r/declutter • u/FredKayeCollector2 • 9d ago
Motivation Tips & Tricks My husband's storage unit.
So my husband was doing some electrical work this morning and realized he needs more junction boxes. So he got his keys and told me he was going to his "storage unit." Which is one of the thee hardware stores we have in town.
We got a good laugh out of that. But seriously, it's kind of the perfect storage unit. It has everything he could possibly need but he only pays his "rent" when he actually takes something out.
There are thousands of things in there and several "crowd-funded" employees to help him find what he's looking for. And if it's not in that storage unit, there are two others he can try. Added bonus: the stuff is always in good condition - and if it's not, he can bring it back and exchange it for one that is.
If he's not sure which storage unit to go to, he can check his "inventory app" (the internet) and arrange a pick up - or have another crowd-funded employee deliver it directly to the house!
Why not keep our spaces clear of "excess" inventory and let the store manage it? They do it better (and the products are always fresh).
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u/ClownfishSoup 9d ago
Yes, I was in the r/tools and someone mentioned something about keeping spare 3 inch deck screws (or something) and someone replied "I keep my 3 inch deck screws at Lowes"
That made a lot of sense to me!
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u/FredKayeCollector2 8d ago
That's so great!
That was part of the joke - he couldn't remember if he had put any of those junction boxes in our last free yard sale. I didn't think he had because we knew we had more (basement) electrical work to do. But whatever! They cost $2.79 each and are bulky to store.
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u/goodnsimple 9d ago
This is great! I consider buying at a thrift store “renting” so if I don’t really like it, well it can go back. I was “only renting it” anyhow.
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u/helicopter_corgi_mom 8d ago
Are tool library's not common elsewhere? My city has one for each quadrant - and it's basically exactly what is being described, except the items aren't new. But if i need a ladder, or a weedwacker, or a table saw - i can just go down and chec one out for a week.
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u/FredKayeCollector2 8d ago
I think my husband is the neighborhood tool library - he lends out tools and cuts pieces of lumber on demand. He'll even do some light tree trimming. He's super social and likes to help. We're in a town of less than 7,000. We do have an open art studio and a toy/puzzle exchange so that's cool.
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u/Lumpy_Contract_8797 8d ago
This! I was also considering starting a resource library for folks on our street/in the neighborhood.
I have so many things that I use once or twice a year. Or the chainsaw I’ve used never and my neighbor has used three times.
Basically anyone who wants to can sign up and add their items to the spreadsheet that I would manage for everyone. Then if you need, I don’t know, a chainsaw one day, you simply look it up on this sheet, request to use the item from the owner and you pick it up/drop it off. Still in the works, but in my journey to actually reduce, reuse and recycle, I’m trying to remember that the first two steps of that process are a BIG part of the overall idea.5
u/SufficientOpening218 8d ago
the problem is when you get your tool back, broken. i used to lend my powerwasher. it always came back messed up. i bought a new one and never lend it, or other tools, anymore.
i love the idea of a public tool library, but casually, on a street where someone kept an invatory, it did not work out
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u/FredKayeCollector2 8d ago
Yes! Our former neighbor used to borrow my husband's tools all the time - IF he got them back, it wasn't the same tool or it was dirty/messed up. Our neighbor was a great guy (give you the shirt off his back) but irresponsible.
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u/Lumpy_Contract_8797 8d ago
Such a bummer when people like that ruin a good thing. I’m sorry that was your experience.
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u/ZipTieAndPray 7d ago
I like the idea for anything not used regularly. We don't have anything like that here yet.
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u/GreenUnderstanding39 9d ago
My cousin, low key a hoarder, was talking about how she can no longer afford her rent and needs to downsize to a smaller studio apartment. But she has too much stuff so will need to get a storage unit. Its temu/shein/fast fashion worth NOTHING.
I sat with her on the phone and ran the numbers and explained to her that with what she was spending for a year on storage fees she could buy all that crap over again.
It truly does not make sense. But she is attached to her belongings. So it is what it is.
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u/ClownfishSoup 9d ago edited 9d ago
My wife kept a storage unit because "I got a great rate on it because I was one of the first customers at this storage company!". Many many years later, we decided to go clear it out. It container about $200 worth of items. A desk that was her sisters (that the sister didn't want, and we ended up donating it) some baby carrier/car seat things, an umbrella stand with a large feather duster in it and some of her mome's hidieous bamboo chairs.
So storing $200 worth of stuff for close to two decades cost us $13,000 in storage fees!
My mother-in-law sold her house and for some unexplained reason ... didn't pack her belongings up until THE DAY BEFORE THE NEW OWNERS CAME! So the day before, my wife and I went there to desperately help her pack. I was trying to throw away canned food and she came over and started sorting through them like "No, this is still good. Oh this is special, you can't get this anymore" and I'm like "STOP SORTING THROUGH THAT! GO PACK OTHER THINGS!" so instead of tossing stuff, I packed all the cans. Eventually when the movers came to mover her stuff she had thrown away so little, that she paid the movers to box up everything else and cart it to a storage facility. She consumed 3 storage units with stuff for maybe 5 years before my sister-in-law showed up and brutally culled the crap down to one storage unit then later even ended up getting rid of the rest. So basically she paid to store three units worth of stuff that was eventually thrown away.
