The garage sale I went through was just sad. You're going through people's lives. No holds barred either. I mean most of these storage units were just filled with personal information like office papers, bills, credit card information, the works.

My storage unit is my parents' basement.

Hopefully soon I can get a bigger place and ditch the storage.

We should note that it is often hard to get rid of things. What do you do with old financial records? I wound up paying to get them shredded, but it was an ordeal finding someone to handle this. I did notice one new business in Seattle:

[www.kaleberg.com]

Case in point: My girlfriend was helping her landlord organize the landlord's stuff, and came across a wedding gift... from the landlord's wedding 10 years ago... that was STILL WRAPPED! No joke.

I've already mentioned this before but I think one of th main reasons that storage use is dropping is that many of the big corporate storage companies gouge you by trying to raise rates at least once a year . I had to take my stuff out of Extra Space Storage . They used to be Storage USA . Storage USA was OK . There was still wiggle room in price increases - they were happy to keep you as a tenant and get AN increase even if it was 5$ per month per year .

Extra Space Storage had a take it or leave the premises rent increase policy based on what they thought they could get in the area . Too me steady occupancy/payments is just as important as a rent increase but they didn't get it .

I also own a 22ft locker on my land. All Holiday stuff. Rule is, if I need to pack it away, I trash it.

@Ragman: Your comment made me Lol : P I'm more of a Clean Sweep fan myself, but they seem to have canceled that show : ( I guess people like Neicey better than Peter Walsh.

I still have a few hangups when it comes to real clutter, but I am much.. much better than I used to be. Like I said.. One step at a time.

@Rachacha: I can agree with that.. usually if we were to buy something like that we would consider it a "Together gift" like when we bought "eachother" the Wii year before last.

If I get a diamond ring I don't care what it comes in! Lol.

Actually.. I take that back.. if it comes in a Frosty while doing a Frosty eating contest I probably wouldn't be too happy. A digging a ring out of poo kinda kills the whole thing for me.

@Rachacha: Thanks for answering the question for me. Saved me the trouble of writing it all down for them.

And a side note: What's wrong with blue velvet suits? ;-)

@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!: I'd ask you what you did to break the packrat habit, but then I'd probably just store the info on my pc somewhere and forget about it. But if you have a simple rule you followed, I'm sure all of us, who haven't gotten through the rehab yet, would like to know it.

TIA.

@calquist: Not only am I sure there is a packrat gene, but there is a 'I-don't-care-about-clutter' gene and a procrastination gene. So, I will clean up my house tomorrow. And unpack some of the boxes in the attic (that are in there from 2000) the day after. And two days from tomorrow, I will clear off my dining room tabletop (I eat in the kitchen or off of a dinner tray - ah the joys of bachelorhood).

The trouble is that because I value them so much I refuse to store them somewhere remotely. So I have a whole spare bedroom full of boxed books and journals that I can't yet properly shelve. My cross to bear, I guess.

@Ragman: Ahh, digital packratting. I still have old college papers that I have saved simply because I got an A+ on them.

I know a real estate investor--also a minimalist--who has made a fortune off of buying storage unit facilities. He's making money off these poor suckers who pay money to store crap that they probably didn't have the money to buy it with in the first place. Better return than the stock market.

I don't plan on paying for storage simply b/c I wanted to keep the amount of junk in my life to a minimum.

I live in a small apt with two small closets. Storage is $40 extra a month. I have no linen closet nor a pantry even. It keeps me from accumlating too much stuff, which I see as positive (since I lean towards the pack rat ways of my parents)

If I did need storage I assume my parents' four bedroom empty nester house has some room for my junk.

I was just thinking about this the other day... When I was a kid in the 70s-80s, I had a massive collection of Atari 2600 games, probably costing $30-40 (in 1980s dollars) apiece. Now, as a father, I see that my kid is just as happy with a 99-cent iPod game (and it's a better game, too, IMHO).

Same goes for other consumer electronics, and even books and board games. In all, I think I'm only paying a fraction of what my parents paid for "fun stuff."

And I'm making probably twice the money that my parents did! Makes me wonder where the rest of my money is going... Maybe I don't want to know, lol.

