It is said that politics is the art of compromise.  This could also be said of marriage. Two human beings who plan to live together for an long period of time will need to learn how to successfully compromise.

One area of contention (and thus a great opportunity to compromise), is what to keep and what to get rid of – or more likely, when to get rid of it.

Often the level of emotional attachment to an object varies between the spouses – especially as life changes and situations change.  Children arrive into the world, grow up, and leave (or at least we hope they eventually leave). Those old college text books fade and become outdated.  The artwork that looked great with that brown couch didn’t cut it with the blue one and has been relegated to a position under the bed.  However, our emotional attachment to the items we no longer use may still be too strong to think about letting them go – at least for one of the members of the household.  So, how to make room for new things without causing a marital rift?

Often letting go of something is easiest when we can see what it is like to live without it. Once we’ve spent time without those beloved father/son surfboards, the now hidden art, the old textbooks – our emotional ties are allowed to fade. So save that marriage counselling money and store those items of disagreement instead! And we know just the place …

Need more strategies on letting go of things – check out this article from Real Simple magazine.  Need some general tips on storage – visit our storage tips page.