I have been blogging now for two years for the easyStorage blog and the easyStorage Boxes blog along the way I’ve been ‘dogfooding’ ("Eating your own dog food" - the practice of using your own products) and decluttering along with the blogs. 

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What have I learned from easyStorage?

1.     Most cleaning and tidying blogs are written by people for whom a clean and tidy home is way more important than anything else. I sadly don’t come into that category. I love walking with my dog, socialising, partying, being around people. But between the lines of those blogs and hints from the easyStorage crew, I’ve found some fabulous tips that I’ve loved both sharing on the blog and putting into practice.

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Even though my home is still basically a reform project, full of paint and often of building dust, I am no longer ashamed of inviting people into a cleaner, tidier space.

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2.     I had loads of small projects on the go, from fixing up a beautiful old chair to upcycling some bedside tables and finishing off some craft projects. I felt like parting with these things would make me feel like a failure, making me feel guilty for not having found the time to finish them. But they were cluttering up my space. In fact, the reverse happened. When I got brutal with myself and passed them on, they became projects that will now be finished. The nagging guilt of constantly passing them unfinished has gone away, and my space is tidier.

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3.     Getting organised doesn’t have to cost a fortune. I found boxes in pound stores and unopened DIY shelves in charity shops, along with shelves in hardware stores, which have allowed me to spread out the things that really give me joy and I want around, like mementoes from my travels or bits my family gave me. And by decluttering, cleaning has become a million times faster, which in my book is a win.

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4.     Giving away my children’s books was tough. The reality is that the boys didn’t want them any more. The books I’d been passed from my own childhood were no competition for my own childrens’ Rastamouse and Captain Underpants books and were barely looked at, so who was I keeping them for? I reasoned with myself and passed the books on to two friends’ sons of different ages, and the resulting delight was way better than my pleasure at having them. It’s the memory of cuddling up reading with my two little boys, not the books, that mattered.

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(How much money, time and stress could I have saved by doing this before I moved home?)

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5.     I had two printers that didn’t work properly – an occupational hazard when working from home. I was spending a fortune on cleaning heads and more. The council were fabulous and took them away. No more expense and the satisfaction of knowing that they’ll be properly disposed of rather than becoming landfill. And my pocket is relieved!

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6.     I have sold off enough things on Facebook Marketplace to pay for Christmas dinner! My clothes haven’t sold as well there, despite being good quality, so I’ll try them out on other sites.  I buy once and feel great in better quality clothes, much to my best friends’ disdain – she has new clothes each week and a fabulous, colourful overflowing wardrobe! (We’ll soon be starting a series on online selling as we mention selling things a lot!)

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7.     When desk tidying, I found a useful ‘bunce’ of leftover holiday euros and a brand new SIM card that I’d lost.

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8.     I can’t bear to throw away kettle leads, chargers, adapters etc. I have them in a basket and despite having disposed of LOADS before leaving my old home and buying my cottage three years ago, I now have a new collection. But I’m happy with it. I am constantly needing different kinds of cables for workers whose drills have stopped or things I’ve managed to buy without them. Many places and people suggest getting rid of them. Whilst I agree that for many, they’re better recycled, for me they’re needed. We are all different.

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9.     I have actually made the time to read up Marie Kondo’s suggestions and discovered Swedish Death Cleaning because I needed to professionally. They have inspired me. Why didn’t I read them before?

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10.  The things I don’t like and never use are slowly finding new homes. And when I move this time (imminent, the cottage is for sale) I’ll definitely be’ dogfooding' by using easyStorage to store just my most used and valued things until I decide what my next adventure will be.

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3 biggest takeaways from easyStorage experts

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My three biggest takeaways (apart from learning that you shouldn’t try and live in a self storage unit, of course) have been:

1.     decluttering is as much about about emotions getting out the Marigolds (other brands of rubber gloves are, of course, available). I’ve never had a life that lets me get to ‘hoarder’ stage, but I can understand how it happens. ‘Things’ have an emotional value and often our fears around passing them on or disposing of them are completely unfounded.

2.     writing constantly about self storage could be a chore, but storage is about more than a space. It’s the stories of the businesses that use the space. It’s the stories of the parent going into care or babies growing up. It’s the families dividing and families uniting. It’s about moving, or about people making the best of what they have to be able to stay put. It’s all about people and emotion.

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3.     easyStorage is one of the nicest startups I’ve ever worked with. I find the people friendly, upbeat and empowering. Whilst all young companies have so much more they could do, easyStorage seems to me to have a firm hand on the tiller, not doing everything at once, investing sensibly in technology and people, with a strong sense of purpose and a healthy, driven, happy work environment.

I guess, in all three cases, attitude is everything.