As Americans, we love our stuff so much that we’ve turned “shop till you drop” into an Olympic sport. I’m an organizer, and I love my stuff too! But here’s the catch: I love my stuff so much that I want to see it, enjoy it, access it, and put it away easily. This helps me know that I don’t need to buy another one because I can find it. I know… crazy talk.
How many homes do you pass by daily with a garage door open, filled with everything but a car? Many single-family homes in New England have a garage, basement, and even an attic. I’ve been in countless homes where all three are full of stuff. No judgment—every scenario is different. People with kids, especially young kids, have a lot of seasonal stuff and sometimes want to hold onto things for their grandkids one day. People who inherit items and are attached to them might feel guilty if they let them go. What I’ve found over the years, though, is that the items in those areas are often forgotten or unused.
I view a home as a container, and when it’s full, it’s full, and it’s time to downsize what’s inside. However, the other approach is that we need a bigger house or rent a storage unit. For this reason, the storage unit industry is alive and well for Americans who can’t seem to fit all their beloved items in their homes.
Let me throw a few stats your way from governing.com:
“According to 2018 statistics, there are more than 23 million individual storage units in the United States. That’s one for every 14 Americans.”
“The existing infrastructure is at 90 percent capacity.”
“There are approximately 50,000 self-storage facilities in the U.S. (900 per state).”
“Every one of the 340 million Americans could simultaneously find a place to stand inside one of the nation’s storage facilities.”
According to Simply Self Storage, a privately owned U.S. self-storage company, 155,000 storage units are auctioned off each year because people forget about them. I can’t speak to the rest of the country, but I did some research on our little corner of the world called the North Shore of Massachusetts, and here’s what I found on average:
Small units (like 5’x5’): $110 per month / $1,320 yearly
Medium units (like 10’x10’): $231 per month / $2,772 yearly
Large units (like 10’x20’): $375 per month / $4,500 yearly
Climate-controlled units are typically about 30-50% more expensive than non-climate-controlled ones.
Plus, taxes, fees, AND in Massachusetts, you’re required to have proof of insurance on your unit.
Most people plan on renting a unit for a year or less but end up keeping it for five to seven years before they clear it out.
In the wise words of George Carlin: “A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff.”
During my research and by watching family members fall into the storage unit “solution” trap, I discovered that, in many cases, the items stored in a unit are worth less than the cost to store them. Just remember, for most of us, our rent or mortgage is our most expensive bill. The cost of our home and a storage unit is calculated by its square footage.
How much are you paying a month (rented or not) to store your stuff and not “use” your space? If you don’t love it or use it, it’s clutter. Keep in mind that all that clutter used to be money, and all that money used to be time.
Corrin Bomberger is the owner of Simple Organizing Solutions LLC. She lives in Newburyport.