Latest / Uncluttered and Unfiltered: The Podcast For Women Over 50 / ENCORE EPISODE: GETTING RID OF THAT MIDLIFE STORAGE UNIT

Transcript

ENCORE EPISODE: GETTING RID OF THAT MIDLIFE STORAGE UNIT · Uncluttered and Unfiltered: The Podcast For Women Over 50

• 1:34
  Welcome to Uncluttered and Unfiltered, the podcast urging
• 1:38
  you to let it go and don't look back, with nationally acclaimed
• 1:42
  professional organizer Christine Stone and self-proclaimed Hot
• 1:47
  Damn Mess radio and TV personality Eden Kendall.
• 1:51
  Welcome back everybody to Uncluttered and Unfiltered and
• 1:55
  We Are Eden and Christine. Christine Stone is a
• 1:59
  professional organizer, and the reason I want to put that at the
• 2:01
  very forefront of our show today.
• 2:03
  Neatly designed as your company. January is Good Organized month,
• 2:07
  as it should be, because we're kicking off a bright, shiny new
• 2:10
  year. Yep.
• 2:11
  So I defer today's subject and content truly to you while I go
• 2:18
  get my popcorn and sit back and really listen and learn because
• 2:22
  I can't tell you how many times we've thought about employing
• 2:27
  the help of the subject of today's show, storage units.
• 2:32
  How are we doing a whole show about storage units?
• 2:35
  So easy though. It is so a lot of people
• 2:39
  listening either currently have a storage unit for all their
• 2:43
  extra stuff or have thought about maybe getting one.
• 2:47
  Yes. So let's go, let's roll up our
• 2:50
  sleeves, and let's tackle the storage unit.
• 2:53
  Okay, so how the storage unit dilemma has occurred through the
• 2:59
  over 15 years I've been doing this.
• 3:02
  I will finish in a clients home. They will be thrilled.
• 3:05
  Everyone's so happy. I get to the door and they go,
• 3:08
  don't kill me and I go what? And they go, I didn't tell you
• 3:12
  about the storage unit or units. And I start laughing and they
• 3:18
  go, you're not mad. And I go, if I had a dollar for
• 3:21
  every time someone said that to me, I would be able to retire
• 3:25
  and become a millionaire. Because everybody is ashamed or
• 3:30
  embarrassed of the that they own a storage unit unless it's for
• 3:34
  certain reasons that I'll get into.
• 3:37
  And that is why this topic is so near and dear to my heart,
• 3:42
  because storage unit facilities, if you've seen they pop up on
• 3:47
  every corner and there's a reason why.
• 3:49
  And that is because everybody instead of getting rid of
• 3:52
  things, they're like, I'll just shove it in a storage unit.
• 3:54
  And they never, ever, ever go to their storage unit.
• 3:59
  And I mean, never all ask people.
• 4:01
  So when's the last time you've been here?
• 4:03
  Oh, I don't know, 3-4, five years I go, do you know what's
• 4:06
  in here? No, I have no idea.
• 4:08
  I can't remember. Because if you, if you can't
• 4:11
  even remember, you know, it's nothing you want to bring into
• 4:15
  your home. So that is the first thing
• 4:18
  people are spending a lot of money on storage units they
• 4:22
  don't go to, they don't want to go to the it's stressful.
• 4:28
  And the problem is though, it's like a monkey on their back.
• 4:32
  It's like having two weights because they know eventually
• 4:36
  they have to go to that storage unit.
• 4:38
  They know it's costing them a lot of money a year to own that
• 4:42
  storage unit. So it's always in the back of
• 4:44
  their mind. So it's like, it's like having a
• 4:47
  monkey on your back. You're just like, I got to go to
• 4:49
  that storage unit, that storage unit.
• 4:51
  I wonder if it's in the storage unit.
• 4:52
  I don't even like that storage unit, that storage unit.
• 4:55
  It's hot. That storage unit has bugs.
• 4:57
  I mean, I could go on and on. And.
• 4:59
  On I'm guessing a lot of people buy duplicates of what's in the
• 5:02
  storage unit to avoid having to go pick up whatever they know
• 5:05
  they already own. Absolutely, absolutely.
• 5:09
  And they're like I talked about right away.