Yeah, the only time I've ever rented storage was when I needed some place to store my stuff during the summer when I was in college. My parents rented a unit for a while when they were having some renovations done to the house and needed to store the contents of a room during this time. Also, a lot of the REALLY large units 10'x30'+ are frequently rented by businesses. When chatting with the manager of the place I stored my crap in college, they mentioned that, for example, one of their big units was rented by a local law firm that would store wrecked autos for lawsuits involving accidents with said cars. For another example, a family friend rents a big unit for his business because a change in regulations required him to retain records for longer than he previously was. Since his business barely had enough space on the premises to store the records he was already keeping, he decided to move record storage to a 10x30 unit at a local self storage.

@MaxSmart32: I learned early on that the key rule in storage is to never put anything on the floor due to water accidents (seepage, mini-flood, water heater leak, etc.). So, I've always put stuff up on 2x4s or the ilk. It's saved my stuff from water damage a few times in the last 30 years.

"What do you mean you need ANOTHER 1.5 TB disk drive!?"

@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!: Beeh...I make all my wrapping paper at home. Color me impressed when he can fit something the size of a refrigerator* into a shirt box, or better yet a ring box. :-) (JK)

* Note I said something the SIZE of a refrigerator because every man knows that unless he wants to spend a month sleeping on the couch that he never buys his wife a refrigerator for Christmas, unless she actually asked for a new refrigerator, and it comes with a nice diamond ring in the crisper drawer.

Definitely get a dehumidifier, they're cheap and they work. Just make sure to empty it periodically. When my parents put shelving up in their basement, they got big piles of Gorm shelves from Ikea which are really cheap and pretty heavy duty, enough to almost circle the perimeter of the basement. It's simple, strong, unfinished wood-plank shelving that can be put together in pretty much any configuration you want.

On the other hand, there are plenty of textbooks from my college days that I thought would make a nice "reference library", when in fact the internet does a better job of that. I try my best to give away or chuck clothing that I haven't worn all season, when I'm doing my change of season switch-a-roo, so that I don't store crap for 6 mos.

Then there's the matter of all those CDs I own, that I use digitally on my computer. Should I chuck them? Where's the proof that I own them? If I give away or resell them, am I violating the spirit and/or letter of the RIAA's expectations for me and my music?

Somethings to consider when shopping for a storage unit . First proximity , the closer it is the more frequently you'll go there . Then I'd say worry about cost unless a GREAT deal .

Be aware of introductory offers like a months rent for free those storage units tend to raise the rent every single year if not twice a year . I've found the places with no intro offer have fewer increases .

Also if you are being offered a second floor unit make sure it's enviormentally controlled . Second floors can get really hot or really cold and damp let alone a potential roof leak . A lot of in and out of your unit might not be convenient . I like ground floor units because your car is always near by .

Make sure you have access to a dumpster . Although most places make you break up bulky trash to avoid straight out dumping or abandoning .

@theblackdog_BackToWork:
I had to downsize temporarily (for about 5 months) and had almost all of my stuff in storage during that time.

When I moved into my new place, it was like Christmas! There was a lot of stuff I'd forgotten I had. Good times.

I've heard stories from those auctions. My favorite is the $150 a month climate controlled unit they opened to find three garbage bags of dirty clothing. Went for $5.

@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!: The dollar store paper we got worked out really well for the gifts that just sat under the tree. The ones we take when we have to travel to visit relatives will probably be wrapped in the cheap paper, then put into bags, or it'll be wrapped in the better paper this year. They did well last year, but we did notice some of the corners getting a little thin by the time we got to our destination.

My method of combatting wrapping paper that is so thin, it's practically transparent, is to use paper that has a really bold pattern, and is a darker color, like red, green or blue. Those tend to be much more saturated and will cover up the box underneath.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): It was the thing about the voicemails that made me go "awww" the most.. That's just really sweet and it doesn't take up any real space.

I guess I'm like that about a lot of things.. I still have some chat logs saved from when my husband and I met (We met online.) and other things like that. I like keeping my "digital clutter".

I'm a reformed packrat myself. One step at a time.

Easy. Our garage is too narrow for modern cars.

Never before have I felt so grateful to have a 2.5 car garage & a huge utility room as now, after reading this.

@pecan 3.14159265: Oh.. it goes without saying that I wrap everything we get for other people. His one job is to wrap whatever he gets for me.. lol.

I think he does it to throw me off as well. I had a sneeking suspicion that it was an iPod, but I was holding out hope that it could have been jewelery.

I guess he did the right thing though.. I use that iPod every day.

