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I remember the days when I was sorting out my things to go into storage. I had to create categories of necessity with the idea in mind that this was a temporary circumstance. There were the things that were needed on a daily basis; the things that were periodic needs; the things that might become useful depending on what happened; and the things that clearly were decorative and/or useless to be carrying around.

The daily things mostly went into the van and a few items into the closet at work. Everything else went into a 4 feet by 5 feet storage unit. What does your life look like when reduced to 20 square feet and 8 feet high? Like a three dimensional jigsaw puzzle.

In the back went the flat things like artwork. Against that went a really nice and heavy desk turned on its side. Then the various boxes, books, tools, and random items filled in the spaces left around the desk. If it wasn’t your life’s possessions it would almost be a fun puzzle game to see how much you could fit in there.

Of course the van carries clothes and some key paperwork that I thought I needed access to. I have a system for clean piles of clothes on one side and a stack of dirty clothes on the other. I try not to let the dirty ones pile up too much for obvious reasons. For the most part it works out just fine.

But I notice how little I actually dip into some of the things I thought so necessary to carry around. When you have to dramatically pare down to the essentials for your life you realize how little that can be. On one hand it is slightly liberating to not be tied down by so much stuff. On the other hand it really makes you think about your habits of acquisition and retention. Sentimentality counts for a lot, but do I really need that extra shirt that I think “someday I will wear it.”

The comedian George Carlin did his bit about our accumulation of “stuff” many years ago in 1981. But since that time the growth of the storage unit industry would probably make him use one of those “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” if not all of them at once. It is quite a site to walk down the aisles to my little unit. You first pass what looks like a garage size set of units and I can’t help but wonder what life they hold. Is it anything like mine where necessity dictates the content? Or does it hold simple excess of someone’s life that they can’t let go of yet?

So for now I have plenty of books awaiting shelves; some ceramics to go on a future coffee table; a few pairs of shoes for by the front door; and plenty of dream space in my mind for whatever shapes my reality as a future re-homed person.

Previous posts in this series:

• One Step Forward, One Step Back
• Exciting New Career Opportunities
• End of the Day
• Solutions Wanted
• When to Hold On, Let Go?
• Location, location, location
• Range of Motion
• Food More Than Sustenance
• Figuring It All Out Someday
• Solitude
• The Good, The Bad
• From The Heart
• Does Anyone Really See Me?
• Keeping Perspective
• Showers at the Natatorium
• Achieving Homelessness