• 5:11
  There are exceptions. And that would be 1.
• 5:16
  You are moving into a house that's being built.
• 5:19
  You already sold your other house.
• 5:21
  You got to put your furniture or your items somewhere for the in
• 5:24
  between. So you get a storage unit.
• 5:27
  Someone passed away and you inherited a whole house full of
• 5:31
  stuff. You don't know if the antiques
• 5:33
  are valuable. You don't know if you're
• 5:35
  emotionally prepared to deal with that right this second and
• 5:40
  that I I understand. So you put everything in a
• 5:43
  storage unit, someone dies suddenly you're not able to sit
• 5:46
  there and go through stuff. It's too excruciating to do
• 5:50
  that. So there are exceptions, but
• 5:53
  keeping the storage unit year after year after year.
• 5:59
  I can tell you how many times I've gone to storage units with
• 6:02
  clients and they over and over, oh, I didn't know I had that.
• 6:06
  Oh, I don't want that anymore. Why did I save that?
• 6:08
  So it's you're paying rent at a facility that you don't even
• 6:14
  like the stuff that's in there. It'd be like paying rent for
• 6:17
  somebody that you didn't want to hang out with anymore, right?
• 6:20
  If you paid their rent and. You paid their rent every month
• 6:23
  to live there. And it, you know, it does sound
• 6:26
  like, you know, I've, we've done storage units before that
• 6:29
  weren't terribly expensive until you start to add up month after
• 6:34
  month, year after year. And then you've got to get
• 6:36
  climate control because. Oh, you have to in.
• 6:38
  Florida, we are in. Florida, you have to, yeah.
• 6:41
  So, so what's, what's a person to do with all that stuff?
• 6:45
  Well, the first thing is you have to realize with storage
• 6:49
  units, guilt plays a big role because mainly the stuff in
• 6:54
  there is sentimental. So you're like, oh God, if I go
• 6:58
  there, it's going to take hours, days, weeks, because it's mom
• 7:03
  stuff, sister stuff, husband say, you know, it's emotional
• 7:06
  kids stuff. Oh my kids, all their stuff.
• 7:09
  I put it in there and it's hard to do.
• 7:12
  It's hard to do. So I made a list and this is how
• 7:17
  you know when it's time to let go of the storage unit.
• 7:20
  Oh nice. And how you can finally break
• 7:22
  free of your storage unit. You ready?
• 7:25
  I am ready. Go there.
• 7:27
  First thing you. Have to do is go there, I don't.
• 7:32
  Want to go to anyone's storage unit right?
• 7:34
  Especially my own. So the reason why I say that
• 7:37
  because thinking about it is not going to get it resolved.
• 7:41
  Thinking about it is not going to help.
• 7:44
  So going there and taking, looking at what's in there.
• 7:49
  So when you first get there, don't worry that you're doing
• 7:52
  anything that day other than making a game plan.
• 7:56
  You have to make a game plan. What?
• 7:58
  Getting your ducks in a row? That's what you're doing.
• 8:01
  Do I need a mover? Do I need 2 movers?
• 8:04
  Do I need a donate? Do I need a consignment shop?
• 8:08
  Do I need someone for antique furniture to guess how much
• 8:12
  something is worth? Or art?
• 8:14
  An art dealer. Find out what's in there.
• 8:17
  Take pictures. Lots and lots of pictures and
• 8:21
  then you go back home. You don't try to tackle this
• 8:25
  without knowing the support systems you need to get this
• 8:29
  cleared out and taken care of. So that's the first thing.
• 8:35
  If you cannot tackle this project on your own, hire a
• 8:39
  professional. It doesn't even need to be an
• 8:42
  organizer. An organizer will help, you
• 8:45
  know, get everything sorted and get the people that you need to
• 8:49
  come and pick things up. But you can also, if you know,
• 8:52
  there's really hardly anything you want in there, just get
• 8:55
  someone who will come and and take it and, you know, donate
• 8:59
  it. So that's what I mean by getting
• 9:02
  your people that you need to get involved in this project.
• 9:07
  And then when you get in there here, here are the questions you
• 9:10
  need to ask. Do you want to sell or consign
• 9:13
  the items? Do you want, Do you need to
• 9:15
  schedule donation pickups and how many?
