The Problem Isn’t Your Storage - You Just Have Too Much Stuff

If you feel like you’re constantly running out of storage space, your first thought might be, “I need more shelves.”

Maybe you need a bigger closet. More bins. Another cabinet. A storage rack for the garage. Or perhaps you’ve decided that if you could just find the right organizing product, everything would finally fit.

But sometimes, the problem isn’t your storage.

You just have too much stuff.

And no amount of bins, shelving or clever storage solutions can change that.

Storage Can’t Create More Space

One of the first things I notice when I walk into an organizing project is how often people have already tried to solve their storage problem by buying more storage.

They’ve purchased bins to hold things that didn’t fit in the closet. Then they bought shelves for the bins. Then they moved some of those bins to the basement because the shelves were full.

The stuff keeps moving, but the problem never really goes away.

You can organize things beautifully, but if you have more belongings than your space can comfortably hold, you’re still going to feel crowded.

Sometimes the answer isn't a bigger basement.

It's fewer things in the basement.

Don't Buy Storage Before You Declutter

I understand the temptation.

You see a messy closet and immediately start looking for a better closet system. You see a pile of toys and start shopping for toy bins. Your garage is overflowing, so you start looking at garage shelving.

But before you buy anything, take everything out and figure out what you actually want to keep.

There’s no point in designing a beautiful storage system around things you don’t use, need or love.

Decluttering first allows you to see what you’re actually working with. Once you know what’s staying, then you can decide what kind of storage makes sense.

Sometimes you’ll discover that you don’t need nearly as much storage as you thought you did.

Stop Moving the Same Stuff Around

Have you ever moved something from one room to another, only to move it again six months later?

Maybe the Christmas decorations went from the basement to the attic. Then the attic to the garage. Then back to the basement because you needed the garage space.

The stuff is still there. It just has a new address.

Moving things around can make a space feel temporarily better, but it doesn’t solve the underlying problem.

If you keep running out of room, it may be time to ask yourself:

Do I really want to keep all of this?

"I Might Need It Someday"

This is one of the hardest parts of decluttering.

What if I need it someday?

It's easy to keep something when there is no immediate reason to get rid of it. After all, you have the space, so why not keep it?

But having room for something doesn't necessarily mean you should keep it.

Think about how often you actually use the item. How difficult would it be to replace if you needed it in the future? Is keeping it worth the space it takes up and the mental energy required to store and manage it?

Sometimes the cost of keeping something isn't the money you spent on it.

It's the space it takes up.

Just Because You Have Room Doesn't Mean You Need to Fill It

This is something I wish more people thought about when organizing.

A larger home, bigger garage or finished basement can make it easier to accumulate things because there is somewhere to put them.

But storage space has a funny way of filling up.

A basement with plenty of empty shelves eventually becomes a basement with full shelves. A large garage can slowly become a place where things are stored instead of cars being parked. A spacious closet can make it easier to hold onto clothes you haven't worn in years.

More space doesn't necessarily lead to less clutter.

Sometimes it just gives our stuff more room to spread out.

Organizing Isn't the Same as Decluttering

As a professional organizer, I love a good organizing project. I love creating systems, finding homes for things and making spaces easier to use.

But organizing isn't about finding a place for every single thing you own.

A lot of my job is helping someone decide what doesn't need to have a place anymore.

That's an important distinction.

If you have 50 things and enough space for 40, no organizing system is going to magically make all 50 fit comfortably.

You have a choice: create more space or reduce what you're storing.

And this is where I often tell my clients one of my favorite things:

"You can either have the stuff or the space. You cannot have both."

I don't say this because I think everyone needs to own less. I'm not trying to turn anyone into a minimalist.

I'm simply pointing out that our homes have limits.

If you want more usable space, something may have to go.

Before You Buy More Storage, Ask Yourself These Questions

Before you order another set of bins or add another shelving unit, stop and ask:

• Do I actually use this?

• Do I need it?

• Do I love it?

• Do I have multiples of the same thing?

• Have I used this in the past year?

• Am I keeping it because I might need it someday?

• If I needed it in the future, would it be difficult or expensive to replace?

• Am I keeping this because I have the space for it, or because I truly want it?

You might be surprised by how much easier your storage problem becomes once you answer those questions honestly.

Sometimes Less Is the Better Storage Solution

The goal of organizing isn't to figure out how to cram more things into your home.

It's to create a home where the things you own have a place to live and are easy to find and put away.

Sometimes that means adding a shelf.

Sometimes it means adding bins.

And sometimes it means letting go of enough things that you don't need either one.

Before you buy more storage, take a good look at what you're storing.

Because sometimes the problem isn't that you don't have enough space.

You just have too much stuff.

And remember:

You can either have the stuff or the space. You cannot have both.