I am leery about ultra cheap wrapping paper. I used to wrap all the gifts that my dad would get for our family (grandparents, cousins.) and one year he said he got the best deal on wrapping paper. It was wrapping paper made by Scrooge himself to inspire very Grinchy behavior.

Solid red.. which was fine.. but it was so thin that if you scooched anything over to adjust it would rip holes in it. AND once you got it wrapped it was so thin that you could see through it. So useless and infuriating.

After this, I told him I would be happy to wrap for him if he left the wrapping paper selection up to me.

So I try to be zen about it and come up with compromises and solutions, but the next house we buy is going to have, like, a bonus room over the garage or something to be his man cave and it will allllllll go in there and I will never go in there. :)

Once we got in our house, ALL of the moving boxes were given away to friends and coworkers that were moving. It was my way of saying I was done moving and was not planning on doing so again.

We moved all of our junk out of a storage unit earlier this year and are now storing it in our garage and a couple of spare rooms in the house. Not only do we not have to pay $200/mo to store all that junk, when we get ambitious we can go to the garage, grab a few boxes, sort through them and wonder how and why it was we ended up with so much . . . junk. Any why we paid so long to store it.

Storage units are usefull if you have certain temporary or permanent situations- a long distance move and need to drop stuff while you look for a good apartment/house, renovating a home, moving an older relative into your house/assisted living and clearing their home for sale, live in an apartment and have no where to store tools or a collectible vehicle, divorcing and need to clear half a home worth of furniture quickly, etc.

Key thing is to store actual valuable items- not junk, and to organize the storage unit. I had to clear out a full house footprint basement 2 -car garage full of vintage motorcycles and support items when I went through my divorce several years ago.

I now have a 10x30 unit (with an actual 12x30 foot print area) that I had about 15 vintage motorcycles stored in along with multiple parts, tools, work benches, spare engines, etc. stored in.

Figure on getting some pallets to lift boxes off the ground -if it is an indoor unit you might be able to use just 2x4 pieces. Realize that even indoor units may be affected if the next door neighbor has something leak out and under the wall to your items.

I built a huge shelf out of long skinny pallets for parts tubs - ie Rubbermaid tubs- stacked three tall below and two tall on the shelf- full of parts. I also hung wood planks from the units structural steel using chains (kind of like dog chain on steroids) to stack lighter items on. I was able to score some free scrap industrial shelving and have put alot of items on this since getting it set up.

One rule of thumb is that your items will take 2x the actual size needed to store them if not organized well. I ended up with 2 units 10x30 for three months as I organized the unit I intended to keep at nights after work.

I spend $100 a month (I figured in this amount being part of my household rent which was a $599 apartment at that time I got the unit- more now) on this unit which is due to it being in a rural area outside of Nashville, TN and the storage business being kind of second rate. It lacks amenities like inside lights, accessable power outlets, has a gravel lot- though the lot is pin # controlled and there are lights in the driveways/ parking lot.

I had to put some caulking and spray foam into the units corners and seams but it has been pretty dry since doing that. I got around the lack of lights inside the unit by hitting the u-pull-it junk yard and cutting out three 12 volt brake light sockets with lights from older model cars which I ran inside the unit hanging from the structural steel. I have an extra 10' of cord with two alligator clamps that I run to my car's or truck's battery posts and this gives me enough light to safely move around at night time.

My 2nd spouse and I have been slowly moving out some of the non-essential items and I have sold down about 5 of the vintage motorcycles as we are working the amount of items stored down. Having a garage again for my workbenches and tools helps now. The manager/owner of the place has told me that the bad economy is hitting him too with more defaults along with more people clearing homes in foreclosures- who he figures will eventually default on the storage in larger than usual percentages.

I've told them, it's been long enough that they can probably safely throw it away. Just don't let me see it before hand because I may be overcome with nostalgia and want it. Which I definitely don't have space for.

That being said, that's my picture on the post, yay!

We aren't as bad as those on "Clean House", but the way they have people make decisions about good, usable stuff is more applicable to us.

I may be a packrat, but I'm also quite organized. I may have a lot of stuff, but for the majority of it, I know what's in it and where it's at.

As we go through stuff (mostly kids clothing they outgrow) it'll accumulate in the garage. Once the pile is big enough I do a garage sale. I'll pocket $100 or so, then the rest to the goodwill. Sometimes if the garage sale leftovers aren't much they'll be on the curb with a FREE sign. No matter what's out there someone picks it up inside of 3 hours.

