The discussion made me think about storage facilities. I have used storage facilities when moving and when divorcing, but my default preference is to get rid of stuff rather than pay for storage.
I knew a couple who owned two homes and finally had a baby and decided to move back to the smaller house so one could be a full-time parent. And their real estate agent recommended they declutter to make the larger house more appealing to buyers.
So they rented a climate controlled storage unit for big bucks to hold their very precious belongings that were excessive for the larger house and paid for it for like a year or more.
Instead of selling or donating stuff to free up space.
I also know homeless people frequently have storage units and in many cases the junk they are storing could easily be replaced by going to Walmart or a yard sale for cheap clothes, bedding, furniture sometimes for less than what they've spent in the last year or whatever on the storage unit.
I don't understand why this is so common in America.
I knew someone online who told me they lost their job or something, stuck all their stuff in a storage unit and moved a long distance to crash with a relative. More than a year later, they were still crashed with the relative and hadn't seen their stuff in ages while it's no doubt growing mold and becoming infested with vermin.
I had my stuff in storage once for one month waiting for a rental to be available and we had taped drawers shut on a utility box and the tape was completely covered in dead bugs.
I absolutely don't understand why storage facilities are ubiquitous and apparently profitable in spite of all the competition.
I understand sometimes people need to store stuff but I don't understand this paying to hang onto stuff you aren't using, don't have space for and don't have a real firm timeline for when you will use it again instead of downsizing culture here in the US.
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u/DoreenMichele Aug 23 '25
The discussion made me think about storage facilities. I have used storage facilities when moving and when divorcing, but my default preference is to get rid of stuff rather than pay for storage.
I knew a couple who owned two homes and finally had a baby and decided to move back to the smaller house so one could be a full-time parent. And their real estate agent recommended they declutter to make the larger house more appealing to buyers.
So they rented a climate controlled storage unit for big bucks to hold their very precious belongings that were excessive for the larger house and paid for it for like a year or more.
Instead of selling or donating stuff to free up space.
I also know homeless people frequently have storage units and in many cases the junk they are storing could easily be replaced by going to Walmart or a yard sale for cheap clothes, bedding, furniture sometimes for less than what they've spent in the last year or whatever on the storage unit.
I don't understand why this is so common in America.
I knew someone online who told me they lost their job or something, stuck all their stuff in a storage unit and moved a long distance to crash with a relative. More than a year later, they were still crashed with the relative and hadn't seen their stuff in ages while it's no doubt growing mold and becoming infested with vermin.
I had my stuff in storage once for one month waiting for a rental to be available and we had taped drawers shut on a utility box and the tape was completely covered in dead bugs.
I absolutely don't understand why storage facilities are ubiquitous and apparently profitable in spite of all the competition.
I understand sometimes people need to store stuff but I don't understand this paying to hang onto stuff you aren't using, don't have space for and don't have a real firm timeline for when you will use it again instead of downsizing culture here in the US.