However, as time went on and I accumulated more things, I realized that something was going to have to give. I was running out of room, and besides, I didn't like having my favourite red dress and my wigs all scrunched up in a cardboard box. I had to find an alternative.

I got the idea from my good friend Gina, who rented a locker at one of those storage places.

She suggested I visit a place and see what they had to offer. Fortunately, there was a storage location very close to where I work. To my surprise, they had a variety of smaller "lockers" on the top floor of the building. When I first moved in, I got a 5' x 6' (1.5m x 1.8m) space was ideal for the amount of belongings Jenn had at the time. (The cost was initially $48/month [1998], not super cheap, but weighed against the alternatives of being discovered, not to mention having my dresses creased, I decided it was well worth it.)

Having acquired the space, I had a few things to get in order to 'furnish' it. I bought a coat rail and a bunch of hangers at the local Target store, along with a wall mounted shoe rack. I went to the local Salvation Army thrift store and bought a second-hand chest of drawers, in which to keep smaller items. It was such a relief to get my stuff out of the house and away from the possibility of discovery. It was also wonderful to be able to hang up all of my clothes, or put them away in drawers - like they should be.

One of the drawbacks with my small locker was that there was no electricity, and therefore no light inside. Any time I was there, I had to leave the door open in order to see what I was doing.

After a couple of years, I had out grown the small space and needed something larger. I put off getting a bigger space because I assumed it would cost a lot more. But in the end, necessity drove me to ask about the cost. To my surprise, I found I could get a locker more than twice the size, with a light, for less than I was paying for my little storage locker! I could have kicked myself for not asking a lot sooner. So now I have a 10' x 7' (3m x 2.1m) space, which is essentially the size of a small room. I bought a couple of extra lights and a large mirror, and set up a place on one wall where I could apply make-up... if I wanted to.

In order to ensure that I have some degree of privacy when I visit my locker, I figured out a way to essentially close the door such that it looks like it has been locked from the outside.

One of the nicest things about having the storage locker so close to work, is that I can quickly go over there at lunchtimes and check up on my stuff. It's nice to escape the stress and harried life at work, and go to the wardrobe and just potter around, re-arrange my blouses, practice my eye make-up in front of the mirror, or just take down a particular outfit and imagine... it's actually a great stress reliever for me.