We house our stuff but not our people.
March 27, 2018 7:29 PM Subscribe
“...the United States boasts more than 50,000 facilities and roughly 2.311 billion square feet of rentable space. In other words, the volume of self-storage units in the country could fill the Hoover Dam with old clothing, skis, and keepsakes more than 26 times.” — Self-storage: How warehouses for personal junk became a $38 billion industry (Patrick Sisson, Curbed)
Investors see abandoned malls as a candidate for conversion into self-storage consumer cubby holes, a true full circle of consumerism.
The capitalist Ouroboros.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 7:49 PM on March 27, 2018 [32 favorites]
The capitalist Ouroboros.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 7:49 PM on March 27, 2018 [32 favorites]
"High-end self-storage sites can command two or three times the rent per square foot than commercial or residential uses"
!! I could easily see why *profit* would be higher, but the rent, straight up?
posted by clew at 8:07 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
!! I could easily see why *profit* would be higher, but the rent, straight up?
posted by clew at 8:07 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
Man, I looked at a storage unit last year to help with some of the more annoying logistics of our cross-country move, and it was certainly damned near as expensive as renting an apartment. Not at all useful for a short-term, one-month-max kind of thing.
posted by restless_nomad at 8:09 PM on March 27, 2018
posted by restless_nomad at 8:09 PM on March 27, 2018
Once they sign up, renters become captive audiences, according to the Wall Street Journal. Paying for storage space is like a gym membership; consumers join and forget about it.
Tip for anyone who needs a storage unit temporarily, for a move or similar: self-storage facilities often offer the first month free. I told a friend who just moved about this, and got a text this morning reporting that she'd just emptied her unit in time to get the storage for free. Victory!
They're a blight on usable, centrally located space, and encourage terrible habits, but they can be useful every now and then. Denver might stop new facilities from being built right next to train stations, which would be a good start.
posted by asperity at 8:13 PM on March 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
Tip for anyone who needs a storage unit temporarily, for a move or similar: self-storage facilities often offer the first month free. I told a friend who just moved about this, and got a text this morning reporting that she'd just emptied her unit in time to get the storage for free. Victory!
They're a blight on usable, centrally located space, and encourage terrible habits, but they can be useful every now and then. Denver might stop new facilities from being built right next to train stations, which would be a good start.
posted by asperity at 8:13 PM on March 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
I've never understood self storage as a concept. If you have to pay someone to keep your stuff where you never see it, you don't need that stuff. Obvious exceptions for short term storage for practical reasons. I recently sold a house with ~20 years of accumulated stuff and I threw 90% of it away.
Then you've never been temporarily homeless or nearly homeless. A lot of things that don't make any sense in America become more obvious if you are poor.
Example, where does a homeless person store their personal belongings, old photos, family mementos, etc? They certainly can't carry them around, so self storage, or safety deposit boxes, are the only reliable way to protect what belongings they have left.
posted by Beholder at 8:20 PM on March 27, 2018 [53 favorites]
Then you've never been temporarily homeless or nearly homeless. A lot of things that don't make any sense in America become more obvious if you are poor.
Example, where does a homeless person store their personal belongings, old photos, family mementos, etc? They certainly can't carry them around, so self storage, or safety deposit boxes, are the only reliable way to protect what belongings they have left.
posted by Beholder at 8:20 PM on March 27, 2018 [53 favorites]
Even after many years of living in the US, I find these self-storage complexes, as material expressions of people's attitude towards stuff, really puzzling. I mean, I've been living for a few years in a one-bedroom apartment, and I just can't figure out what to fill it with. But there are plenty of people around here whose garages are so full of indeterminate junk that they park their cars on the street. And there is one of these huge self-storage buildings a few blocks away, so I guess the garages aren't big enough either. And the self-storage building is sitting on prime real estate, facing a major street, in a high-density neighborhood. I get a little mad every time I walk past it.
posted by a certain Sysoi Pafnut'evich at 8:20 PM on March 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by a certain Sysoi Pafnut'evich at 8:20 PM on March 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
There was a time in my life when I moved 11 times in 8 years. For large stretches of that, I had stuff in storage which is what made that doable. When things settled down, I was able to pull everything back. I certainly ended up purging some of it while doing that, but I was very glad indeed that I didn't lose my lifelong book collection.
Storage units have their place.
posted by tavella at 8:40 PM on March 27, 2018 [13 favorites]
Storage units have their place.
posted by tavella at 8:40 PM on March 27, 2018 [13 favorites]
We house our stuff but not our people
Self storage: eight bucks a month
posted by slidell at 8:41 PM on March 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Self storage: eight bucks a month
posted by slidell at 8:41 PM on March 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
Storage units can buy you a little time, too, when you have to empty out a dead loved one's house and you don't yet have the emotional strength to do a heavy sort and purge.
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 8:47 PM on March 27, 2018 [42 favorites]
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 8:47 PM on March 27, 2018 [42 favorites]
Investors see abandoned malls as a candidate for conversion into self-storage consumer cubby holes, a true full circle of consumerism.
Well at that point, why are we necessary at all? Couldn't they just make a bunch of useless crap and store it in malls and leave us out of it?
posted by Naberius at 9:01 PM on March 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
Well at that point, why are we necessary at all? Couldn't they just make a bunch of useless crap and store it in malls and leave us out of it?
posted by Naberius at 9:01 PM on March 27, 2018 [15 favorites]
A storage unit can represent hope that you'll be back in a nice house again when you have to quickly move into a tiny apartment. It represents an easing of the stress when your parents die and you can't decide what parts of your childhood to throw away while you're in the early stages of grief.
The hard part is, of course, that out of sight means out of mind, and sometimes the reckoning gets dumped on you just as suddenly, only later.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:11 PM on March 27, 2018 [21 favorites]
The hard part is, of course, that out of sight means out of mind, and sometimes the reckoning gets dumped on you just as suddenly, only later.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:11 PM on March 27, 2018 [21 favorites]
I've never understood self storage as a concept. If you have to pay someone to keep your stuff where you never see it, you don't need that stuff.
Unless, say, you're staging your house to sell it and your realtor recommends you get rid of 40% of your (much-needed) belongings and depersonalize the place so the house appears like a pleasantly spacious blank canvas for would-be buyers' dreams. And so your entire book collection, all the holiday decorations you keep in your house's one closet, all the boxes of hand-me-downs your ecstatic and generous friends shipped when your much-wanted baby finally arrived, the coffee table, the storage ottoman and the toddler bed waiting for that baby to grow all get cleared out so would-be buyers can be fooled into thinking there's lots of storage space.
