Where to Put Those Baskets You're Keeping From a Friend For Her Daughter

It may be easy to feel like you can minimize the things you can see directly, but I get a lot of questions about storage.

Kayla's face when we find out you pay for multiple storage units

"Minimalism sounds great, but I have these few items that I'm storing that I really don't want to get rid of..."

Or, more specifically, "I have these Longaberger baskets that your mother didn't want around the house, so I took them from her to store and said I'd give them to you when you get your own place. What do I do with them?"

It's very thoughtful. I'm really into a cabin feel, so one or two Longaberger baskets might fit well once I get my own place.

Here is the core of minimalism: only keep things that

1. serve a purpose
2. bring you joy

 Now, these baskets aren't serving a purpose, they're only adding to the clutter that you feel you have to organize and reorganize as you add to it; however, I don't see a problem with storing things short term. For example, my mom kept a box of stuff that I didn't need for my dorm room, but I would need for my first apartment. And now there is another box that I don't need for an apartment shared with three other people, but for my own house.

This is not to say that we bought stuff in advance specifically to store for the future. I think we can still find a cute set of plates in a couple years. No, these boxes are full of a couple items that I bought for the apartment but a roommate supplied instead, or things that have been passed down to me for the near future. 

Exactly how long is short term and near future? Two years maximum. Do not start storing things when you're 20 for when you might have kids in five years. Do not buy something and tell yourself you'll just save it in storage for "someday." That is how the stuff starts piling up. And either someday will never come or you'll most likely forget about it by the time you could actually use it.

In short, is it OK to keep those Longaberger baskets? If you had asked me when you actually took them, I'd say no. But now that you've asked me when I'm only a couple years away from my own place? Sure, if you feel like you really need to.