I have watched a couple of television shows lately that focus on people that make a living by buying the contents of abandoned storage units. Most of the time the units are filled with junk. Most of the buyers own thrift/junk stores and are buying in order to stock their stores.
Today as I glanced through the newspaper I saw three ads for abandoned storage unit auctions. The ads listed the unit renters names and all of them listed the stored items as "household".
I can think of a few scenarios where a storage unit might be necessary. Home renovation comes to mind or moving if the new home isn't ready to move into. But, for the most part, I believe that people are paying to store their clutter. They don't have room for it at home, but "someday it may be needed", so they hold onto this clutter and spend their precious money on storage.
The point of de-cluttering and organizing our homes is to get rid of the stuff. Sell it or donate it to a charity shop. Don't just hide it away.
If you are renting a storage unit when is the last time you used the items in it? Are you legitimately going to the unit on a regular basis to pull out something that you need to use? If you haven't been to the unit for months, spend some time there this weekend looking through the boxes. Will you ever really use these things? Don't save stuff with the idea that someday it may be used by your children. To quote my brother, "One person's treasure is another person's junk". Oh so true.
God bless,
Pam
So very true! I knew a man who made a living renting storage units - people would spend a thousand or two thousands dollars a year storing things they could have bought at any thrift store for a tenth of that.
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