(It works. You sell the house in three weeks.)
Unless, say, the bank decides to get cute with the terms and conditions for your new house, and the closing that was supposed to take place in early June gets pushed to August, and you're so cash-poor from the process of putting 20% down on a house in the SF Bay area, you accept the offer to live in a relative's spare room. There is barely enough room for your bed, the baby's crib, and the glider used to rock the baby to sleep. The $350 of kitchen knives you scrimped for as a joint 33rd birthday present live under the bed in a special case; the Viking pans -- each one bought to celebrate a personal or professional milestone are in storage, along with all your furniture, that book collection you miss like your best friend from college, all your gardening tools, and the holiday decorations you hope you'll eventually be able to hang in the new house.
(One day, for fun, we calculated the cost of our 10x10 storage unit against the cost of stocking a two-bedroom, three-person household from scratch. The storage looked like a bargain.)
Unless, say, you're gutting rooms in your house and you plan on living like a human being again once the last of the dust is wiped up and you have a liveable space again.
(Storage can be temporary. It's merely space you need that happens to be someplace else because the space you have isn't working at the moment. Storage gives you space to solve the problem that's encroaching on the space you no longer control.)
posted by sobell at 9:20 PM on March 27, 2018 [43 favorites]
Unless, say, you're staging your house to sell it and your realtor recommends you get rid of 40% of your (much-needed) belongings and depersonalize the place so the house appears like a pleasantly spacious blank canvas for would-be buyers' dreams. And so your entire book collection, all the holiday decorations you keep in your house's one closet, all the boxes of hand-me-downs your ecstatic and generous friends shipped when your much-wanted baby finally arrived, the coffee table, the storage ottoman and the toddler bed waiting for that baby to grow all get cleared out so would-be buyers can be fooled into thinking there's lots of storage space.
(It works. You sell the house in three weeks.)
Unless, say, the bank decides to get cute with the terms and conditions for your new house, and the closing that was supposed to take place in early June gets pushed to August, and you're so cash-poor from the process of putting 20% down on a house in the SF Bay area, you accept the offer to live in a relative's spare room. There is barely enough room for your bed, the baby's crib, and the glider used to rock the baby to sleep. The $350 of kitchen knives you scrimped for as a joint 33rd birthday present live under the bed in a special case; the Viking pans -- each one bought to celebrate a personal or professional milestone are in storage, along with all your furniture, that book collection you miss like your best friend from college, all your gardening tools, and the holiday decorations you hope you'll eventually be able to hang in the new house.
(One day, for fun, we calculated the cost of our 10x10 storage unit against the cost of stocking a two-bedroom, three-person household from scratch. The storage looked like a bargain.)
Unless, say, you're gutting rooms in your house and you plan on living like a human being again once the last of the dust is wiped up and you have a liveable space again.
(Storage can be temporary. It's merely space you need that happens to be someplace else because the space you have isn't working at the moment. Storage gives you space to solve the problem that's encroaching on the space you no longer control.)
posted by sobell at 9:20 PM on March 27, 2018 [43 favorites]
A storage space can also be a really useful way for a long term couple to accommodate one partner's deep, overwhelming need to keep their collection of 150,000 ceramic lambs, while ensuring the other partner never has to see another motherfucking ceramic lamb ever ever again.
People have a lot of emotions tied up in their stuff. Sometimes, for one reason or another, that stuff has to go away for a while and/or forever, but it's not possible for one reason or another to just get rid of it. It's nice that there's a place you can rent to just end those hard conversations.
I recognize that in a perfect world we'd all be free of attachments and able to let the material items we enjoyed go when they're no longer in active use, but jeez, as vices go I think you can do a lot worse. Because it is REALLY hard on a relationship to have the "these things you love? I consider them to be literal trash" fight.
posted by potrzebie at 9:32 PM on March 27, 2018 [23 favorites]
People have a lot of emotions tied up in their stuff. Sometimes, for one reason or another, that stuff has to go away for a while and/or forever, but it's not possible for one reason or another to just get rid of it. It's nice that there's a place you can rent to just end those hard conversations.
I recognize that in a perfect world we'd all be free of attachments and able to let the material items we enjoyed go when they're no longer in active use, but jeez, as vices go I think you can do a lot worse. Because it is REALLY hard on a relationship to have the "these things you love? I consider them to be literal trash" fight.
posted by potrzebie at 9:32 PM on March 27, 2018 [23 favorites]
I stored stuff for the 2.5 years I lived overseas because I couldn't fathom replacing everything when I came back. And I still have a lot of the stuff I stored so it was partly worthwhile.
If I did that again I'd probably ditch 95% of my stuff and the few things I really need to keep (like an heirloom wooden chest) I could now leave with friends now that we're in our 40s and stable. In my 20s, there was no one to leave those few true valuables with.
posted by kitten magic at 9:40 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
If I did that again I'd probably ditch 95% of my stuff and the few things I really need to keep (like an heirloom wooden chest) I could now leave with friends now that we're in our 40s and stable. In my 20s, there was no one to leave those few true valuables with.
posted by kitten magic at 9:40 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
The idea that "If you need to store your stuff you don't need the stuff" is really privileged and kind of ugly. I guess it comes from never having to face housing insecurity, exacerbated by a lack of imagination.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 10:20 PM on March 27, 2018 [57 favorites]
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 10:20 PM on March 27, 2018 [57 favorites]
The idea that "If you need to store your stuff you don't need the stuff" is really privileged
Yup. If you're poor, you often can't afford to replace things. So I might not need whatever thing now, but if I do in future, I can either get it out of whatever long term storage I have (overstuffed box room in my case) or end up in a tight spot.
posted by Dysk at 12:17 AM on March 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
Yup. If you're poor, you often can't afford to replace things. So I might not need whatever thing now, but if I do in future, I can either get it out of whatever long term storage I have (overstuffed box room in my case) or end up in a tight spot.
posted by Dysk at 12:17 AM on March 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
There's a massive storage unit building near my home here in London which is going to go underground so its surface footprint can accommodate a new luxury apartment block. I'm told the company that owns it is planning a similar move for some of its other London buildings. Whoever buys these apartments will end up with a giant attic underneath them that's full of other people's stuff. Weird.
posted by Paul Slade at 3:09 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Paul Slade at 3:09 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Of course there are lots of legitimate uses for storage units, but that's not why it's a 38 bilion dollar industry. (For comparison, photography—every commercial photograph you see, every wedding shoot, etc.—is only a 10 billion dollar industry in the US.) It's a 38 billion dollar industry because of hoarding. It is a way of using the pathological materialism of our society and the disordered thinking that it creates in us (virtually all of us suffer from this to some small extent, hoarding is a spectrum) to funnel yet more wealth into the hands of the already wealthy. That some of us also find the occasional helpful application of this system is not really the point. We are socialized to consume and possess, and it's way, way out of control.