As for storage units: I don't have one. My parents were pack rats and I've managed to (mostly) break that habit. When the back yard is re-done I'll be adding a shed but that is for a wheelbarrow, lawn mower, and other outdoor items that don't need to be in the garage.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): I just have to say this:

Awwww... he is really sweet. It makes you want to squeeze him like an old childhood teddy bear.

/Sappyness

On the other hand.. I could also see you wanting to strangle him.. like an old childhood teddy bear.

I do have a habit of keeping old clothing mementos. Lots of tshirts with designs. I just have to sit down and decide if a pic of the item will work for me, or if it's a tactile kind of thing.

In the past few years I finally sold off my old Atari 2600 system and my first computer (TRS-80 CoCo2). I kept the pics of them I put on eBay and find that they work fine as mementos. Especially since I didn't have any desire to actually mess around with that stuff again.

My family moved to our current home back in 1995, and we still have boxes we haven't even opened or really gone through to see what's in them. You'd think we'd have enough room since the house we're in now is larger than the one we came from, but here we stand.

I think you never realize how much crap you have in your life that you don't really need until you move.

I'm also constantly baffled at people who use their garages as large storage areas instead of a place to keep their cars. Our neighbors across the street have so much crap in their garage it's insane. They live on the corner, so they have plenty of curb to park their numerous cars (it's a large family), yet they still occasionally park in front of our house.

Only people I know of who now don't seem to park their cars in their garage keeps their dirt bikes in there, bu they have a wider driveway with plenty of room for all four of their cars to pull in and out without problems, but at the very least they're storing vehicles in the garage.

@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!: Hahahahahaha! We wrap all of our gifts, but we always end up with more wrapping paper than we need. We go to the dollar store and we can usually get two big tubes of paper for a dollar. Mr. Pi is pretty good about the wrapping paper, but he usually leaves it to me unless it's a gift for me. I can always tell which ones are supposed to be for me, though, because the corners are slightly wrinkled and the wrapping job is a little loose. And there's usually more tape than necessary, though I think that's more to deter me from unwrapping the gift gingerly to find out what it is.

@pecan 3.14159265: I have to buy wrapping paper every year.. I like my presents to be wrapped and my husband seems to use a roll and a half of wrapping paper and two rolls of tape on my one present he buys me..

It's quite amusing actually. One year I was out shopping for Christmas and he called me on the phone to ask me where the tape was:

Him: Hey um.. where do we keep the tape?
Me: I left the tape with the wrapping paper for you on the table.
Him: I need more tape.
Me: MORE tape? That was a brand new roll!
Him: Well I'm out, do we have more?
Me: Uh.. yeah.. in the tool box.
Him: OkThanksBye! *Click*

I had to buy more tape while I was out because he used ALL the second roll of tape as well.

Last year he wrapped my Ipod touch in a large moving box. That was a roll and a half of wrapping paper (two colors!) and another roll of tape.

I do love that man..

Clean House is good too but Hoarders takes it to a whole new level. Clean House avoids the garbage, dirt, feces, animal skeletons, and everything else that triggers the gag reflex. Hoarders doesn't shy away. The folks in Hoarders actually border on mentally ill; Clean House could be most of us.@Ragman:

@PLATTWORX: For some it is a disease where they can't throw anything away even though it is clearly broken or no longer needed. I suffer from it to an extent where I no longer need something but save some of the parts (like the external power supplies for a cordless phone or a baby monitor) "just in case" I need one. There have been some times where I was able to re-purpose these old things, but I usually get to a point and say after 6-9 months and never needing this thing it is gone. I do however have relatives who have to hire someone to help them make the decision to throw things away, sell them, or give them to Charity because they can't make the decision on their own. For example, a relative dies, and they inherit all of their belongings, but can't bear to get rid of a 30 year old couch with bad springs because it belonged to "Cousin Fred" (along with his mixer, and refrigerator, and his blue velvet suits from the 1970s and his...)

I personally however have an attic full of baby items (swings, walkers, play yards etc) that we are saving because we are not completely sure that we are done with our family, so that takes up a lot of space. I would love to clean out that storage space so I could store infrequently used, but still needed items up there.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): A friend of mine was reduced to sleeping in the closet because all of her stuff was in storage and her clothes had already been packed up!