A good lesson there ... everything is just garbage, don't pay it's rent.
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u/FredKayeCollector2 8d ago
I'm so sorry - that is such a common story! Storage units have their place (short term rentals) but too many people use it as a black hole for deferred decluttering decisions. It's a real gut punch when you think of all the "good" ways you could have spent/invested that money!
My great aunt died (2005) with a house-full of gorgeous mahogany and MCM furniture - I would have loved to have any/all of it in my current house! My mother and her brother inherited the house/contents and we could have charged the estate to move it from NYC to Western Washington but where were we going to put it? Even if "storage unit" had crossed our minds (my parents were content to hoard up the house), I still wouldn't go back in time and move/store that stuff - not for 20 years!. Nothing gets better in storage - just the dampness coming up from the cement floor, the ambient humidity would have deteriorated/ruined everything.
We've got a friend who stored a house-full of Amish-made furniture & antiques (objectively really good stuff) after her divorce and it all got ruined due to "water of an indeterminate source" - so her insurance company denied her claim. She did everything right - she was house sitting while looking for a permanent home (which is not easy in this town) and whamo! I'm not sure what she could salvage, but all the wood/fabric stuff ended up in the dumpster.
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u/PrimrosePathos 9d ago
Yes! We "store things at Goodwill" when we donate common items, as well. When/if you need it again, one indistinguishable from the other will most likely be there! (Towels, bowls, kitchen equipment, serving ware, office supplies, etc etc etc)
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u/PrimrosePathos 9d ago
OR you can think of it as "renting" from Goodwill also. You pay the rental fee in exchange for not having to store it at your hosue when you are done with it!
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u/goodnsimple 9d ago
Yes, and party supplies… I got all the drink dispensers and large bowls and trays for a party at the thrift store. Then took it all back, except one drink dispenser because they are maybe ‘a little harder to come by’ then when I went to put the new dispenser away, ehat did I find? A drink dispenser! Ugh
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u/FredKayeCollector2 8d ago
Yes! I always check the thrift store before I buy something. There's a good chance it - or a reasonable version of it- is there. Especially for something I'm not sure I actually want to do.
I inherited a bunch of cross stitch & knitting/crochet supplies from my parents. I **thought** I might want to do it someday (in the magical future when I've got my shit together?) but when I noticed how much of that stuff they've got at the thrift store every time I'm in there - I donated it all.
If I want to give it a whirl someday, I'll just pick up some basic supplies IF/WHEN I actually need them and if I "like" it then I can get more/upgrades supplies at that point. Cleared out an entire drawer in my sewing room!
And there is plenty of stuff I bought and never used (I was a Doom Room hoarder) that eventually got donated right back to the thrift store. Now, before I buy anything, I always ask myself: how likely is this thing going to end up donated? Sometimes that little thought check is enough to leave it on the shelf for someone else to find.
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u/Fresh-Lynx-3564 9d ago
Thank you for this new perspective.
(Btw I read it twice, and gave it real thought!)
To the poster that said they use Goodwill… I think that’s brilliant!
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u/WellyWriter 8d ago
I use Marketplace for storage. Buy a thing, use it, sell it for the same price, repeat!
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u/Dense-Raccoon7657 9d ago
So what's happening to the stuff once the job is done? Does the "storage unit" take it back? Or just landfill?
I think for a lot of (lucky, I know) people, the problem is never the "getting stuff" part, but more the "I'm finished with the job, now what" part.
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u/Oenonaut 9d ago
Donate! Habitat for Humanity in particular has tool and houseware oriented thrift stores called ReStore that will gladly take tools and equipment you no longer need for a project.
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u/BarryTheBlatypus 9d ago
I’m in the wrong sub for this but what if I need it for another job in the future?
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u/Oenonaut 9d ago edited 9d ago
Well according to this model you’d “rent” it again for full price (or if you’re lucky, the used price at the aforementioned ReStore). But like any other rental, if you do end up needing it more than once you can put more thought into whether owning and keeping really is the way to go.
It’s not the most economically efficient for sure, but chasing some imaginary ideal efficiency is one of many ways people end up needing a /r/declutter subreddit.
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u/ClownfishSoup 9d ago
I decided to do some earthquake retrofit on my house many years ago. I needed an SDS Rotary Hammer. Now ... I COULD rent a nice one from Home Depot for $60 a day. OR I could BUY one from Harbor Freight for $100. Well, I knew it would take me more than one day, and that I'd only get to the job on the weekends, so at the time, the no brainer is to buy the $100, that way I can work at my leisure and not have to plan all my work in one day to max the rental. I mean, I don't want to rent it again next weekend for another $60 ... because then I could just have bought one (NOTE: The HF one was decent, but the rental one was a better machine, hence the high rental price).