• 9:18
  Do you need people to meet you there?
• 9:20
  Do you need a junk removal company who will just come and
• 9:23
  junk it all because it's not worth a thing?
• 9:26
  And last but not least, I think this is such an important
• 9:30
  question. Do you just need to say goodbye?
• 9:34
  Light a match. Just, well, no meaning, like
• 9:36
  it's an emotional thing and you just need to be ready to say,
• 9:39
  I'm ready to go in there and say goodbye to things that I've been
• 9:43
  holding on to that really have no value other than they're, you
• 9:50
  know, they're taking up space in my mind, on my shoulders and
• 9:55
  financially in my wallet. Sure.
• 9:58
  So that's really important because a lot of people, when I
• 10:01
  say it like that, they go, you know, you're right.
• 10:03
  I I think I need to go in there alone for a few minutes, look
• 10:07
  around and really decide what's going on, that I can't let this
• 10:13
  stuff go. To me it seems not having bit in
• 10:17
  your shoes and and worked with people who are in an emotional
• 10:21
  attachment of these things. But if you have it in a
• 10:22
  photograph and you're looking, you've got all your photographs
• 10:25
  spread out, it seems like it would be a little bit easier.
• 10:28
  Not easy, but easier. If you're removed from the item
• 10:31
  to say, do you see yourself going to the storage unit to
• 10:35
  retrieve that item ever, ever and putting it into use?
• 10:39
  Hanging it on your wall, putting it on a shelf, using it the way
• 10:42
  it's intended to be used? Well, and you also get the what
• 10:45
  if? Well, what if I get a condo one
• 10:47
  day? Or what if my kids need it?
• 10:49
  Or what if one day I want to take the piece of furniture and
• 10:52
  have it repainted and use it in my daughter's baby's room?
• 10:55
  What if, what if, what if, what if and what if goes from year to
• 10:59
  year to year to year. It just never ends.
• 11:04
  And so my feeling on storage units is tackle it, make it a
• 11:10
  New Year's resolution. And I'm not big on resolutions,
• 11:14
  but this is so important because I know after people deal with
• 11:19
  their storage units, they are so relieved.
• 11:22
  I mean, they text me, they e-mail me, they call me.
• 11:26
  Oh my God, I feel like a new person because it's something,
• 11:31
  even though you don't have to look at it or see it every day,
• 11:34
  it's in your thoughts. What do I do with all that
• 11:37
  stuff? I don't want that stuff.
• 11:39
  That stuff's not coming in my house, you know what I mean?
• 11:42
  It's nothing they want. Right.
• 11:44
  If they wanted it or felt they needed it on a regular basis, it
• 11:47
  would be somewhere closer and easier to reach.
• 11:50
  The the feeling too, that you're spread out is that it's hard to
• 11:54
  describe, but there's this feeling of like, I'm sitting
• 11:57
  here with you, half my stuff is across town.
• 12:00
  It just feels. No.
• 12:03
  Connection. You don't feel connected, you
• 12:04
  feel spread out. You feel like if it was at least
• 12:07
  under your own roof. Not that I'm trying to suggest
• 12:09
  that you have a closet that you can't open until and bowling
• 12:12
  balls are going to fall off the shelves, etcetera.
• 12:13
  But I just think that there's definitely a if it, if there are
• 12:18
  people who have no closet space, no storage space, that is a
• 12:22
  difficult situation. And if they're hoping one day to
• 12:24
  resolve that, that's an example you gave, or you might one day
• 12:27
  move somewhere bigger. But that's not what you're
• 12:30
  talking about. You're seeing people who have
• 12:32
  just on. Not just 1-2 storage units, 3
• 12:37
  storage units and it was usually during a move and they got new
• 12:44
  furniture, they got new things, which always happens because
• 12:46
  whenever you're moving to a new place, I mean, sometimes you
• 12:50
  take stuff, but sometimes the setup is different, the layouts
• 12:53
  are different. So you really are like, no, I'm
• 12:55
  just going to get a new sofa. So you leave the other one in
• 12:58
  the storage. Now piled high full of other
• 14:12
  boxes sitting on the sofa. So that's why it's important to
• 14:16
  have someone with some strength who will move things out,
• 14:21
  including in the very back. I mean, people have no idea
• 14:26
  what's in the back of a storage unit, let alone what's in front
• 14:29
  because so much stuff has been piled and piled and piled in
• 14:33
  front of it that the back, I mean, it could be from, you
• 14:37
  know, the 80s for 70s. Nobody even knows.
