topic Re: Do you pay for a storage unit? in Home

Do you pay for a storage unit?

house_cat — Sat, 28 May 2016 23:24:46 GMT

I grew up in a small apartment in NYC and with the exception of one home we owned for six years, DH and I have always lived in small apartments and houses. It has always been my belief that you shouldn't have more "stuff" than you can store easily. DH disagrees and he's been paying $100-$129 a month for YEARS to keep a garage sized storage unit.

I've told him that we could have purchased those stored items several times over for what we pay for the unit. He looks at it differently, saying that it's just a necessary living expense.

We'll never agree on it, but it keeps his "overflow" out of the house, so we pay for it. I'm just wondering if anyone else is in this situation.

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

Mz iMac — Sat, 28 May 2016 23:20:20 GMT

As long as he's paying w/his $$$ I could care less.

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

bri20 — Sat, 28 May 2016 23:24:34 GMT

We used to. It started out that my mom needed one and we agreed to split it with her. It was so nice to be able to store things that we didn't really need often that didn't take space up in the garage. At that time, we lived in a condo and didn't have a basement. At that time we rented that unit, the monthly expense was $39 - well worth it. $20 a month for each of us. Gradually it increased to over $100 and we decided it was more trouble than it was worth. We wound up getting rid of it At the time it was a great solution.

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

Frankie_Dee — Sat, 28 May 2016 23:26:42 GMT

It is my personal belief that if you need a storage shed (building, unit, whatever), you have too much stuff! It's amazing how little we actually need to live with. The rest is just luxuries!

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

house_cat — Sat, 28 May 2016 23:29:41 GMT

I agree.

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

bri20 — Sat, 28 May 2016 23:34:36 GMT

Frankie, you're right. Generally, we have just way too much stuff. I have pared down a lot. At that time, we had two little kids and they had a lot of stuff I didn't want to part with. I have learned to be a minimalist and it's such a freeing feeling to not worry about all the stuff Lol

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

DiAnne — Sat, 28 May 2016 23:48:54 GMT

I have two friends who live in condos and they both have storage units. They store seasonal items like Christmas decorations or patio furniture. Seems like a good idea to me.

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

ANewHue — Sun, 29 May 2016 00:24:37 GMT

@house_cat. I was shocked when my friend told me how much they were paying to rent a storage unit. Her DH passed away and that was one of the first things she took care of. She was paying $200 a month.

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

insomniac2 — Sun, 29 May 2016 00:31:05 GMT

I pay $58 for a garage-sized storage unit. I use if for holiday decorations and seasonal items. My son also stores some items from his ebay store in there.

To me, it's worth the money. Neither of us lives in a large apartment.

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

GCR18 — Sun, 29 May 2016 00:32:29 GMT

I've never had a need to rent a storage unit. It would be easier for me to part with stuff than $ for storage.

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

evelyner — Sun, 29 May 2016 00:39:27 GMT

My friend went to his storage unit and found it empty! He had not checked it since January. Very sad

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

scotnovel — Sun, 29 May 2016 01:06:35 GMT

I paid for one in the US when I was living in Europe for 6 months, since I had to store all my belongings and my car. I believe in keeping things simple so would never store anything outside my home. My philosophy is if I haven't used it or worn in for a year (unless it is some specialized item used for holidays etc) then it gets donated. I also don't want my executor to have to wade through a storage unit and a lot of excess stuff.

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

house_cat — Sun, 29 May 2016 02:04:50 GMT

@ANewHue wrote:
@house_cat. I was shocked when my friend told me how much they were paying to rent a storage unit. Her DH passed away and that was one of the first things she took care of. She was paying $200 a month.

I'm going to show my ignorance right now. I saw your post and asked my husband how big the unit is (I've never been there). I assumed it was garage size - turns out it's 5x9 and the rent just got raised to $139 per month.

ETA: When I first typed out this reply I wrote that I asked my husband how big his unit was... then reread it and thought I should rephrase that!

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

KALLIE — Sun, 29 May 2016 02:12:43 GMT

@house_cat wrote:
I grew up in a small apartment in NYC and with the exception of one home we owned for six years, DH and I have always lived in small apartments and houses. It has always been my belief that you shouldn't have more "stuff" than you can store easily. DH disagrees and he's been paying $100-$129 a month for YEARS to keep a garage sized storage unit.