In fact it's seen as a good thing, because high consumer spending is "good for the economy." Nevermind the effects that it has on society, on people. I go into a lot of houses, and I see what it looks like, the way it reduces the options of people's lives to a narrow channel between teetering stacks of garbage. One thing I often hear when I'm in a house where the owner knows there's a problem and is ashamed of it (storage units are a way of dealing with the shame) is something like, "Yeah, my wife has three storage units, too." (They generally invoke their partner as the one with the problem, even when it's very clearly both of them.) Storage units are an expensive way of managing a hoarding problem without actually dealing with it. It's a parasitical industry, filling up our land with junk while draining the resources of troubled, anxious people whose problems happen to manifest as an inability to throw anything away.
We all suffer from this, I'm certainly no exception, but owning things is not a cost-free proposition. We are slaves to our possessions. If dealing with your possessions is bringing you more pain than joy, throw them away. Throw it away, throw it away, throw it away. Attachment is pain.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 3:11 AM on March 28, 2018 [18 favorites]
In fact it's seen as a good thing, because high consumer spending is "good for the economy." Nevermind the effects that it has on society, on people. I go into a lot of houses, and I see what it looks like, the way it reduces the options of people's lives to a narrow channel between teetering stacks of garbage. One thing I often hear when I'm in a house where the owner knows there's a problem and is ashamed of it (storage units are a way of dealing with the shame) is something like, "Yeah, my wife has three storage units, too." (They generally invoke their partner as the one with the problem, even when it's very clearly both of them.) Storage units are an expensive way of managing a hoarding problem without actually dealing with it. It's a parasitical industry, filling up our land with junk while draining the resources of troubled, anxious people whose problems happen to manifest as an inability to throw anything away.
We all suffer from this, I'm certainly no exception, but owning things is not a cost-free proposition. We are slaves to our possessions. If dealing with your possessions is bringing you more pain than joy, throw them away. Throw it away, throw it away, throw it away. Attachment is pain.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 3:11 AM on March 28, 2018 [18 favorites]
I rented a unit to put my mom's extra stuff into when she moved to assisted living. I told myself that selling her furniture and other stuff would pay for the unit. It didn't, not even remotely, because no one wanted it. Not on Craigslist, LetGo, or eBay, not at any of the second-hand stores. In a couple of hours from now, I'm going to meet a guy who'll take it all away. The $150 he wants is way less than the next month's rent. That rent is increasing again; it's gone up by about 30% in the couple of years my mom's stuff has been sitting there. Had I known, I would have paid someone to take it all much earlier, and saved a ton of money.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:03 AM on March 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:03 AM on March 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
If dealing with your possessions is bringing you more pain than joy, throw them away. Throw it away, throw it away, throw it away. Attachment is pain.
That 'if' is doing a hell of a lot of work, there. Not everyone feels like you do it like you describe, and projecting a particular vision onto people and then lecturing them about how they should deal with it, well it's not a good look.
posted by Dysk at 4:25 AM on March 28, 2018 [15 favorites]
That 'if' is doing a hell of a lot of work, there. Not everyone feels like you do it like you describe, and projecting a particular vision onto people and then lecturing them about how they should deal with it, well it's not a good look.
posted by Dysk at 4:25 AM on March 28, 2018 [15 favorites]
For a year I’ve been spending $90/mo on a storage unit filled with my mom’s artwork, and bins of family photos and papers that I still need to go through. It’s from emptying my parents' house after they passed. (I thankfully junked almost everything in the house.) I still don’t have the strength to go through it, and I’m grateful for the cushion of time it’s given me. The $1,000 is definitely a trade off, though. I would guess I’ll only be in it for another year, so maybe I’ll be part of the great storage crash.
posted by quarterinmyshoe at 4:32 AM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by quarterinmyshoe at 4:32 AM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yes having too much crap is a problem and a blight on both the planet and society. Keeping stuff for later can be entirely prudent though, the attitude of "I'll buy another when I need it" is both privileged and extremely wasteful.
Wherever you sit on that continuum storage is extremely expensive though. I found it much more financially sensible to buy a shall factory that was larger than I needed just for making things so I could also store things in it. The real eye opener was finding that the cost of buying a 100m2 factory was almost on par with renting storage a fraction of that size, once you do the accounting properly (and have the cash to start with). In the factory no one complains if I fire up a planer either, which I can't exactly do in a storage unit.
posted by deadwax at 4:54 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Wherever you sit on that continuum storage is extremely expensive though. I found it much more financially sensible to buy a shall factory that was larger than I needed just for making things so I could also store things in it. The real eye opener was finding that the cost of buying a 100m2 factory was almost on par with renting storage a fraction of that size, once you do the accounting properly (and have the cash to start with). In the factory no one complains if I fire up a planer either, which I can't exactly do in a storage unit.
posted by deadwax at 4:54 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Dysk, I do think in our culture we have a massive blind spot for how much we are harmed by our excess possessions. "Fish have no word for water," and all that. But deciding what is worth hanging onto is an individual process, hence that very important "if." I'm saying that we all need to be mindful of the true costs of ownership, including the psychological costs. And certainly rent on a storage unit that things rarely if ever come out of again is a pretty clear cost.
I would suggest that if one finds oneself making excuses (even just inside one's own head) for keeping something, feeling shame about not using one's unused possessions, or fearing a hypothetical future in which some replaceable object suddenly becomes necessary once it's been tossed, one should seriously consider just letting it go. Letting go of attachments is very freeing. That's not a personal attack, though people often seem to take it as one for some reason. Can't imagine why.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 5:19 AM on March 28, 2018
I would suggest that if one finds oneself making excuses (even just inside one's own head) for keeping something, feeling shame about not using one's unused possessions, or fearing a hypothetical future in which some replaceable object suddenly becomes necessary once it's been tossed, one should seriously consider just letting it go. Letting go of attachments is very freeing. That's not a personal attack, though people often seem to take it as one for some reason. Can't imagine why.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 5:19 AM on March 28, 2018
When we downsized from 4200 square feet to 1600 square feet last year I ended up needing some extra storage space. So I'm paying $45/mo for a 5x10 closet that has about 12 Rubbermaid bins in it, 90% of which is Christmas decorations, the fake tree, and my camping gear. It's not stuff I don't need, it's stuff I need seasonally and don't have room for at the house. Well, actually we do have an attic, but there are no stairs to it and $45 a month to keep me from climbing up there is a good trade.
