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Get rid of that darn storage unit

I was helping my girlfriend move stuff from her place in to a storage unit tonight and couldn’t help but think “Whoever started the storage business is a genius.” When it comes down to it, you pay someone to put junk in a closet for an often undefined length of time. I see the benefit of putting things in storage if you are going to be leaving for a summer or other short trips, but it’s pretty ridiculous to think some people pay for storage units just to hold on to stuff they don’t use.

My girlfriend’s storage unit is 3ft x 10ft and will cost $50 a month. She and two other friends will have their stuff in storage for three months. By the end of summer they will have each paid $50. That’s a reasonable price to store essentials like matresses, bed frames, dressers, etc for the summer, in my opinion. What really threw me for a loop was my girlfriend’s neighbor. As her and I were loading stuff up the neighbor approached us and began making small talk. We were talking about what a drag the moving process is and how we were taking her belongings to a storage unit. He then showed us his garage, which was full of boxes, and told us he had just gotten his stuff out of a storage unit….after four years of leaving it there. Is it just me or does that seem crazy!? This dude had a TON of stuff, way more than my girlfriend. Im guessing he was probably paying around $80 a month for his unit. Do you know what that works out to for those 4 years…$3,840!!! Homeboy was droppin’ bills to store what he called “junk.”

Why the heck would anyone pay almost $4,000 for things they clearly don’t need? I should go back and tell that guy I’ll charge him $50 a month to store his crap in my garage…haha. While at the storage unit I can honestly say that I didn’t see one door that didn’t have a lock on it, meaning they were all taken. I’m willing to bet a large chunk of those units are occupied by people that are storing stuff they haven’t used in a loooooong time.

If you have had a storage unit for longer than six months, it’s time for you to have a garage/craigslist sale. You will not only be saving yourself $50-$80 a month in storage fees, but you’ll also make a pretty penny selling all your old unwanted stuff. Make a committment to yourself and your wallet, to get rid of your unwanted stuff within two months. Then you can call me on Friday and yell “I’m Junk Free!!!!!” (a little Dave Ramsey joke for ya). Seriously though, paying $4,000 to hold on to junk is straight up wacko…agreed?

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4 COMMENTS

  1. I agree. I am moving in with bf in a month and I have been debating whether or not a storage unit would be useful. I have a mattress and a frame, small TV, and maybe a couple boxes of things that I won’t need at his place, but are things that I would need for when we have a house (and like a guest bedroom). I still can’t decide if it will be worth my while and maybe we will have just have to see what we can store in our new place and then just sell the rest…

  2. I agree too. I am lucky enough to have a wife that will not let me keep ANYTHING I dont use.

    Just this past week, after I begged and held on for 2 years, she made me throw out a Christmas gift that I had never even opened. (I unwrapped of course but never took the gift out of its package)

    I am so sentimental that every few months it would come up and I would beg to keep it, saying I would use it soon but I never did.

    My wife has also been selling things I have been holding onto for a few years and we have made a good chunk of spending money from it.
    I guess sometimes you just have to let go.

  3. Well, right now having a storage unit is less expensive than an apartment. For instance, my dad hasn’t had steady income for the last 3 months. He had to move out of his house that he was renting and is moving in with my aunt. Rather than selling all of his stuff, he is willing to pay the $80/month to keep all of the furniture until the job market improves. It is cheaper in the short run to do this than to have to sell all the furniture now and rebuy furniture later.

    For him it makes sense, even if he is using it for 6 months or a year.

    But yeah, at one point my step-dad had THREE storage units full of crap. He just didn’t want to get rid of everything. He ended up building his own house with an AIRPLANE hanger size garage – and all of the stuff that was in the storage units is now in his MASSIVE garage.

    I do not look forward to going through all that stuff when he passes away — no thank you.

  4. Whenever I’m cleaning out my apartment I ask two questions. “Have I used this?” “Do I foresee a need for this?”

    If I can’t answer “yes” to both of those questions I throw it out.

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