@AshCatScram: True, I want Christmas decorations, not need Christmas decorations. However, I defend my decorations because I love Christmas. I didn't have decorations when I first moved out of college. I had a sad little tree that tilted strangely and some dollar store garland. Such a sad, sad, little tree. I have a lot of Christmas stuff because the ornaments are all neatly preserved in their little boxes and wrappers and stuff because I refuse to buy brand new ones every year.

And we have one tupperware bin just for Christmas bags and wrapping paper we save every year to use for the next year. I think I've spent a total of $3 on Christmas wrapping.

The one and only time that I had a storage unit was when I was in an apartment right after I got married, and we were combining 2 households. Many of my belongingw I was going to give to my Brother who was just starting out, so I put it into storage until I could transport it to him out of state. After we cleaned out that stuff, we purchased a home, and had to wait a couple of months before we could move into it. We acquired things as they were going on sale (lawnmower 50% of, and some other furniture that we wanted to have in the house, but that would not fit in the apartment) The net result was that we were paying $30/month for a small storage unit, and saved probably $200 on purchases, for a net savings of about $100. As soon as we were able to move into the house, we stopped renting a storage area.

I'm prone to clutter by nature, so I have to watch myself. I use every move as a reason to sort & purge. And everything that I think is clutter and/or I haven't touched goes into boxes together to be stashed in a closet or something in the new place. 6-12mths later I'll pull those boxes out and reevaluate everything in them. On average I keep 4-5small items out of each big box.

I'm already pondering/planning the storage system for my future house. Since I won't have moving to keep my junk is check I'm goign to need a way to know what I have and how much to make it harder to lose track of, and easier to toss.

@Ragman: We've already done a lot of that stuff -- I turned some of his old T-shirts into a T-shirt quilt, we sorted through until he had just the MOST meaningful reminder of event X, we discussed whether his grandmother would want him to keep a hat she gave him when he was eight that he never wore or whether she'd want it to keep another child warm ... and still, there's SO MUCH STUFF and it's like pulling teeth. Stupid little tchotchke? "Oh, but I got that when we were on our third date to the art fair!" "But you MARRIED me, you don't need a tchotchke that reminds you of me!" "But it was our third date!"

The man saves voicemails so he can listen to my voice from two years ago. It's hard to fight. :P

It was nice once we decided we weren't going to have another baby and we could get rid of the old baby stuff. We really did not want to buy all that stuff again if we had another one. :-)

My wife's family took a slightly different approach. When she moved out, her mom gave her the furniture in the living room, along with the dishes and silverware from the kitchen. We got more free needed stuff, and her mom had a great excuse to go shopping for new dishes, silverware, and living room furniture.

It took me years to let go of some stuff. For me, it's just realizing that not only have I not used it, but that after all this time, I'm probably not going to use it.

If you struggle with getting rid of stuff you don't need, watch a few episodes of Hoarders which can be seen in the US on A&E channel. That will set you on a "getting rid of stuff" path.

I can understand having to store things for a finite period of time (say, if you know you're living in a studio apartment for one year between houses, you store your furniture) but I can't understand just putting more and more junk in a place you'll forget about.

When we lived in apartments we didn't have that much stuff to store. Now that we're in a house, we've ended up buying tools and stuff that are not in every day use, but are definitely worth it to keep around.

In short--there but for the grace of a basement go I.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): I can't emphasize enough to stay organized/use shelves for non furniture type itemns . If you just pile it in there you'll stop looking for it and using it .

It took me a couple of years to realize that . Like an idiot I had un-used cabinets & shelves in there under the premise I would be moving shortly -pffttt , never happend . And if you do have important papers make sure there in an envelope or small box even if in cabinet . An inconsistent or humid enviorment plays havoc with paper and cardboard . Cover stuff as well .

DON'T pile it in there .

By figuring out why your basement is damp and ameliorating that problem you're avoiding a bunch of headaches (literally if you have mold allergies like mine) down the road.

We did get rid of a lot of stuff before the move, but some of still ended up in storage. Her family already had the storage unit, most of what's in there is not mine.