What I don't understand is the people that don't pay their fees on storage units with very valuable stuff in it. We have a friend who owns a pawn shop and stocks it by doing the Storage Wars thing and attending the auctions. They were telling us that recently they were cleaning out a storage unit they had won at auction and the guy next to them doing the same thing found a stack of gold bars. The initial estimate was a little over $100,000, assuming the government doesn't decide the stuff is missing from Fort Knox or something. If you were going t stop paying your storage bill why not collect your gold bars first?
posted by COD at 5:20 AM on March 28, 2018
What I don't understand is the people that don't pay their fees on storage units with very valuable stuff in it. We have a friend who owns a pawn shop and stocks it by doing the Storage Wars thing and attending the auctions. They were telling us that recently they were cleaning out a storage unit they had won at auction and the guy next to them doing the same thing found a stack of gold bars. The initial estimate was a little over $100,000, assuming the government doesn't decide the stuff is missing from Fort Knox or something. If you were going t stop paying your storage bill why not collect your gold bars first?
posted by COD at 5:20 AM on March 28, 2018
Letting go of attachments is very freeing. That's not a personal attack, though people often seem to take it as one for some reason. Can't imagine why.
It's the way you present it as sanctimonious advice. It's the way you describe as a thing that's obvious to you and the poor dears just don't know any better, haven't realised and become as enlightened as you yet.
posted by Dysk at 5:27 AM on March 28, 2018 [15 favorites]
It's the way you present it as sanctimonious advice. It's the way you describe as a thing that's obvious to you and the poor dears just don't know any better, haven't realised and become as enlightened as you yet.
posted by Dysk at 5:27 AM on March 28, 2018 [15 favorites]
What I don't understand is the people that don't pay their fees on storage units with very valuable stuff in it.
They don't have any money? They got sick?
If you were going t stop paying your storage bill why not collect your gold bars first?
Maybe they didn't even realize there was gold in the unit, like they had had a hoarder relative's stuff packed up and stored because it seemed wrong to just throw it out.
posted by thelonius at 5:32 AM on March 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
They don't have any money? They got sick?
If you were going t stop paying your storage bill why not collect your gold bars first?
Maybe they didn't even realize there was gold in the unit, like they had had a hoarder relative's stuff packed up and stored because it seemed wrong to just throw it out.
posted by thelonius at 5:32 AM on March 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
Mod note: One deleted. It's fine to state your own opinion, but let's avoid that thing where one person continues to insist that everyone must agree or feel the same way – or just continues to hammer the same point. It's okay if people have their own opinions or somewhat different way of handling things.
posted by taz (staff) at 5:43 AM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by taz (staff) at 5:43 AM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Sorry, I was shooting for "impassioned" rather than "sanctimonious," I apologize for missing the mark. But I do believe that the value of anti-consumerism is under-recognized in our society, yes. If you disagree on that then we're going to have to agree to disagree.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 5:44 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 5:44 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yes, I feel that people who look down on the concept of storage units entirely are largely people who don’t move a lot. I move all the time, often across huge distances, as does everyone in my extended family. We’re pretty uninterested in material possessions by American standards, but we also don’t want to replace everything we own every time we move, or come back from living in another country, or what have you.
Here’s another argument for storage within reason: really nice, really durable furniture. Most of the furniture my partner and I have is hand-me-down or inherited from our grandparents and parents as they themselves downsized - we could never afford it ourselves. It’s beautiful, solid stuff that will last until we die if we take good care of it. (This is in and of itself a privilege, of course).
If I made a temporary move somewhere, I’d be pretty foolish to junk that really good furniture, in favor of buying some junky stuff from IKEA that will die in a few years. A lot of young adults I know are also trying to find used, relatively inexpensive/out of style but extremely durable furniture too, so they can get off the endless IKEA and Target furniture treadmill.
I don’t think renting a storage unit occasionally is on the whole worse for society or the planet than “replacing everything with cheap crappy furniture that will die in two years” is.
There absolutely are lots of people with hoarding issues in this country, but “attachment to a few nice long-lived things that I use a lot” is not hoarding or unhealthy.
posted by faineg at 5:55 AM on March 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
Here’s another argument for storage within reason: really nice, really durable furniture. Most of the furniture my partner and I have is hand-me-down or inherited from our grandparents and parents as they themselves downsized - we could never afford it ourselves. It’s beautiful, solid stuff that will last until we die if we take good care of it. (This is in and of itself a privilege, of course).
If I made a temporary move somewhere, I’d be pretty foolish to junk that really good furniture, in favor of buying some junky stuff from IKEA that will die in a few years. A lot of young adults I know are also trying to find used, relatively inexpensive/out of style but extremely durable furniture too, so they can get off the endless IKEA and Target furniture treadmill.
I don’t think renting a storage unit occasionally is on the whole worse for society or the planet than “replacing everything with cheap crappy furniture that will die in two years” is.
There absolutely are lots of people with hoarding issues in this country, but “attachment to a few nice long-lived things that I use a lot” is not hoarding or unhealthy.
posted by faineg at 5:55 AM on March 28, 2018 [7 favorites]
But I do believe that the value of anti-consumerism is under-recognized in our society, yes. If you disagree on that then we're going to have to agree to disagree.
No, I agree with that, I just don't think the topic at hand is an expression of it in the way that you do.
posted by Dysk at 6:02 AM on March 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
No, I agree with that, I just don't think the topic at hand is an expression of it in the way that you do.
posted by Dysk at 6:02 AM on March 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm just surprised at the number of storage units I see being built now that are in light commercial zones, a long way from residential areas. I've put stuff in storage a few times, and one of my main concerns is how far the stuff is away from my house. These new ones are just in the middle of nowhere. I imagine that their costs are lower so they can rent space cheaper, but is it really cheap enough that a large number of people (and these are large storage complexes) will want to drive such a long way to get to their stuff?
