Storage unit be gone, and other ramblings

Two weeks ago, I spent most of the weekend moving everything out of our storage unit, which in turn gave me a sore upper body and a lot to think about.

We've had the storage unit for about three years. And in retrospect, it was stupid to have it that long. At the time we started renting it, we figured we'd be in the condo for another year or so and then move to a bigger place. But then we discovered how craptastic the real estate market was in our area (and nationally), and we knew it would be wisest to stay in the condo a bit longer.

The storage unit should have been a short-term solution. We never wanted to pay more in rent than what the stored goods were worth, and for a while, that worked out. We had a a bed, a sectional, part of Tim's Bowflex, etc. It was a great place to be able to put our Christmas tree and baby gear, as we don't have much storage space at the condo and Florida properties aren't known for having basements. We're also at a point where much of the stuff we were storing would likely not fit our current style, and we'd much rather start over with furnishings and home decor whenever we move.When I reorganized the storage unit before Christmas, it hit me that we could probably downsize enough to not need the storage unit anymore. (Oh, and I found some rodent feces on our sectional and in a box in the storage unit. That pretty much sealed the deal.)

Tidied up before Christmas.

I like to refer to the condo as the biggest, most expensive
mistake
learning experience of our lives. Tim bought it when he moved down from Ohio in August 2006 - right before the market plummeted, making it a good time to buy, and a time to never imagine selling for a profit again. We figured that it would be a good place to live for a few years before we moved back to Ohio, and we could build equity and then sell it when we left the state.

But there's not a prayer of selling it without a huge loss any time soon. And we're not back in Ohio. We're in Florida, with a mortgage that we curse on a regular basis.

I know we're not alone in this situation, and I know that many people have it a lot worse than us. I try to remind myself that we have shelter. We're living under our means, able to save each month for our future home. When we do finally move out of the condo, we'll know that it was because of our own hard work and sacrifices.

It does bother me that if we had just rented for a few months at first, this situation would be completely different. If we bought just a year later, we could have gotten much more for our money, and it might have been more marketable to sell (condo complexes in Florida have so many vacancies that there isn't much of a market for renting or selling). Or we could be renting, not tied down to a mortgage. But again, we chalk it up to an expensive and unfortunate life lesson learned, and we're trying to make the best of it.

The majority of the storage unit contents in our living room.

As he was helping me unload some boxes from one trip to the storage unit, Tim said, "I wish we were moving this stuff out of the storage unit because we had a house." I told him we were getting one step closer and would get there eventually - the money we'll be saving from storage unit rent will now go to our savings account, and we'll no longer have to worry about having our belongings scattered in several places.

But truth be told, it upsets me a lot more than I'd like to admit that things haven't worked out as "planned." In the last few months, I've realized that it tugs at my heart to see moving vans/trailers in our development or even our neighborhood, because for as much as I hate moving, I'd LOVE to move out of the condo. I was at Target a few weeks ago, and it made me sad to see all of the cute, new home decor, because I want to be decorating a new home with those pieces. I look at furniture ads in the Sunday paper, and the desire to shop for and decorate our new home hits me again. I have so many ideas Pinned and remembered and stored in my mind, and yet no need, space or funds to bring them to life. Again, I know it could be worse, and I'm grateful for what we do have - but it's hard not to dream, you know?

We rapidly exceeded a level of ideal occupancy in terms of space in the 1,000-square foot condo, and I often feel like no matter where I turn there is clutter. Tim tells me I would hate cleaning a larger space, wouldn't want to dust/vacuum/tidy up more rooms, more square footage. I disagree, as the fact that every space here is occupied to the max and means it is harder to clean and keep tidy. It's immediately obvious to me if the dining room table is cluttered or dirty. Or if the contents of the storage unit are stacked up in the living room until I can start sorting and decluttering.

Hours later, the contents had exploded.

As I've gone through all of our stored belongings, I've had flashbacks to different points in time, different places I've lived. And apparently I'm quite a pack rat, although I've gotten much better at sorting out the absolute necessities during subsequent purgings. I had photos that hung in the hallway of my last apartment. Framed snapshots of people I'm no longer closed to. Votives that were in my childhood bedroom. Souvenirs from a high school band trip to Disney World. A down comforter from my first post-college apartment.

Emptied out!
(I was not removing the rodent fece-affected sectional or a chair
that could have been rodentized as well, so they'll have to deal with it.)

I definitely have some more reorganization to do with the stuff we brought back from the storage unit (not showing a picture of that!), but I'm proud of the downsizing we've done and happy with what we've been able to sell and donate. This process has been way more emotional than I expected, and I think seeing the previously stored belongings on a daily basis, now in the condo, will be a constant reminder of where we've been, where we are, and where we're going.