• 14:41
  So it's really important to get your ducks in a row.
• 14:44
  Have the people that you need to help you see what you own.
• 14:49
  And if you go and take a look around and see really, I don't
• 14:52
  want any of this. Give yourself permission to say,
• 14:56
  I'm getting rid of all of it. I don't want it in my house.
• 14:58
  Nobody else wants it. And remember, I'm going to say
• 15:01
  this throughout this podcast, your kids never want anything.
• 15:07
  Everyone's like my kids may want it, my kids may want it, and
• 15:09
  then their kids will come and go.
• 15:11
  I don't want that. What about once you've passed
• 15:13
  and then they have to come and look through everything?
• 15:16
  Chuck, I mean, seriously, I cannot tell you how many people
• 15:20
  think, no, my son will want that, my daughter will want
• 15:22
  that, and then their son or daughter come and go.
• 15:24
  I don't want that. So it's very rare unless it's a
• 15:27
  family heirloom. And even then, I mean, they
• 15:32
  really, one thing I can say about this new generation of
• 15:35
  kids, they are minimalist and they like less things in their
• 15:40
  homes. And I'm all for that, as you
• 15:43
  know, being an organizer. So when your parents keep trying
• 15:46
  to pawn things off on you that they don't want, they don't want
• 15:50
  it. Either right that is correct.
• 15:53
  I have a few things that I will not get rid of even though I
• 15:57
  know I can and I still I, I, I get it, I get it.
• 16:01
  And my kids certainly don't want them.
• 16:02
  But let's let's talk about the idea too, that when you say you
• 16:08
  don't know what's in there, that you could, you could actually
• 16:13
  make it not, I don't want to say fun.
• 16:16
  It could be exciting if you really haven't been there a
• 16:19
  while and you get family members to come.
• 16:21
  But then people are going to want to hang on to things, which
• 16:23
  is usually the opposite of. What?
• 16:24
  You see my eyes? Yeah, as I was saying it, I just
• 16:27
  wanted to see this. So I'm seeing it.
• 16:29
  Her eyes are getting smaller and smaller.
• 16:30
  They're just little slit. And then she's looking at me
• 16:33
  like, don't even say that you should bring other people in
• 16:35
  your family to your storage unit because I know what you're going
• 16:38
  to say. An impartial person.
• 16:39
  You need to bring somebody that's impartial.
• 16:41
  Who's impartial because when you get your sister, your mother,
• 16:45
  your cousin, then they're emotionally invested just like
• 16:49
  you are. And it's great if they'll take
• 16:51
  something like you can put a post it note on a bin that you
• 16:55
  have and say this is for Aunt Carol and then have her come
• 16:59
  pick it up or you bring the bin to her.
• 17:02
  But getting a whole bunch of people in a storage unit, unless
• 17:05
  it's just a bunch of furniture and people want to just come
• 17:09
  pick and choose what they want, it's just a recipe for disaster
• 17:13
  because then you're first of all, it'll last forever.
• 17:15
  This whole thing will last weeks on end because people start
• 17:19
  being emotional about every little item and telling stories
• 17:22
  about every single item. Someone will start crying.
• 17:25
  I mean, it'll be a whole thing. So it it's just better to do it
• 17:31
  with someone who's not as invested as you are, who can be,
• 17:36
  you know, not biased about things and really tell you what,
• 17:40
  what they think to help you let go of things.
• 17:43
  It's emotionally stressful, whether it's a storage unit or
• 17:46
  something in your house or you know, anything to do with your
• 17:50
  children. Those are called emotional
• 17:52
  clutter and stress clutter and they cause stress.
• 17:56
  So that's why I always say, look first, get your ducks in a row.
• 18:01
  Make list the people who you can get there to help you.
• 18:05
  Not to hinder you, but to help you.