Or is it that small companies use storage units as some kind of warehouse space? I've only ever thought of storage units as being for personal use. Maybe there is a commercial side to renting out storage units?
posted by Quonab at 6:08 AM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Or is it that small companies use storage units as some kind of warehouse space? I've only ever thought of storage units as being for personal use. Maybe there is a commercial side to renting out storage units?
posted by Quonab at 6:08 AM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ok, one more thing. I find it pretty distasteful to get on middle-class American’s back for renting storage units because it is a criticism that punches down in economic terms. I think I’m not alone in this.
The very rich don’t use these storage facilities much (if at all), because they don’t find themselves in between homes, or they always have another home, or they have better options available to them than a public storage unit.
In this particular moment in history, relatively unqualified critiques that mostly target middle-class and poor people for their “materialism” come off as tone-deaf and victim-blamey. We can prioritize altering average Americans attitudes towards stuff when average Americans aren’t experiencing major economic stress that largely is not linked to buying stuff. Those critiques made sense in better economic times when more suburbanites could afford some excess, but those days are long gone.
posted by faineg at 6:10 AM on March 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
The very rich don’t use these storage facilities much (if at all), because they don’t find themselves in between homes, or they always have another home, or they have better options available to them than a public storage unit.
In this particular moment in history, relatively unqualified critiques that mostly target middle-class and poor people for their “materialism” come off as tone-deaf and victim-blamey. We can prioritize altering average Americans attitudes towards stuff when average Americans aren’t experiencing major economic stress that largely is not linked to buying stuff. Those critiques made sense in better economic times when more suburbanites could afford some excess, but those days are long gone.
posted by faineg at 6:10 AM on March 28, 2018 [9 favorites]
Or is it that small companies use storage units as some kind of warehouse space?
Can't speak for the US, but this is absolutely a thing in the UK. There's no meaningful distinction between rented warehouse space and rented storage. A place to put stuff is a place to put stuff.
posted by Dysk at 6:18 AM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Can't speak for the US, but this is absolutely a thing in the UK. There's no meaningful distinction between rented warehouse space and rented storage. A place to put stuff is a place to put stuff.
posted by Dysk at 6:18 AM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
I got rid of a lot of stuff. It freed up a lot of empty storage space, which I used to interact more fully with the stuff I retained. Call it a workshop.
However it also put me on a collision course with other people's habits. I swear half the friends who visited, saw the space and wanted to fill it up for me. It fell into two camps. One group wanted to give me things to fill the space with, and I should be thrilled to get this great stuff. The other group wanted to store their things there, for varying levels of temporary. One person took this so far as to come over when I was not there, and put things in my space.
Anyways, yeah, if you have an empty garage or pole barn or basement, you have to actively defend it. You must commit to being selfish in the face of a lot of sad stories about evictions and foreclosures and dying parents. There is a vast amount of *stuff* just flying around looking for a place to settle, and you must bat it away when it tries to land on you.
The two largest batches of other people's stuff that found their way into my space, each outstayed their welcome. Hugely. One batch of stuff was going to be there for a week, and a year later I had to call that guy and tell him I was going to push it into the street TODAY. Giving him time frames that didn't require an emergency "drop everything" hadn't worked. The other batch of stuff, stored for a friend who was being evicted from his apartment, stayed for years; I finally got rid of the stuff when my friend died. What I'm saying, is that if you agree to house other people's stray possessions, they're going to be with you permanently. You will be burdened with piles of crap you can't even sort out and deal with, because they're not yours. So don't let them in.
The self storage industry is there for those people. Don't let them invade your home, no matter how sympathetic you are to their plight.
posted by elizilla at 6:21 AM on March 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
However it also put me on a collision course with other people's habits. I swear half the friends who visited, saw the space and wanted to fill it up for me. It fell into two camps. One group wanted to give me things to fill the space with, and I should be thrilled to get this great stuff. The other group wanted to store their things there, for varying levels of temporary. One person took this so far as to come over when I was not there, and put things in my space.
Anyways, yeah, if you have an empty garage or pole barn or basement, you have to actively defend it. You must commit to being selfish in the face of a lot of sad stories about evictions and foreclosures and dying parents. There is a vast amount of *stuff* just flying around looking for a place to settle, and you must bat it away when it tries to land on you.
The two largest batches of other people's stuff that found their way into my space, each outstayed their welcome. Hugely. One batch of stuff was going to be there for a week, and a year later I had to call that guy and tell him I was going to push it into the street TODAY. Giving him time frames that didn't require an emergency "drop everything" hadn't worked. The other batch of stuff, stored for a friend who was being evicted from his apartment, stayed for years; I finally got rid of the stuff when my friend died. What I'm saying, is that if you agree to house other people's stray possessions, they're going to be with you permanently. You will be burdened with piles of crap you can't even sort out and deal with, because they're not yours. So don't let them in.
The self storage industry is there for those people. Don't let them invade your home, no matter how sympathetic you are to their plight.
posted by elizilla at 6:21 AM on March 28, 2018 [11 favorites]
I sometimes go to the Goodwill Outlet, the place where stuff goes when it doesn't sell at Goodwill stores. It's amazing what ends up there. An appalling quantity of Christmas decoration. Clothing, not all of it total crap. Shoes, bedding, towels, dishes, pots, pans. Toys. $1.37/ pound, most of it. Electronics are a pain to recycle, they're .10/ pound. Most decent furniture will sell at a thrift store. If furniture is made well enough to get to a thrift store, it's probably made okay. If there's stuff I need, I'll probably find it - nice dishtowels, napkins, any household goods. The occasional score of something quite nice.
Americans don't just have too much stuff, they have far too much cheap crap. I keep reading articles about how kids don't want their parents' stuff, which is sad, some of that stuff - furniture, china, rugs - is well made and beautiful. Mid-century modern can't last forever, can it? It's the crappy furniture, maybe from Ikea but from likely WalMart, where the price is low because they sell the cheapest possible quality people will tolerate.
When I was in Colorado, there were organized teams of Hispanic men and women at the Goodwill Outlet, sifting goods carefully, then piling goods on trucks and in box vans to take to poorer communities to sell. Market efficiency, sort of.
You end up with too much stuff because it's so easy. You needed more dishes when you had the big Thanksgiving, You upgraded your pans because that sale was so great. Sifting through those stored boxes is work and you're busy getting Mom's house clean to sell it, or you have so much to unpack, or your kid needs to move home for a while after their divorce, so you store it, thinking it'll just be a couple months.
