My friends and colleagues in Vancouver have been talking non-stop about the latest real-estate innovation to hit our expensive city: “microlofts”, 270 square feet of compact urban living roughly equal in size to two parking spaces.

In an Olympic-frenzied city with some of the most expensive real estate in the world, I guess it was inevitable that people would start living in accommodations that combine your sink, toilet and shower into a single “washroom enclosure”. But the question on everyone’s lips is “how do you organize your stuff to actually live in such a small space?”

When the CBC interviewed me about this topic, I noted that in a perfect world where you have as much space as you could possibly need, you would just keep everything. But for most of us, organizing our living spaces means making choices. What do you really need? What do you actually use? And what do you just have around because of emotional attachment or memory?

For those of us who don’t live in spacious mansions, these are very practical questions. One way to face it is to ask yourself, what would I keep if I could only have 100 items? Would I keep my Wii? All the DVDs I’ve collected but never actually watch? How many sets of cutlery do I need? Which is more important: that set of coasters that I bring out for company twice a year, or my toothbrush (well, I hope you’d choose the toothbrush, but it’s your choice…)?

We’re moving into smaller spaces and as a result, self-serve storage is a booming industry. It’s not just people shifting gears in a tough economy; many retired residents are moving from 2000 or even 5000 square feet homes into rooms roughly equivalent to in space to these microlofts – and they’ve acquired decades worth of stuff.

But if you’re paying for a storage locker after you downsize, how much would that extra $200 or $300 per month buy you in rent or a mortgage? If you’ve filled up your garage so you have to pay for a parking pass for your car to park on the street, how much are you paying every month for stuff that you might never use?

When I’m working with my professional organizing clients, helping them through the downsizing process is often a cathartic kind of process. They realize what is really important to them. At the same time, they learn how to make smarter decisions about how they use their space. For instance, in smaller spaces, you learn how to turn your coffee tables and ottomans into dual-use pieces and find places for hidden storage.

It’s often a challenge at the beginning, but in the end, they realize better value and a better standard of living from their homes than they ever had before.