• 18:08
  Could you, and I'm taking a page off of something you said from
• 18:11
  an episode previous, I think it was our downsizing episode, I
• 18:15
  want to say, But could you like every say for first you go there
• 18:20
  and then maybe one Saturday you say, alright, I'm going to have
• 18:23
  the charity come by. And then another Saturday, you
• 18:26
  say, OK, I'm gonna have the consignment furniture place come
• 18:28
  by and just have these appointments made where they're
• 18:30
  ready to just take things away directly from the storage unit.
• 18:34
  Yes. And I mean, normally that's how
• 18:37
  it'll work because I mean it'd be an act of God to get
• 18:40
  everybody to be able to come with everybody's schedules on
• 18:43
  the same exact day. I mean, that's great if it can
• 18:45
  happen, but usually everybody's schedules are different.
• 18:49
  That's why post it notes and I talk about them all the time and
• 18:52
  I'm not getting paid made by posted, but it's the smartest
• 18:56
  thing to use different colors for different items, one for
• 18:59
  consignment, one for donate, you know, different one junk, just
• 19:03
  stuff I'm throwing out. And that way when each person
• 19:07
  comes on the day they're assigned to come, it's so easy.
• 19:10
  You say you're the one with the purple post its or you're the
• 19:13
  one with the yellow post its and it makes it super easy.
• 19:16
  I got to say the consignment thing is I live in my brain to
• 19:22
  where I know I'm going to take all of this stuff to Goodwill,
• 19:25
  but I for a minute have piles like consignment, eBay,
• 19:30
  whatever. And then I'm like, then I get to
• 19:32
  a point where I'm like, you're never, I'm never going to do it.
• 19:35
  And the rent in my brain isn't worth the 30-40 dollars I'm
• 19:39
  going. To get.
• 19:40
  From the resale store. So I'm just going to load it all
• 19:43
  over and take it, just get rid of it, which there's something
• 19:46
  to be said about that because once it's gone.
• 19:48
  And I. Stop deciding.
• 19:50
  But for a while I'll have two or 3 bags and then every time I
• 19:53
  walk by them, I'm going into my brain going, well, what day can
• 19:57
  I go there? Where they right?
• 19:58
  I'll tell you the thing about consignment stores too, That
• 20:00
  could hurt your feelings. When you go to the consignment
• 20:03
  store, they're rifling through all your stuff and then they
• 20:04
  come back and say, Nope, nothing's nothing's in style
• 20:08
  here, right? Or no quality stuff, right?
• 20:12
  You're like, what are you saying?
• 20:13
  Like I spent a lot on that. Better to just give it to
• 20:16
  somebody who says thank you. Well, any, OK, so anytime you
• 20:21
  have any of those type of items that you're thinking about
• 20:24
  consignment or selling it, unless it's of value, like real
• 20:29
  value, something that you can sell in the real real or you
• 20:33
  know what I mean? You have to think, do I have the
• 20:36
  time to post on all these different sites and wait for
• 20:40
  somebody because you play that ping pong act where they're, you
• 20:44
  know, whether it's eBay or any of these sites, you have to
• 20:48
  decide if it's worth your time versus the money you're going to
• 20:51
  get for it. And that, and this is nothing
• 20:54
  against great stores like Uptown.
• 20:57
  Cheapskate is a local 1, but Plato's Closet is a national.
• 20:59
  You know, I think Uptown is a change as well.
• 21:01
  I don't know. But anyway, these places where
• 21:03
  you go in and they buy right on the spot as opposed to
• 21:05
  consignment where you like, we pay cash.
• 21:08
  Every time my daughter and I have gone to one of those
• 21:11
  places, we come away annoyed because you've got to be in
• 21:16
  season, you've got to have. Yeah, they have all required.
• 21:19
  All these requirements and you get maybe 20 bucks for, you
• 21:23
  know, a huge stack and then and it's a little more if you use it
• 21:26
  as a credit and then you're bringing more junk, right?
• 21:29
  You know, but we always it's a great idea in theory and it's
• 21:33
  and it's great if you have a thick skin.
• 21:36
  Let me tell you, don't go wandering in there thinking that
• 21:38
  your stuff is worth more than it is, because it never is.
• 21:40
  Oh, and that that's not just clothes.
• 21:42
  That's all types of memorabilia. All types.
• 21:47
  You think it's worth so much. You've held on to it.