The solution isn't Get Rid Of Your Stuff. The solution is Buy Less.
posted by theora55 at 6:22 AM on March 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
Americans don't just have too much stuff, they have far too much cheap crap. I keep reading articles about how kids don't want their parents' stuff, which is sad, some of that stuff - furniture, china, rugs - is well made and beautiful. Mid-century modern can't last forever, can it? It's the crappy furniture, maybe from Ikea but from likely WalMart, where the price is low because they sell the cheapest possible quality people will tolerate.
When I was in Colorado, there were organized teams of Hispanic men and women at the Goodwill Outlet, sifting goods carefully, then piling goods on trucks and in box vans to take to poorer communities to sell. Market efficiency, sort of.
You end up with too much stuff because it's so easy. You needed more dishes when you had the big Thanksgiving, You upgraded your pans because that sale was so great. Sifting through those stored boxes is work and you're busy getting Mom's house clean to sell it, or you have so much to unpack, or your kid needs to move home for a while after their divorce, so you store it, thinking it'll just be a couple months.
The solution isn't Get Rid Of Your Stuff. The solution is Buy Less.
posted by theora55 at 6:22 AM on March 28, 2018 [5 favorites]
Or is it that small companies use storage units as some kind of warehouse space?
Most of my wife and I's possessions were in storage for about 11 months as we built a house (and lived in a very small basement in the interim). It was all stuff we needed but couldn't keep on hand due to space limitations, so we would visit the unit 2-3 times a month to put things in or get things out.
It was pretty routine to see people using their unit for commercial purposes. For example, I recall a guy who was clearly storing lumber and metal stock (he would even sometimes be set up with power tools doing some cutting or working of materials next to it [it was outdoor accessible], with power from his truck). I similarly saw a bunch of what were clearly small store owners moving in or taking out boxes of things to be sold.
I suspect a lot of business with small footprints (boutique stores) or no footprint (contractors) use them this way.
posted by tocts at 6:22 AM on March 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
Most of my wife and I's possessions were in storage for about 11 months as we built a house (and lived in a very small basement in the interim). It was all stuff we needed but couldn't keep on hand due to space limitations, so we would visit the unit 2-3 times a month to put things in or get things out.
It was pretty routine to see people using their unit for commercial purposes. For example, I recall a guy who was clearly storing lumber and metal stock (he would even sometimes be set up with power tools doing some cutting or working of materials next to it [it was outdoor accessible], with power from his truck). I similarly saw a bunch of what were clearly small store owners moving in or taking out boxes of things to be sold.
I suspect a lot of business with small footprints (boutique stores) or no footprint (contractors) use them this way.
posted by tocts at 6:22 AM on March 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
Another weird thing I have experienced, is that when you decide to declutter your home and you give things away, there are people who will seem so pleased to get a free XYZ! And then they'll ask you to store it for them. They just don't get it.
Freecycle is full of people like this. They will claim anything, and ask you to hold it for them. FOREVER.
This is not how it is supposed to work.
posted by elizilla at 6:44 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Freecycle is full of people like this. They will claim anything, and ask you to hold it for them. FOREVER.
This is not how it is supposed to work.
posted by elizilla at 6:44 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
The solution isn't Get Rid Of Your Stuff. The solution is Buy Less.
Unfortunately - if you cannot afford to "Buy Quality" stuff, you will be forced to endlessly buy the "Cheap Stuff", which is shoddy and will break/wear-out long before a quality item would.
“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.
Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.
But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”
― Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms
posted by jkaczor at 6:54 AM on March 28, 2018 [15 favorites]
Unfortunately - if you cannot afford to "Buy Quality" stuff, you will be forced to endlessly buy the "Cheap Stuff", which is shoddy and will break/wear-out long before a quality item would.
“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.
Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.
But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”
― Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms
posted by jkaczor at 6:54 AM on March 28, 2018 [15 favorites]
When I needed longer-term storage (like, more than a couple of months) I found a less expensive option was storing my stuff at a place that did pod storage: they dropped off a container to fill, and then they stacked it away. When I wanted to access the pod I'd call them 24 hours in advance and they'd pull it for me and when I was finished they restacked the container.
It was about 1/3 less than storage with 24/7 access (and their smallest pod was at least as big as the same size storage unit) and is a great option if you don't need instant access to your stuff.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:15 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
It was about 1/3 less than storage with 24/7 access (and their smallest pod was at least as big as the same size storage unit) and is a great option if you don't need instant access to your stuff.
posted by Room 641-A at 7:15 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Or is it that small companies use storage units as some kind of warehouse space?
No, actual warehouse space for large-enough companies is very cheap. I'd say the large number of storage spaces under construction is mainly 2 things -
1) land banking. The buildings are very cheap to construct, and bring in more income than a parking lot (which are the old form of land banking). And they are allowed everywhere. Parking lots and apartments get pushback, storage units don't.
2) very short term rentals for the poor
They may tangentally have something with hoarding/middle class moving or whatever, but people actually move less and live in larger houses now than they used to.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:17 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
No, actual warehouse space for large-enough companies is very cheap. I'd say the large number of storage spaces under construction is mainly 2 things -
1) land banking. The buildings are very cheap to construct, and bring in more income than a parking lot (which are the old form of land banking). And they are allowed everywhere. Parking lots and apartments get pushback, storage units don't.
2) very short term rentals for the poor
They may tangentally have something with hoarding/middle class moving or whatever, but people actually move less and live in larger houses now than they used to.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:17 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
It seems like there is a vicious circle here. In the past, people were probably less likely to buy stuff if they didn't have room for it. Today, there is always room for it at your local storage unit, so people buy and/or refrain from getting rid of stuff that they otherwise wouldn't own back in the day. That, in turn, drives more demand for storage units, and more storage units make it easy for people to store stuff they don't really need, and it just keeps going.
posted by COD at 7:22 AM on March 28, 2018
posted by COD at 7:22 AM on March 28, 2018
I think storage depends on situation. As has been pointed out above, there can be some good reasons to store things. But you have to perhaps limit how long you use this solution and be conscious of what you are doing instead of just passively storing shit forever and not thinking about it. Especially if your family is a bunch of hoarders like mine, unfortunately.
In my family we had a storage unit for like 20 years or so at least(?) that my grandfather had, he died and my mother ended up in charge of it and it took her...I don't even know how many years to actually get up the nerve to open it and deal with it. It was absolutely useless shit. I'm talking broken furniture way beyond repair, stolen shopping carts, moonshine or at least some kind of mystery liquid, NOTHING worth saving for one minute, much less paying for this for 20+ years to keep it. And she continued to pay for it for months on end while she slowly cleared it out finding "the proper places" to dispose of it all ("I have to recycle the metal!"), moving half the crap to a smaller space while she was removing it, and at one point I found out she was trying to wheel shopping carts ACROSS TRAIN TRACKS to try to "return" them to places where the stores had long gone out of business.
