Best Results Organizing

Editor’s note: Check the highlighted portion below for an exciting prize update and a chance to win $100!

As a professional organizer, and especially as one who specializes in paper, you don’t see me writing too often about using self-storage. After all, one of the goals of getting organized is to take an honest look at what you have — and how much of it you have — and reduce your number of possessions to reasonably match the space you have.

Opting for self-storage definitely adds to your available space, but can be like increasing your credit limit. The more space (or credit) to which you have access, the more you might potentially use. That’s why it’s essential to know why you’re acquiring off-site storage, estimate how long you’ll be needing it, and make sure your selection fits your needs.

So, a bad reason to book self-storage is because you have too much stuff and can’t be bothered to look at it critically and winnow it down. Have every bill you’ve ever received? Every letter? Every magazine? Booking storage space so you can keep it all, in perpetuity, is just like plopping more purchases on an already-strained credit card. Not good.

That said, there are definitely excellent reasons to use self-storage. For example, self-storage works great when:

• You’ve inherited possessions and have neither the space nor immediate time to review and process them. (Plus, you can review the items with an estate sale agent or meet buyers without opening your home, and all involved parties, including other inheritors, can meet in a neutral space.)
• You’re in temporary housing while between homes (due to relocation to a new city, separation/divorce, graduation or other life-change circumstances).
• You’re going to be giving up your home and traveling (domestically or abroad) for an extended period and are too old (ahem, mature) to fill your parents’ home with your belongings.
• You’ve experienced a catastrophe (fire, flood, tornado, etc.) and need a safe, secure location for your possessions.
• You’re remodeling at your home or office and need a place to keep large, unwieldy, delicate or valuable items out of the way of the workers.
• Your current residence lacks a safe place to park a vehicle, motorcycle, boat, RV or similar item.
• Your business is transitioning between locations and you need a secure location, with temperature and humidity control, to keep equipment, work product, client/customer files, etc.

Again, Paper Doll doesn’t normally talk about off-site storage, but I received an update from our friends at Uncle Bob’s Self-Storage. (They’re based in Buffalo, New York — the home of Paper Mommy and from where I hail.)

You may know that Uncle Bob’s blog, Get Stor-ganized, did a fun interview with me a few months back entitled They Have To Want It, about the organizing process and working with professional organizers. 

Today, Uncle Bob’s Self Storage launched the Address Your Mess contest, giving entrants an opportunity to win a three-day spa stay and a chance to get control of their clutter.

What’s involved? Contestants should submit a digital photo or short video of a messy room — in your house, apartment, or dorm room — to www.unclebobs.com/mess.

Visitors to the contest site will then be able to vote for the photo or video depicting the messiest, most cluttered room – the space most desperately in need of organizing assistance. (Yes, you can encourage your relatives, friends and social media pals to vote for you — just share links to your entry photo or video.)

Remember, readers, this is for putting forth your own rooms, spaces that fail to give you the serenity you want. Don’t submit photos of loved ones’ spaces in hopes of guilting them into organizing the way you’d like to see it done. (It’s not only bad manners — it’s against the contest rules!)

You’ve got eight weeks to enter the contest. Entrants whose photo or video earns the most weekly votes will receive an Uncle Bob’s prize package, including jackets, t-shirts, and other fun merchandise. I’ve just been notified that, as of this moment (6/11/14), and for the remaining weeks of the contest, the entry with the most votes each week also wins a $100 Amazon gift card! After the eight weekly winners are selected, Uncle Bob’s will then choose one of these finalists as the grand prize winner on Monday, June 30, 2014.

The grand prize includes round-trip airfare for two to Miami, Florida, a three-day/two-night stay at the Mandarin Oriental with one deluxe Bay View room for two, and two half-day Relaxation Program spa treatments. (Yes, I’d say a three-day spa vacation in Miami would be a good way to declutter one’s mind.)

And, while a vacation is lovely, Paper Doll considers the other part of the grand prize to be the true win. The grand prize winner will also receive one free session with a professional organizer (of his or her choosing) to declutter and organize the living space depicted in the entry. (In other words, the point isn’t merely to escape your clutter, but to embrace the organizing process and eliminate the clutter!)

Photo and video entries will be accepted through Sunday, June 29, 2014. One entry is allowed per contestant. No purchase is necessary. Got questions? There’s a contest FAQ page.

This is not a Paper Doll contest. The people at Uncle Bob’s just really seem to get that organizing is about more than just moving stuff from your house to your storage unit, and have interviewed many of my colleagues to help share organizing tips. (For example, they’ve recently chatted with the superb Diane Quintana, Ellen Palestine, and Anna Sicalides.)

If you decide to enter the contest and Address Your Mess, good luck!