is beneficial, but it may not always feel possible. Even with the most aggressive decluttering, you may find that you simply don’t have the space to store your belongings in a way that feels organized. For many, this realization can be frustrating. 

Fortunately, there’s a simple solution you may not have considered: self-storage for decluttering. By renting extra storage space, you can easily and effectively store items you don’t always need but aren't able to part with. It enables you to keep these items within reach, without using up the vital storage space in your home. 

Self storage is an excellent storage idea for small houses to keep your living space functional. Storage for decluttering is also ideal for holiday storage, keepsakes, and anything else used on a very occasional basis.

How to Use Self Storage to Declutter Your Home in 5 Steps

Use the steps below to learn how to use self storage for decluttering: 

Step 1: Determine your decluttering goals

The first step in the process is to identify your decluttering goals. You may be downsizing your home and need to get rid of a room’s worth of stuff, or you may be selling your home and need to give it a buyer-friendly appearance. Perhaps you’re sick of the maximalist lifestyle and are looking to try minimalism for a time. Whatever is motivating your decluttering, it’s always helpful to use the SMART goal framework and set goals that are: 

• Specific. Be clear about what you’re trying to achieve. 
• Measurable. Make sure you use quantifiable metrics to establish your goal. For instance, set a goal to get rid of three boxes of stuff from one room. 
• Achievable. Set yourself up for success with a goal that’s possible to achieve. While it may sound nice to declutter your entire home in an afternoon, it’s probably not going to happen. 
• Relevant. Create a goal that’s relevant to your overall goals. 
• Time-bound. Give yourself a time limit. Remember, make it achievable! 

Step 2: Sort and organize your belongings

Next, it’s time to sort through every single item you own and sort it into one of four categories: 

• Keep at home. These are items you’d like to hold on to and keep at home.
• Store in a storage unit. Items you want to keep but don't use frequently, such as seasonal decorations or sports equipment, should go here.
• Sell. Any items with resale value should go into this pile. As part of the process, these items can be sold on secondhand websites or to resale stores. You can sell used furniture, clothing, and more. 
• Donate. Items that may not have significant financial value but still have life left in them can be donated to neighbors or charity shops. 
• Discard. Trash, expired goods, or anything that’s simply not usable can be discarded. 

For many, parting with items can be hard. Whether due to sentimental attachment or fear that the item may come in handy one day, decluttering your house can be quickly derailed by reluctance to let things go. Consider these questions to ease the process: 

• Will I use this? If you haven’t used an item in the past six months and don’t foresee yourself using it in the next six, it’s probably time to let it go. 
• What do I want to keep? Sometimes, it can be helpful to reframe the decluttering process by asking yourself, “Do I want to keep this?” rather than “Do I want to get rid of this?”
• How can this be used by someone else? An unused item doesn’t do you any good. Instead, think about how the item could benefit its next owner. 

Step 3: Choose the right self storage unit

Now, pick your self storage for decluttering. A number of factors go into choosing the right self storage unit. Think about these factors when selecting yours: 

• Size. What size storage unit do you need for your belongings? It’s a good idea to choose a unit that’s slightly larger than you currently require so you have space for future storage. Too big of a unit, however, can lead to unused space and wasted money. At Key Storage, we offer everything from a hall closet-sized space to storage units the size of a car garage. 
• Location. A conveniently located unit is also key, so you can easily access your stored belongings whenever you need them. Think about how far you’d be willing to drive to retrieve your items, then look for one in that range. 
• Climate control. If you plan on storing electronics, wooden furniture, musical instruments, or perishable goods, look into climate controlled storage. These add an extra layer of protection for your items. 
• Security. For high-value items or in theft-prone areas, you may want to look into a storage unit with on-site managers, gated access, and more. 

Step 4: Pack efficiently

Make the most out of your storage unit by packing efficiently. Use these tips: 

• Pack the heaviest items toward the bottom. Your storage unit will offer tons of vertical space. Take advantage of it by packing the heaviest items on the bottom and the lightest on top. 
• Use clear, stackable bins. That way, you’ll be able to easily see what’s inside each container. A plastic bin will also offer an added layer of protection from moisture and mold. 
• Label every box. Labels make retrieving items easier. You’ll thank yourself later! 
• Leave a path. If your storage unit is large enough to walk through, leave yourself a path. Otherwise, you’ll need to remove everything in order to retrieve a box from the back. 

Step 5: Review your storage periodically

Get in the habit of conducting a regular review of your storage unit. Reassess the contents and consider the same questions as before. Have you used this item in the last six months? Will you use it in the next six? Would it be better used by someone else? Remove and add items to your storage unit as needed. 

Tips for Maintaining an Organized Home After Decluttering

Once you’ve done the decluttering, it’s time to set yourself up for good organization in your home. Use these tips to prevent clutter from building up again: 

• Find a home for everything. Each item in your home should have a place. Opt for cabinets with doors rather than open shelving to minimize the visual chaos. 
• Use storage solutions. Rather than piling things in cabinets, use storage boxes, baskets, and containers to keep everything neat and organized. 
• Clean up at the end of each day. A few minutes of tidying each day will save you from another multi-day decluttering project down the line. 

Say Goodbye to Clutter with a Self Storage Unit

Storage for decluttering offers an easy way to free up space in your home for items you actually use. With so many storage options, Key Storage makes it easy to find the perfect solution to safely and securely store your belongings. Find a storage unit near you to get started.