(So my family's crazy....)
I will give her credit for cleaning it out and finally stopping this madness, mind you, but really, there was no need for this level of cray-cray to go on for decades to SAVE THE CRAP.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:26 AM on March 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
In my family we had a storage unit for like 20 years or so at least(?) that my grandfather had, he died and my mother ended up in charge of it and it took her...I don't even know how many years to actually get up the nerve to open it and deal with it. It was absolutely useless shit. I'm talking broken furniture way beyond repair, stolen shopping carts, moonshine or at least some kind of mystery liquid, NOTHING worth saving for one minute, much less paying for this for 20+ years to keep it. And she continued to pay for it for months on end while she slowly cleared it out finding "the proper places" to dispose of it all ("I have to recycle the metal!"), moving half the crap to a smaller space while she was removing it, and at one point I found out she was trying to wheel shopping carts ACROSS TRAIN TRACKS to try to "return" them to places where the stores had long gone out of business.
(So my family's crazy....)
I will give her credit for cleaning it out and finally stopping this madness, mind you, but really, there was no need for this level of cray-cray to go on for decades to SAVE THE CRAP.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:26 AM on March 28, 2018 [8 favorites]
Yup, I've totally bought into this. I live in a teeny apartment in the now-gentrified area where I grew up, because I tried living in a bigger space elsewhere, and didn't have the emotional/social support I needed.
And I then needed to get a roommate, so now there is literally no place to keep my keyboard that I only use for concerts every 3-4 years, or my record collection (only a few dozen that are important to me), and my yarn/fabric stash, and a couple of bins of stuff from my childhood. It's not a ton of stuff, there are bigger units in the complex.
I'm still under the delusion that I'll find a partner someday and move to a bigger place, but until then, yup, long-term storage unit for me.
posted by Melismata at 7:31 AM on March 28, 2018
And I then needed to get a roommate, so now there is literally no place to keep my keyboard that I only use for concerts every 3-4 years, or my record collection (only a few dozen that are important to me), and my yarn/fabric stash, and a couple of bins of stuff from my childhood. It's not a ton of stuff, there are bigger units in the complex.
I'm still under the delusion that I'll find a partner someday and move to a bigger place, but until then, yup, long-term storage unit for me.
posted by Melismata at 7:31 AM on March 28, 2018
The solution isn't Get Rid Of Your Stuff. The solution is Buy Less
Well, if you already have Too Much Stuff, then maybe the answer is "both".
Mrs 43rd and I having a "Year of Not Buying Anything", which really means "no new stuff". Consumables are fine, as is maintenance and replacing essentials that wear out. But no new purchases, and if something breaks or wears out and isn't found to be essential, then it doesn't get replaced. It's an interesting experiment, and is definitely changing our attitudes.
At the same time, we're looking critically at what we have and don't use, and donating, selling, recycling or junking what is surplus. And that is also changing how we view "stuff". Once we've dealt with the stuff in plain view in the house I need to sort out the attic, and that's going to be a challenge, more because of the volume (and where it is stored) than anything.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 7:39 AM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Well, if you already have Too Much Stuff, then maybe the answer is "both".
Mrs 43rd and I having a "Year of Not Buying Anything", which really means "no new stuff". Consumables are fine, as is maintenance and replacing essentials that wear out. But no new purchases, and if something breaks or wears out and isn't found to be essential, then it doesn't get replaced. It's an interesting experiment, and is definitely changing our attitudes.
At the same time, we're looking critically at what we have and don't use, and donating, selling, recycling or junking what is surplus. And that is also changing how we view "stuff". Once we've dealt with the stuff in plain view in the house I need to sort out the attic, and that's going to be a challenge, more because of the volume (and where it is stored) than anything.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 7:39 AM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
asperity: They're a blight on usable, centrally located space, and encourage terrible habits, but they can be useful every now and then.
But when they're no longer useful as a development type, they have to be torn down to reuse the space, unlike most other building types. In other words, self-storage is the same sort of disposable culture that it generally* feeds (*with notable exceptions for people living in poverty, transitional situations, and some office purposes).
For those people who generally store too much stuff, my wife's family's adage may be helpful: three good moves or one good fire will help you pare down your collection of stuff. My wife's family was fortunate to be able to sever most of their attachments to stuff due to lots of moving, so she's much less sentimental about stuff than I am.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:39 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
But when they're no longer useful as a development type, they have to be torn down to reuse the space, unlike most other building types. In other words, self-storage is the same sort of disposable culture that it generally* feeds (*with notable exceptions for people living in poverty, transitional situations, and some office purposes).
For those people who generally store too much stuff, my wife's family's adage may be helpful: three good moves or one good fire will help you pare down your collection of stuff. My wife's family was fortunate to be able to sever most of their attachments to stuff due to lots of moving, so she's much less sentimental about stuff than I am.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:39 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
"Lots of clothes that aren't thread-bare or anything, but they're a couple years old so people got rid of them. "
I worked with a charity that sold donated clothes, and when a big pile of recent vintage, nearly-new clothes is donated, it's virtually always because someone got pregnant, someone gained or lost a lot of weight, or someone died. It's not because they're bored of their clothes from last year. "Bored of my clothes from last year" is higher-end and usually goes to consignment stores. Nearly-new adult clothing at a thrift store comes courtesy a medical crisis or major life change surprisingly often.
You do get a lot of children's clothes that are from this year and barely worn, but that's because children grow.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:53 AM on March 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
I worked with a charity that sold donated clothes, and when a big pile of recent vintage, nearly-new clothes is donated, it's virtually always because someone got pregnant, someone gained or lost a lot of weight, or someone died. It's not because they're bored of their clothes from last year. "Bored of my clothes from last year" is higher-end and usually goes to consignment stores. Nearly-new adult clothing at a thrift store comes courtesy a medical crisis or major life change surprisingly often.
You do get a lot of children's clothes that are from this year and barely worn, but that's because children grow.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:53 AM on March 28, 2018 [12 favorites]
The very rich don’t use these storage facilities much (if at all)
Anecdotally, I can say this does not seem true. I shared a storage space down at the old 7th/Townsend location in SF when we were going to Burning Man (large-scale artists definitely need storage for stuff), and I saw a good handful of vintage cars stored down there. Expensive hobbies require space (especially secret ones.)
