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Self-Storage or Organized Hoarding?

Writer's picture: Sharon RadiganSharon Radigan

Updated: Jul 28, 2023


A storage unit filled with boxes.

Overnight self-storage places are everywhere. Some just across the street from each other. Supply and demand. This billion-dollar industry saw the demand and continues to supply. The average monthly cost ranges from $50 to $150, depending on where you live and the unit size. Now that you have everything carefully stacked, you'll need insurance. What are the contents worth? The amount of insurance taken will dictate the additional monthly cost.


Do they serve a purpose? Yes. When relocating to another state, I stored my things until I found my new home. I had a small unit that cost me $124 monthly, with 5,000 insurance coverage. Lucky for me, I only needed three months. This is a perfect temporary solution. The problem is that, for many, it is not temporary. My small unit would have cost me $1,488 for the year. Some are kept for years without a single visit. Others were abandoned altogether, and their contents were put up for auction. Some may be okay with the monthly fee. However, time flies; three years later, you're out $4,464.


One man's trash is another man's treasure, and our things can have personal meaning. I'm not speaking to severe cases of hoarding, which is a disorder that requires professional help. We should ask ourselves whether we "need" this or we "want" this. If these items meant so much to us, would they be boxed up and left to sit? This is a form of hoarding and requires us to do something we don't feel like doing. Going through things and deciding what to do with them is overwhelming, but it needs to be done. Things we love deserve to be enjoyed.


You no longer have to give up a beautiful weekend on a garage sale. There are so many other options available. When I moved, I sold everything. Some things for a few hundred, others for a few dollars. It all added up to a few thousand dollars. It could have gone the other way had I been precious about every item. The cost to move and store items would have gone up significantly. Some things are to be enjoyed for a time and then passed on. This also gave me permission to buy new things without guilt. Keep what really means something to you, and mix in purchases that breathe new life into your living space. Remove the stress of feeling, "I really need to go through that storage unit". There are much better way's to spend $4,464 dollars.


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