The hardest part of downsizing is getting started. Once you get going it is not unusual to get "swept away" with your new found freedom. Depending on how big your home is or how much stuff you need to go through, this can take some time. You will find hidden treasures all over your home. Things you have put away and forgot about. Outdated gadgets (that first generation iPod or your last 6 cell phones) is something lots of people keep. Technology has advanced so fast that they are usually out of date just a couple of months after purchase. I can recall a sales person chuckling as I was looking to purchase a new phone. "That would make a good paper weight" he said as I handed over the old phone. Having these types of things in our drawers and cupboards take up valuable space in your little home.
Old computers can be reset to factory settings and sold if they still work. Broken items can be recycled through local initiatives where they disassemble the old electronics and recycle all the components.
Technology can vastly improve our clutter problem.
It was not long ago when consumers purchased records, tapes, CD's, DVD's and the like. We also had to buy storage for those thousands of titles we loved to watch and listen to. Today we have music and video streaming services that take up no space at all. You can access streaming anywhere there is an internet connection, and today that is just about everywhere and expanding. New Satellites such as Space X (which had a crippling explosion during launch just last week) are destined to provide internet access to Sub-Saharan Africa. Most North American metropolitan cities have wifi access throughout the city core. Restaurants, bars, coffee shops and even laundromats are equipped with internet access. Most consumers and guests have come to expect free wifi access when they arrive at their hotel, or restaurant.
My collection of books has dwindled to one shelf as services such as Amazon Kindle makes books and magazines accessible with the touch of a screen. If you are a traveller you will know the relief of not having to carry 3 novels for your vacation. Now, just a wafer thin device holds all your books and are available for you whenever you wish. I always found it difficult to find english speaking novels in countries such as Mexico, so having a Kindle or other type of tablet is well worth it. Oh, did I mention that not only can you have your book instantly, but it is almost always cheaper than buying the book version. Another storage problem solved with technology.
Last year as I was reviewing my own storage situation, I discovered that I had eight "rubber made" totes full of photos. Family photos taken over the years and now stored in big plastic boxes, stacked high at the back of my locker. It took about a month, but I got that down to 4 containers. If I really had the time and money, the right thing would be to scan all the photos onto a computer or external hard drive storage device. For the past several years all my photos are stored "in the cloud" and that cuts costs in many areas. First you don't have to store the prints. Right....prints, and you don't have to pay to have photos printed, unless you have a special photo you want to frame for display. You can also access your photos at any time from any of your devices from anywhere in the world.
A lot of us now have access to our bank accounts online. This is also true with our utility accounts such as phone, cable/internet, electricity, gas.....the list goes on. We can access these accounts remotely and pay bills online to do away with paper invoices and this saves us from filing away all that paper. I a lot of cases we are banking on our phones transferring money, even doing deposits with the photograph of a cheque.
More new technology is opening up our living space and putting our storage locker on a diet.
Old computers can be reset to factory settings and sold if they still work. Broken items can be recycled through local initiatives where they disassemble the old electronics and recycle all the components.
Technology can vastly improve our clutter problem.
It was not long ago when consumers purchased records, tapes, CD's, DVD's and the like. We also had to buy storage for those thousands of titles we loved to watch and listen to. Today we have music and video streaming services that take up no space at all. You can access streaming anywhere there is an internet connection, and today that is just about everywhere and expanding. New Satellites such as Space X (which had a crippling explosion during launch just last week) are destined to provide internet access to Sub-Saharan Africa. Most North American metropolitan cities have wifi access throughout the city core. Restaurants, bars, coffee shops and even laundromats are equipped with internet access. Most consumers and guests have come to expect free wifi access when they arrive at their hotel, or restaurant.
My collection of books has dwindled to one shelf as services such as Amazon Kindle makes books and magazines accessible with the touch of a screen. If you are a traveller you will know the relief of not having to carry 3 novels for your vacation. Now, just a wafer thin device holds all your books and are available for you whenever you wish. I always found it difficult to find english speaking novels in countries such as Mexico, so having a Kindle or other type of tablet is well worth it. Oh, did I mention that not only can you have your book instantly, but it is almost always cheaper than buying the book version. Another storage problem solved with technology.
Last year as I was reviewing my own storage situation, I discovered that I had eight "rubber made" totes full of photos. Family photos taken over the years and now stored in big plastic boxes, stacked high at the back of my locker. It took about a month, but I got that down to 4 containers. If I really had the time and money, the right thing would be to scan all the photos onto a computer or external hard drive storage device. For the past several years all my photos are stored "in the cloud" and that cuts costs in many areas. First you don't have to store the prints. Right....prints, and you don't have to pay to have photos printed, unless you have a special photo you want to frame for display. You can also access your photos at any time from any of your devices from anywhere in the world.
A lot of us now have access to our bank accounts online. This is also true with our utility accounts such as phone, cable/internet, electricity, gas.....the list goes on. We can access these accounts remotely and pay bills online to do away with paper invoices and this saves us from filing away all that paper. I a lot of cases we are banking on our phones transferring money, even doing deposits with the photograph of a cheque.
More new technology is opening up our living space and putting our storage locker on a diet.