• 21:50
  It's been sitting in closets, taking up space.
• 21:53
  And then you go on eBay or you go on your neighborhood Facebook
• 21:57
  thing to sell something and people are like, what?
• 22:01
  Or you'll go on eBay and they'll be 700 of them and they're
• 22:04
  selling them for a dollar. And you're like, what the heck?
• 22:07
  I've held on to these forever. I have some figurines that were
• 22:11
  my grandmother's and I went on eBay and I noticed that they
• 22:13
  were going for 4550 bucks each and I was like what?
• 22:16
  That's great. And then I looked.
• 22:18
  They've been listed for. Years.
• 22:20
  Years. I mean, that's the person that
• 22:22
  has the time to throw everything they can up there, and if
• 22:25
  something sells, great. If it doesn't, 10 other things
• 22:28
  are selling from their collections.
• 22:30
  And there's there's more and more of these sites now, so
• 22:34
  people are all over the place when they're going to look for
• 22:37
  things. It's not like it used to be
• 22:39
  where it was just eBay and you could go on there.
• 22:41
  So it's just it, it, I always say, how much time do you have
• 22:47
  to devote to selling items versus the money you're going to
• 22:50
  get for it? Some people, they may be retired
• 22:53
  and they have all, all day to do this.
• 22:55
  And I think that's great. But most people don't and
• 22:59
  they're like, I don't have time for this.
• 23:01
  I, I mean, I'd rather just donate it or, you know, give it
• 23:05
  to the homeless shelter where people, I always say, you may
• 23:09
  not want something and you may think, oh, you know, but there's
• 23:12
  always somebody else who we will find value in it always.
• 23:16
  Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So this this book or novella
• 23:21
  that you've written about storage units, is there is there
• 23:24
  more on there to share? You know what, I I just want
• 23:28
  everybody to be motivated and inspired in 2023 to get the
• 23:34
  monkey off your back. Go over there, go and look and
• 23:39
  see what you have, take photos. And then I would like people to
• 23:44
  respond back and let me know with pictures, with comments on
• 23:49
  how they felt after they let the storage unit go.
• 23:52
  How you know, what did they experience going through this
• 23:56
  process? I would love, love, love to hear
• 23:58
  from people. OK, so getting rid of your
• 24:01
  storage unit in the new year, but don't say it's going to
• 24:03
  happen this year, Say it's going to happen this month.
• 24:05
  Make it be by the end of the month or the end of the middle
• 24:09
  of next month, but set a date. Set a date in this year and get
• 24:13
  that monkey on. Your back and slice it up like a
• 24:15
  salami if you have to. This week, we're gonna get rid
• 24:17
  of all the goodwill. Next week, we're gonna, you
• 24:20
  know, invite, you know, invite. John 3.
• 24:23
  Strong guys, you're right to come over and lift everything
• 24:27
  and then but but really you've got to have a plan for
• 24:29
  everything and just be prepared to let.
• 24:31
  Again of action. Yeah, exactly, exactly.
• 24:33
  Well, happy National Organizing Month.
• 24:35
  I know it's a busy time. For you, busy time for us.
• 24:38
  And everybody else, we wish you a happy, happy New Year and new
• 24:42
  organized life. And, and again, there are ways
• 24:45
  for you to let us know if you've gotten rid of the storage unit
• 24:48
  or if you're getting ready to tackle that project.
• 24:51
  Everything we do, it has our name on it on Cluttered and
• 24:54
  Unfiltered on Instagram, on Facebook, we have a private
• 24:57
  group you're invited to join on Cluttered and unfiltered Ladies
• 25:00
  over 40. We've got our website that has a
• 25:03
  contact us form. So all of those things.
• 25:06
  And of course we have to ask if you're listening to us through a
• 25:10
  way where you can leave a a review five stars.
• 25:13
  We would love those stars. We it it's not for our egos.
• 25:16
  There's actually like an algorithm reason for it.
• 25:18
  So we. We ask that we.
• 25:21
  Don't pretend to get it. We don't pretend to get it.
• 25:23
  But those reviews, if you leave a review that actually is very
• 25:27
  beneficial. So we appreciate it if you do
• 25:28
  that, and we invite you to let it go.
• 25:32
  And don't look back. Happy New Year.