We have too much nicely stored stuff and too many homeless people. -- twoleftfeet, on Metafilter, via Discardia
Does it sometimes make sense to rent a self-storage unit? Sure! But heed these words from Paul, on FiscalGeek:
There are legitimate uses for storage units no doubt. People need a place to put their stuff when they move, or change jobs, or have short term assignments. ... But I’ll wager the overwhelming majority of storage units are filled with the stuff of broken dreams and promises.Paul also writes about how the use of self-storage gets rationalized:
I can’t possibly scale down my beanie baby collection so I’ll get a storage unit to preserve them. Oh no I can’t part with my collection of civil war chess sets those will be worth millions some day. No they won’t. They’ll sit there for ever, sucking money from your checking account every month and will be your kids problem someday.For one story about someone who did indeed have a lot of money sucked out of her bank account, head on over to Wise Bread and read the full story about Sarah.
Convinced that she would be able to sell, donate or otherwise dispose of her extra stuff during the "First 30 Days Free Rent" period that her storage company offers to all new customers, Sarah moved her designer guest room furniture, her Christmas decorations, her art collection, etc. into four of the cheapest storage units available. ...And certain items don't do well in your basic self-storage unit, as noted by An_Fear_Glas on LibraryThing:
She never moved out. ...
Although she has plenty of very valuable things in storage, as we surveyed the contents of one of Sarah's units earlier this week, she finally did the math. ... 5 years x $200 a month per unit x 4 units = $48000. And that total doesn't even account for the money spent on gasoline to get her to and from her storage or all the late fees she's paid on other bills because she chose to pay her storage bill on time so her stuff wouldn't be seized for non-payment.
Books easily grow patches of insidious mold if left in nasty generic storage units. Ideally, you would want a space that has less than 50% humidity, at or below 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and reasonably well sealed away from six and eight-legged critters. Key term there is 'ideally', though. Decent storage units are rarely cheap, at least in the USA and Canada; ... climate-controlled is even more expensive.Thanks to Susan Tiner for the pointer to FiscalGeek, and Louise Horner for the pointer to Wise Bread.
[Image: Ad for Pak-N-Stor, by Taxi, found here - and many other places.]
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