If you aren't using your stuff, you might as well save the storage fees and just sell the stuff. For example, a friend of mine got divorced young and moved back in with his parents until he could buy his own place. He put all his furniture and what not in storage. I think he was paying upwards of $200 a month storage. Well, he finally moved out 4 years later, so he spent upwards of $9600 to store furniture that cost maybe $4000k. He could have sold it for $1000 up front, saved the $9600 storage, and just bought new furniture for $5000 when he got a new place - he would have saved himself over $5600.

It was enormously convenient except that it came about a week before finals (to encourage us to move out sooner) so during finals week you'd be living like a monk if you stored most of your stuff!

When we bought our house, we made sure there was a room we could use for storage. I like to park in my garage. :-)

I'm currently going through old reference books, textbooks, technical magazines, and throwing them out. I've realized that I don't use them anymore since I can Google up answers faster then I can dig through reference books. I also find it more convenient to have any reference material I want to keep stored as softcopy on my PC.

My closets are clean, my basement is empty and my car is the only thing in my garage. What I don't use that is worthwhile is given to charity twice a year and written off on the taxes.

Why people store so much stuff escapes me. I have a friend who can barely walk in his house. Why?

There is a website entirely dedicated to organizing and decluttering, even for those with kids, small spaces, etc.

[unclutterer.com]

Full disclosure: I don't work for them, I'm just a fan.

I live in a townhome community where about 2/3 of the homeowners use their single attached garage for... you guessed it, storing stuff. Some are packed to the gills too.

MY garage is for parking a car, and what little space remains around it is used to sore a reasonable amount of stuff.

I live in an apartment and I manage to be festive without the rented storage space. I have a small tupperware container for XMas stuff. It includes a small string of red XMas lights to make my candelabra festive, some stickers for the windows, and a couple small festive posters rolled up. You don't actually need a 7ft tree complete with decorations for XMas. You just want it.

The winter clothing, however, is needed. I see your point with that one. The bottom of my closet is lined with winter clothing and we made a hanging closet out of a recessed corner for our coats. It feels cramped.

Other than that, no, I don't pay to store a bunch of junk.

@bravo369: No thrift stores near you to donate it to?

It wasn't so bad before but now that we have the baby, I feel like the storage space in our house is bursting at the seams and when we start storing baby stuff as this one outgrows it and until a potential sibling needs it, we will be absolutely crammed in here.

We are loosely pondering moving, which would probably have to happen if we had a second kid, but I sort-of feel like paying a small amount for a small monthly storage unit would be cheaper than buying a new house before we need it, or at least allow us to take our time in finding the right house.

(Also, a lot of the stuff that's left is my husband's ... and he is too sentimental to get rid of ANYTHING. Getting it down to where it is now was a six year battle and the rest isn't going anywhere. I'm resigned to living with it as a condition of my happy marriage, so getting rid of more isn't an option right now. As for me, it's either in use, or it's confined to a single small box of sentimental stuff. My husband has tubs and tubs of sentimental stuff that has no use.)

Funny thing how the internet was mentioned in the OP. Half my storage is text & reference books and notes . I have since found reference materiel in smaller books AND the internet . Lots of magazines as well . I think it's ' the sweat equity ' on time & money on buying the books and doing the assignments .

I have reduced my storage unit size over the years and basically could abandoned the unit and stuff in an emergency . But it also gives a place to store in an emergency .

And if you use storage set up shelves don't just throw stuff in there in piles of boxes . If it's organized you are more likely to use the stuff and won't dred going to storage to find it . It's easier to keep clean as well .

Also if a concrete floor try to avoid setting cardboard boxes on floor -attracts moisture . Use plastic totes or elevate on wood blocks or use shelving .

It does take a hell of a lot of willpower to do though.

@SolDeBarber: This makes me happy that we have a gigantic lock on our storage unit.

I know people who have storage units but it's not even for sentimental items. Personally, I hate clutter so when i have excess stuff, it becomes available on craigslist. if no one wants it there and friends/family don't want it, it's thrown out. i actually just threw out a perfectly good lamp and a single chair this past week after it's been sitting in my basement for the last 6 months and no one wanted it.

@theblackdog_EnjoysDaysOff: Mine's an additional fee, which sucks. But like I said, I really do store useful things.

I don't really have an answer that fits the poll. I do pay to store things, but I really do need to store things. Where else am I going to put Christmas decorations and out-of-season clothing? My apartment isn't big enough for a Christmas tree, four giant tupperware bins of decorations and another four tupperware bins of winter clothing and boots.