Hunting apartments had now become my evening sport. I would go through listings of bigger places that I certainly could not afford to pay. One extra bedroom. Slightly bigger kitchen. Perhaps even a closet that is big enough to put clothes in without the need to go and do some engineering calculations. Click here for more information!
I repeated to myself the same: this apartment is too small.
It turns out that I had not. My stuff had.
One day, a Saturday, I was attempting to clean the problem became noticeable. I took nearly an hour to carry over a box on one side of the room to the other side to vacuum a small area of about a bath towel. It was then that I noticed that I was not even utilizing half of the items that were occupying my apartment.
I was storing them in a bad way.
That was what caused me to rent a small storage unit. Well, I thought it was going to be temporary. Perhaps a month or two till I got the picture.
And then my flat was different.
The initial things I transferred were seasonal stuff. Old suitcases, thick coats, additional bedding, things I used in sports, twice a year in case I was ambitious. My hallway closet could suddenly shut without people pushing against it like hostages.
Small flats become untidy in cunning means. A pile is one shelf. An stack of rubbish turns into an inseparable part of humiliation. Soon enough your table chair begins to put on jackets on a full time basis.
Mine certainly did.
The storage unit did not transform my apartment into a high-end loft but it transformed the space into a working one. I would not have to go around plastic bins in rooms. My desk ceased to be an additional storage shelf of random electronics and unopened packages.
It surprised me the most when the mental difference was mentioned.
This low-level annoyance that is hardly noticeable until it is removed is caused by a cramped apartment. All the surfaces are crowded visually. You lose little fragments of patience throughout the day as something is always coming in your path. After packing out the excess, the apartment seemed to be a lot calmer. Not bigger exactly. Simply more comfortable to live in.
That distinction matters.
I believe that most of the individuals consider that the only way to solve the problem when space turns limited is the upgrading of the apartments. Sometimes it is. However, in many cases, the problem lies in the attempt to include all belongings, all the memories, and all the maybe I will need this one day things into a tiny dwelling.
Mini storage is good with that in between category of stuff. What you wish to have, but really need, that you can reach on a Tuesday afternoon.
And, frankly enough, the apartments of today are not contributing. The developers are fond of stating that places are efficiently designed, which often implies that there is no place to place a vacuum cleaner, except that it is a strange housemate next to your refrigerator.
Comments were made by friends after a few weeks. One of them questioned whether I had renovated. One more thing I purchased new furniture. Nope. There was just less clutter to stand in the way of the furniture already in place.
The storage unit is used regularly by me. I change seasonal items, pick up travel bags, switch a few items of hobbies. It does not seem like additional storage space, but rather the storage closet that my apartment would have had initially.
Humorous enough, after the mess was cleared, I no longer felt obsessed about the movement. I was able to actually enjoy the place I already resided in rather than always striving to get away.