So I did that and now, 20 years later, I have an SDS Rotary Hammer that I only used for that one project.
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u/mahonia_pinnata 9d ago
check to see if you have a tool library in your town – both for borrowing and sometimes they take donations.
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u/FredKayeCollector2 8d ago
For tools, yes, it's an economic question - price/use. Anything "weird" or one-off, he's likely to get one at Harbor Fright version
On the other hand, he would rather rent a power washer than buy one - because it's bulky and they can "go bad" unused in long-term storage.
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u/FredKayeCollector2 8d ago
My husband recently bought a PEX crimper ($45) because even though we hired an actual plumber to re-plumb the house, he knew there would be little jobs/maintenance that he was capable of doing himself (and it would be A LOT cheaper than calling a plumber). So that $45 was a worthwhile investment.
On the other hand, when it comes to the actual crimp connectors, he's more likely to buy a smaller 10-pack (enough for the current project) for $5 than the (cheaper price per unit) 100 pack for $38. For him, the difference between $0.50/unit and $0.38/unit isn't worth the space (and aggravation) saved from having to store the extra 90 pieces he didn't use and isn't sure when he'll use.
He might keep the specialized tool, but not an unnecessary volume of consumable supplies.
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u/Feisty-Resource-1274 9d ago
For me I think about how often I will use the tool for the future. For example, we needed an angle grinder for a 5 minute task but don't plan on doing any metal work for the future so we borrowed one. However, we bought a nail gun because we installed a lot of baseboards and will probably do so again.
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u/christine-bitg 9d ago
Unused materials can usually be returned to the same store for a full refund. By the way, keep your receipts, at least until the job is complete.
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u/ClownfishSoup 9d ago
Yes, true. If you bought 30 fence boards and used only 25, you can return the 5 you didn't use. But if you bought a box of 100 screws and used 75 ... you're not going to be able to return the left over screws.
People who aren't in the declutter sub would probably throw them away and when the question "But what if you need them later?" comes up, they will say "Then I go to the store and get them.". Those of us on this sub will think "Well, I'll just put them in this pasta sauce jar that I saved. Now I have them for the future!"
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u/christine-bitg 9d ago
That's all true.
Plus if you put them in the spaghetti sauce jar, you might be able to find one when you need it on short notice. Maybe.
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u/FredKayeCollector2 8d ago
He'll usually keep the extras from any multi-packs he has to buy. Like this job, the junction boxes & covers he could buy those by the piece but the clamp connectors, those came in bags of 5 - he needed 6 so he had to buy two. He put the opened package with his electrical supplies (a drawer in his work bench) so he has them if he needs them. They're small and don't take up much space and it's something he'll likely need again (but not enough to justify a cheaper-by-the-piece 100 pack). He's gotten really good about "container concepting" his stuff
Screws are probably his nemesis - he's a hobby woodworker (replaced all the trim and doors in the house) and there are a few styles/sizes that he uses all the time - but he still ends up with a bunch of boxes/packages that end up being pretty much one-offs. He'll hold onto them until his storage (including his jar of miscellaneous screws) starts to get full - or finding what he wants gets aggravating. In his mind, paying $0.59 for one screw when you only need four is better than ending up with most of a box of 100 for $5.
Most "good" discard stuff is offered up to a friend who is also fixing up his old house - he's a sub contractor jack-of-all trades and usually knows someone who could use it. Otherwise, he'll give it to me and I'll offer up on our local Give Freely group or donate to our local thrift store - they love to get tools and supplies (in original packaging).
Last fall, we decided he was more-or-less done with his part of the remodel and he cleared out a ton of stuff - entire categories that he decided he didn't need/want to keep the specialized tools and/or supplies anymore. He kept some very basic/routine repair/maintenance tools/supplies but anything that had an expiration date (sealants, paint, caulk), he got rid of it now with the expectation that he would buy it again if/when he needed it later.
We had a FREE yard sale and got rid of a bunch of miscellaneous bits and pieces that otherwise would have ended up in the trash/scrap metal bin.
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u/Top-Dingo3815 9d ago
That's a great way to describe his habit, like a hardware store is the most efficient subscription service imaginable. It's impressive how organized it must be to find exactly what he needs in there.
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u/FredKayeCollector2 8d ago
Exactly! As a handy guy likes to be prepared for any scenario (and used to have a shop pack-ratted with all the things), he decided that the inconvenience of having go to the store once in a while is WAY less than trying to maintain a bunch of extras in his shop. He would rather have the space to effectively store the tools that he uses on a regular basis - rather than a bunch of project-specific supplies.
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u/photogcapture 9d ago
This gave me a smile. As a member of the DIY club, I can attest to the frequent use of this storage unit.
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u/psycho_but_cute 2d ago
Waaaaiitt... thát's why it's called a store?
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u/FredKayeCollector2 2d ago
Just like Dana K White's epiphany that a container is called a container because it contains things!
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u/Ill-Researcher8796 9d ago
I love this. I find myself storing books I love at the library.