Public storage?

[cassiesmom]

I'm not sure if I should put this in general or here- so I'll put it here.

Has anyone on PT ever rented a public storage unit? My mom and dad are down-sizing and no longer want to store some of my belongings at their house. I have no room in my apartment for them. Are public storage units safe? Or - is this a big money-waster and a reason for me to hold onto things I should really get rid of?

Thanks,
Elyse

[kuhio98]

Like everything else in life, there are good places and bad places. The good places can be very expensive.

If they are sure they won't need the stuff again. And they don't have pieces that they want to hand down to the family, why keep it?

Have a garage sale. Sell quality stuff at consignment or antique shops. Set it free to let someone else love and appreciate it!

[ramanth]

We rent a small storage unit. It's owned by a couple who live in the area. While it's not high end, it's convienent because it's right next door to our apartment complex.

We store holiday decorations, empty boxes, clothes, and other items that are not considered "priceless".

We've been happy with it overall, though we did have mice get in, so I moved my clothes from boxes to rubbermaid totes.

[Karen]

Yes, it may be time to clean out and maybe Freecycle. But if it is large items that you want to someday have a place big enough to hold, what is your timetable on maybe moving? Is there another relative that might be able to hold them for you short-term if you plan on moving soon?

[mina'smomma]

I have one that is down the road from where I live. While they are convient I wouldn't store anything in there that you would consider valuable because even the securiest ones get broke into. I have to downsize mine this summer so I can move my stuff into a smaller unit. (I'm thinking the only things I'm keeping is my crafts, china, heirloom table and porclein dolls)

[Taz_Zoee]

I rented a small storage unit in a little town a hour away from Fresno when I lived there. It wasn't the most secure, but I never had anything happen to my stuff. I had my bed and other miscellaneous items in it, nothing of too high value. I had my own lock on the unit and then there was a lock on the gate to get into the area which I also had a key to. Now that I think back, I am actually very surprised that nothing ever happened. Because it wasn't the best location or well patrolled at all. I guess I was just lucky.

[Laura's Babies]

I had my stuff in Louisiana in storage for about 6 years when I moved to Florida. When I moved back to La. I ended up getting rid of just about everything I had in storage so I paid all that rent for all those years on trash!

My advice is if it is not really something you need, have to have, time dated, outgrow, ect... Donate to Goodwill or someplace and save your monty. Like a friend explained to me, all that money I spent on storage could have bought NEW stuff with that money by the time I needed it!

(Also could have built a really nice BIG shed!)