By Erin Bush
Public Storage and I have had a solid on-again-off-again relationship for the last eight years or so. Every time I need an entity to hold on to my stuff for a dollar for the first month, I lean on them – or any other storage facility offering the same deal in a more convenient location. I’ve moved houses several times, including over a couple mountain ranges and across state lines. In the Denver Metro Area alone, I think I lived in about six different houses and apartments, not including my parents’, then off to Tahoe where I lived in three different spaces, to San Jose, [deep inhale] and lastly, to San Francisco – where I am waiting on my third apartment to move into.
At all of those times in my life, never have I had to get a space larger than 5×5. All of my crap fits in a 5×5 corrugated metal box, including mattress and box spring. The irony here is that after living out of two duffle bags, which has become technically one bag, I’m thinking about all the stuff in that storage space I don’t miss and how I can offload it. When you sit down and think about it, and you finally go through all of the stuff that has been strategically shoved under your bed and to the back of your closet that you haven’t seen or thought about in a year, do you really need it cluttering your life? Do you need to carry it around with you from space to space to space?
I’m not trying to get rid of all of it by any means. But, I am pretty sure I have a ton of papers that could be digitally scanned onto a couple USBs and I could shred the rest. Honestly, why do I have a backlog of my gas and electric bills for the last year? Insane. That bridesmaid dress that is now two sizes too big [thank god] and I couldn’t think of a moment when I could wear it again? It’s going to go to be donated to a Prom Fund for kids that can’t afford pricey prom dresses. I have an astounding number of graphic tees from when I was sixteen years old, or, well, a 22 year old snowboard bum. Now, I am a corporate gal in a trendy city. Goodbye, graphic tees. I am sure there is a snowboard bum out there who is in desperate need of some not-so-clever or creative “vintage” tees.
This is me. Helping others.
Funny – I had a duffle bag in my living room last week and had no clue what is in it….so I figure, what the hell and just donated to the Salvation Army truck our front that was doing their yearly pickup….Ahhhh – felt great! On second thought…Erin, was that yours or Rj’s? Either way – one of us is much lighter….!
Sounds like I have some shopping to do.