Self-storage Units:Making Extra Space For Baby
We've looked into renting one of these ourselves. We've got plenty of boxes of paperwork, seasonal decorations and clothing, and miscellaneous items that could do well being stored away. But it also seems like a pricey habit to put away things we could probably do without. A 5'x5' storage unit at the nearest location would cost $64-98/month (plus a $8 a month fee for $2000 of insurance coverage...they must think they're Ticketmaster).
Perhaps we'd rent one if we could get a few friends to share the space and price, but otherwise, we've just decided to live with less and rid ourselves of unnecessary items (and to use dear old Mom's garage). But for our expecting friends, perhaps a self-storage unit might be worth considering. I'll just have to remind them not to pull a Paris Hilton, forget to pay for it, and then lose the contents to a auction.
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This seems like the perfect opportunity for your friends to purge. Why store what you essentially don't need? Giving your forgotten items a new home is a liberating experience.
view PrettyKitty's profile
If you put stuff in storage then for the most part you don't need it. It that situation, I would sell as much of what I planned to store and use the $$ to upgrade the existing space ie. a better couch a new paint job etc....or start a college fund for the baby, and think about how much $$ you are savaing by not paying storage fees. It can really add up.
view msbeachwood's profile
Growing up my family has always had lots of STUFF... mostly antiques and furniture and heirlooms. When we moved to Atlanta from Texas my parents put a lot of the nicest stuff in storage until we found a house to settle into. They did a MAJOR remodel and a few years (3 or 4) later went to get everything out of storage and most of it was ruined. Anything wood was twisted and warped, bugs got in and died underneath the plastic covers leaving nasty stains on everything.... it was heartbreaking. my parents were in the military and have moved over 32 times and are truly expert packers/movers so it was not due to their neglect. SO, my point is if you get a storage unit, do NOT go with the kind pictured above. Go with a climate controlled, indoor unit. whew! the end. :P
view pdxcarrie's profile
a local newspaper did a survey a while back where something like 75% of renters in la also rented storage units. i wonder what the figure is now.
i have a storage unit because some family members living with me temporarily--our furniture was literally piled on top of each other. i completely agree with pdxcarrie and recommend going with the climate controlled, indoor unit. one of the reasons i moved from a place like the one pictured was because one of the nearby units was used by a handyman who kept his supplies in it; during one record heatwave day, something combustible...combusted, causing a fire which damaged all the units surrounding his. eeep!
view santos.'s profile
If you haven't used in the past two years, get rid of it. My rule for not needing storage.
My problem is our household needs room for all our hobbies: home brewing, silk screening, gardening and book collecting!
view perejil's profile
We're going with storage for the first time in years because the move to a smaller place is intended to be temporary while the husband is doing his MBA and I'm studying for my CFA exams. I'm ideologically anti-storage-unit, but...
... the same books and hobbies that fit easily into our 700 sf San Francisco apartment don't work with Phoenix-style floor plans at anything much under 1200 sf (yes, vintage closets/foyers vs. contemporary open plan make that much difference!), and 1200 sf is just too much for me to handle right now. (Plus the more important dollhouses have special display needs that put excessive constraints on how our space is laid out.) But it makes little sense to purge difficult-to-replace stuff that we know we'll want later, simply because of the rental housing stock available to us in the very, very short term.
view wende in the twin cities's profile
My understanding is that on average, the value of things in storage has been exceeded by the cost of storage in less than a year, maybe even less than 6 months. I've only ever used storage for two or three months, while staying with friends between apartments.
view moiety's profile
I'm looking for a storage place in LA for about 40 boxes of books and a few pieces of furniture. Someone here kindly suggested http://www.pods.com/ but they seem very expensive. I'd like a company to come over and load my stuff and take it away, then deliver it to me in a year somewhere else - I did this once before for something like $110 a month, but I don't remember which company I used (it was years ago).
Can anyone recommend a company in LA? Thanks.
view viola's profile
The stuff problem only gets worse with kids. We learned to purge before our son came, and we are so much better off than our friends and neighbors who store. Now they know they need to get rid of stuff, and when they come over and tell us how much they envy us, but they just can't do it: too much stuff, too little time. One couple is paying $250/month for that failure of will.
view dot's profile