I've told him that we could have purchased those stored items several times over for what we pay for the unit. He looks at it differently, saying that it's just a necessary living expense.

We'll never agree on it, but it keeps his "overflow" out of the house, so we pay for it. I'm just wondering if anyone else is in this situation.

Fortunately, I've never had to pay for a storage unit since I've ALWAYS lived in a house that had tons of storage and a 3 car garage.

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

Marsha2003 — Sun, 29 May 2016 02:32:54 GMT

We lived in apartments for years and because we had no garage, attic or basement, we rented a storage unit for holiday decor, tools, etc. We have storage in our current garage, so we don't have a rented unit currently. We couldn't have replaced our decor annually for the cost of the storage unit.

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

Mominohio — Sun, 29 May 2016 03:09:52 GMT

@house_cat wrote:
@ANewHue wrote:
@house_cat. I was shocked when my friend told me how much they were paying to rent a storage unit. Her DH passed away and that was one of the first things she took care of. She was paying $200 a month.
I'm going to show my ignorance right now. I saw your post and asked my husband how big the unit is (I've never been there). I assumed it was garage size - turns out it's 5x9 and the rent just got raised to $139 per month.

ETA: When I first typed out this reply I wrote that I asked my husband how big his unit was... then reread it and thought I should rephrase that!

OMG @house_cat

My sides hurt from laughing at this!

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

Mominohio — Sun, 29 May 2016 03:18:25 GMT

I understand the frustration of paying for storage. Because I have almost always lived in houses with basements, closets and even some with big attics, it seems slightly foreign to me to pay for storage.

But, when I was selling my last house, we rented a storage unit to clean the house out of extra stuff before listing it. We were buying a much bigger house, would need all our stuff (and more) but needed to get it out of the listed house for showings. We only paid for it for a few months, and it was really a good thing for us.

My mom has a newer car, and no garage, so she rents one to store her car in, as she doesn't drive much. In reality, for they years she has (and will continue to) paid for it, she could probably build a garage, so probably a break even kind of thing.

At one point, my brother in law lost his home, had no money and nowhere to go. We rented a storage unit for him for a couple of months to put his things in until he got on his feet.

So I guess it depends on where you are in your life, but they do come in handy for a number of situations.

What I personally wouldn't want to do is have one for a long period of time, as they are really expensive, even in our area where prices aren't that high for most things.

And if I was using it to long term store things that I never worked back into my life on any regular basis, then I would think it time to unload some things. If I worked things in and out by season or something, I'd consider it something beneficial.

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

Stormygirl — Sun, 29 May 2016 03:38:06 GMT

While in the Army and deployed I rented a storage unit to store some of my "things" It wasnt climate controlled and unfortunately some things were ruined after 3 years. Accumulation of "things" is a frequent topic of discussion between DH and I as I am a minimalist and he boarders on Hoarding. He has a certain hobby that is way over indulged and causes me some tension now and then. I could never figure out his need to "have" when he has never been without. LOL. The discussion continues ..........LOL

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

gmkb — Sun, 29 May 2016 09:29:00 GMT

When my husband first retired we sold our large home and bought a moderate size condo. We rented 2 storage units to house all the excess. We had 2 yard sales at the house but there were still a lot of things.

Over the next 18 months we sold more, gave more away, and threw some away. Now we were down to 1 unit. Six months after that we sold the condo and moved to Fl.

Before the condo sold we brought everything from the storage unit to the condo, advertised a moving sale and sold just about everything we owned to a woman and her husband who came and said they set up apartments for people who had very little thru their church.

That was the end of storage units for us.

Re: Do you pay for a storage unit?

violann — Sun, 29 May 2016 10:26:29 GMT

@KALLIE wrote:
@house_cat wrote:
I grew up in a small apartment in NYC and with the exception of one home we owned for six years, DH and I have always lived in small apartments and houses. It has always been my belief that you shouldn't have more "stuff" than you can store easily. DH disagrees and he's been paying $100-$129 a month for YEARS to keep a garage sized storage unit.

I've told him that we could have purchased those stored items several times over for what we pay for the unit. He looks at it differently, saying that it's just a necessary living expense.

We'll never agree on it, but it keeps his "overflow" out of the house, so we pay for it. I'm just wondering if anyone else is in this situation.
Fortunately, I've never had to pay for a storage unit since I've ALWAYS lived in a house that had tons of storage and a 3 car garage.

Doesn't your extensive and well trained staff keep things organized for you?