However, the hardest objects to decide what to do with are often not obvious. Inherited furniture with sentimental value, holiday decorations and seasonal gear or items that may have use in the future are all examples of difficult choices you might have to make when downsizing into a tiny home. This simple framework splits your choices into three buckets, with practical tips at each stage.

Things to Keep That Earn Space in a Tiny House

Although some decluttering is essential, tiny home living is not always minimalist or frugal. There are a few simple questions to ask yourself when decluttering before tiny living. Some of those include:

• Did I use this any time recently?
• Will I use it in the future?
• If I do use it again, will it be regularly?
• Would I buy it again, knowing I am moving into a tiny house?

If you answer yes to most of these about an item, it is a candidate to stay. In a tiny home, you will be able to make space for many things you use daily, or at least weekly. Multi purpose items are also invaluable for tiny home living.

Some examples include regularly worn clothing, cookware essentials, entertainment devices, work equipment, and some meaningful but small keepsakes. Otherwise anything that you answered no to, can be considered for one of the other two buckets.

A key thing to remember is that, as much as it might hurt, sentimental value alone should not give something space in a tiny home. In fact, often there is literally no room for it.

The Common Things Suitable for Immediate Donation

Anything that has not been used in more than a year is a prime candidate to be donated or sold.

• Unused hobby supplies or equipment
• Clothes not in your style or size any more
• Duplicate items such as TVs and cooking utensils
• Old physical media, like books, CDs or DVDs

Bulky furniture will almost always have to be sorted out before a tiny home move. If you're planning on making small home living a permanent or long-term thing, consider selling, donating or giving away to friends or relatives. If your move is only a temporary downsize, or you're not sure for how long, then some well-used furniture items can go into bucket three.

One rule of thumb to think about is would you actually miss an item for a long time, if someone took it away. If not, it can be a serious candidate for donation.

A pro tip for if you're feeling guilty about donating something someone gifted you, or something you spent good money on? You can always get some cash back for selling it and if you donate it, someone else will find use for it which means it went to a better home. Guilt is not a long-term strategy for choosing your possessions, especially if you want to live in a tiny home.

Not Ready to Decide - What Can Go in Storage

The last bucket for things you still haven't decided on - is where you don't have to decide just yet. Self storage is a perfect option in this scenario. Tiny house living is sometimes transitional, seasonal and occasionally people find it's not for them.

If you have lots of expensive outdoor or seasonal gear, quality or sentimental value furniture or even hobby collections that need sorting before selling or donating, self storage could work well while you decide what you want to do with them.

For example you might be wondering where to keep seasonal gear tiny house style? Well, the answer could be month-to-month storage options.

5×5 units are perfect for a few boxes of seasonal items, like holiday decorations and outdoor gear. However, you'll probably need a 5×10 size unit if larger items like bulky camping equipment or furniture are involved.

Some items that could go in this bucket include:

• Vintage inherited furniture like dressers
• Boxes of family photos
• Kayaks, skis, snow shoes

Using self storage to keep seasonal items in this way gives you time and space to breathe during a move into a tiny home.

The extra clarity during a moving period can give you the time to work out if you actually do use those items, and how long their season lasts. Once you know what items you do need, and when, flexible month-to-month contracts for units mean they can be used for the off-season storage small space can't provide.

Tiny home living is not always permanent either. So in those cases flexible, no locked-in contract storage is useful for holding onto furniture or other bulky items for future moves.

It is important to remember that self storage shouldn't be seen as a permanent solution. It is a useful stopgap stage while you reassess with some items.

The tiny home life will, unless you already live minimally, require you to part with many possessions - that's just how it is. But self storage can help with the items that require some thought, organization or the right season to come back before you know exactly what you want to do with them.

To recap -

• Keep what you need and use regularly
• Donate or sell what you don't use or were done with a long time ago
• Consider self storage as a temporary solution for items that you need time and experience with tiny house living to reassess

Tiny house decluttering is more about deciding what you prioritise and need to make space for, than just being as minimal as possible with your possessions. You can pack quite a lot into a small space, if you prioritize and organize efficiently.

Self storage can help in the short term, especially while you get used to your new lifestyle, but eventually you're almost certain to own a lot less things than you did before. But that, as any long-term tiny home resident can tell you, is part of the point.