There’s one day every year when I open the wardrobe looking for my shorts and get ambushed by a winter duvet. It’s not a metaphor. It’s literal. The duvet leaps at me as if it had missed me, drags along two fleece blankets, and — while it’s at it — knocks the box of beanies onto the floor to keep me company.
Welcome to the war of the seasons — waged, year after year, inside my 60-square-metre flat.
The problem isn’t summer. The problem is that winter never fully leaves. The rain boots cohabit with the flip-flops. The heater strikes a pose next to the fan, both pretending they don’t know each other. And somewhere in the middle of all this there still has to be room for the beach bag, the inflatable mattress, and that camping tent I use once a year and store the other 364 days as if it were a trophy.
For years I lived like this: shuffling boxes from one side to the other, stacking seasonal gear on top of the closet until the closet begged for mercy. Every change of season was a little house move — only without a new house at the end of it.
Until a friend threw me the line that changed my summer: “so why don’t you just put that in a self-storage?”
I’ll admit I rolled my eyes. Self-storage sounded like something for people who own a piano or a motorbike collection. But I went to have a look at KUBOO in Carnaxide, more out of curiosity than faith. I walked out with a storage unit in just the right size, a few sturdy kuboo boxes under my arm, and that strange feeling of having found space where there was none.
The winter gear went on holiday. The duvets, the blankets, the beanies and the grumpy heater all moved into their new home — safe, dry and out of my sight. In return, my flat gave me back something I’d almost forgotten I had: a floor.
Now summer fits. The beach bag fits by the door, the inflatable fits in the hallway without tripping me up, and even the odd visitor fits without me having to panic-hide clutter behind the sofa.
If you also wage the war of the seasons every year, maybe the problem isn’t that you have too much stuff — maybe you’re just missing somewhere to keep it off-season. KUBOO has self-storage in Carnaxide, Abóboda and Seixal, with access whenever you need it. Your wardrobe (and your duvet) will thank you.