The solution isn't Get Rid Of Your Stuff. The solution is Buy Less.
Think about kids' artwork. My kids built paper villages with paper families and refuse to recycle them (I do it anyway.) Kids' collections (my daughter collects fucking bottle caps she finds on the street). Kids in fucking general. Grandparents who buy too much shit and send it to you. I realized I am extremely privileged but truth is I don't buy much of anything and my house is still full of CRAP.
The solution is buy less, get rid of your old crap, and you'll still be drowning in junk. Look at our oceans. We are about to be buried in a flood of garbage.
Truth is (IMO) there are ALL kinds of good reasons for using a storage space (as elucidated above). People still hoard way too much stuff (myself included). So ... profit?
three good moves or one good fire will help you pare down your collection of stuff
I lost everything I owned in a fire. I wouldn't recommend it. What really hurt were the a) photos; b) artwork; c) personal gifts; d) the RECORDS! (i.e. everything non-replaceable.)
posted by mrgrimm at 9:28 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Anecdotally, I can say this does not seem true. I shared a storage space down at the old 7th/Townsend location in SF when we were going to Burning Man (large-scale artists definitely need storage for stuff), and I saw a good handful of vintage cars stored down there. Expensive hobbies require space (especially secret ones.)
The solution isn't Get Rid Of Your Stuff. The solution is Buy Less.
Think about kids' artwork. My kids built paper villages with paper families and refuse to recycle them (I do it anyway.) Kids' collections (my daughter collects fucking bottle caps she finds on the street). Kids in fucking general. Grandparents who buy too much shit and send it to you. I realized I am extremely privileged but truth is I don't buy much of anything and my house is still full of CRAP.
The solution is buy less, get rid of your old crap, and you'll still be drowning in junk. Look at our oceans. We are about to be buried in a flood of garbage.
Truth is (IMO) there are ALL kinds of good reasons for using a storage space (as elucidated above). People still hoard way too much stuff (myself included). So ... profit?
three good moves or one good fire will help you pare down your collection of stuff
I lost everything I owned in a fire. I wouldn't recommend it. What really hurt were the a) photos; b) artwork; c) personal gifts; d) the RECORDS! (i.e. everything non-replaceable.)
posted by mrgrimm at 9:28 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
I suspect a lot of business with small footprints (boutique stores) or no footprint (contractors) use them this way.
I use a storage unit as a warehouse for my business, and I regularly see several clothing boutiques and tradespeople doing the same. The facility also has a couple dozen offices that rent for less than the cost of a desk at a "hip" co-working space.
posted by bradf at 9:34 AM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
I use a storage unit as a warehouse for my business, and I regularly see several clothing boutiques and tradespeople doing the same. The facility also has a couple dozen offices that rent for less than the cost of a desk at a "hip" co-working space.
posted by bradf at 9:34 AM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Or is it that small companies use storage units as some kind of warehouse space?
There are absolutely companies using storage units for all kinds of things. I used one for storage, packing, and shipping at one point. In the same storage facility I saw an upholstery shop run out of several units (used not just storage but as workshop space) as well as a small retail clothing store (as in, the customers would literally come into the storage unit to buy things during certain open hours).
posted by enn at 9:39 AM on March 28, 2018
There are absolutely companies using storage units for all kinds of things. I used one for storage, packing, and shipping at one point. In the same storage facility I saw an upholstery shop run out of several units (used not just storage but as workshop space) as well as a small retail clothing store (as in, the customers would literally come into the storage unit to buy things during certain open hours).
posted by enn at 9:39 AM on March 28, 2018
My mom died while I was in college, and my grandmother died not long after. So at a very early age I had a 20x20 garage full of stuff. I kept it all because I thought that was what you were supposed to do (and I was under the mistaken belief that it was all worth something. As I discovered later, it was not. Even after asking everyone I knew (over the course of several years) I couldn't even give the good china away).
After I got married my husband and I were discussing the all the stuff and I commented that seeing it made me sad. He looked at me and said "why would you keep something around that makes you sad?". That comment started me on my decluttering journey. We got rid of about half of it then, and we've gone through two or three more rounds of decluttering since (as we've added children to our family). Each time I've determined that I *really need* the things I'm keeping, and with each subsequent round I ask myself why I thought I needed that thing so badly when I've not touched it since. I suppose it's a matter of good intentions, but still not getting around to using the thing.
The good news is, after the last round I can *finally* park my car in the garage. Twenty five years later.
By contrast, my dad and stepmom have been "working on" cleaning out a house for the last fifteen years. This does not even address the TWO storage units of useless crap that they also have and cannot afford. The reason they haven't gotten rid of anything is because my stepmom is desperately afraid of the rest of the family getting mad at her for getting rid of grandma's sentimental tchotchkes from when she lived in Germany for two years, seventy years ago. But they are approaching needing to sell the house now. I've advised her to tell the family to just come and pick everything up or risk losing it to an estate sale. But they expect her to function as the keeper of all things.
I think the best thing we can do is embrace the idea (and teach our kids) that our identities should not be so wrapped up in the things we own.
I think if our love language is gifts, we need to alter what we think of as gifts, and move towards normal consumables.
posted by vignettist at 9:47 AM on March 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
After I got married my husband and I were discussing the all the stuff and I commented that seeing it made me sad. He looked at me and said "why would you keep something around that makes you sad?". That comment started me on my decluttering journey. We got rid of about half of it then, and we've gone through two or three more rounds of decluttering since (as we've added children to our family). Each time I've determined that I *really need* the things I'm keeping, and with each subsequent round I ask myself why I thought I needed that thing so badly when I've not touched it since. I suppose it's a matter of good intentions, but still not getting around to using the thing.
The good news is, after the last round I can *finally* park my car in the garage. Twenty five years later.
By contrast, my dad and stepmom have been "working on" cleaning out a house for the last fifteen years. This does not even address the TWO storage units of useless crap that they also have and cannot afford. The reason they haven't gotten rid of anything is because my stepmom is desperately afraid of the rest of the family getting mad at her for getting rid of grandma's sentimental tchotchkes from when she lived in Germany for two years, seventy years ago. But they are approaching needing to sell the house now. I've advised her to tell the family to just come and pick everything up or risk losing it to an estate sale. But they expect her to function as the keeper of all things.
I think the best thing we can do is embrace the idea (and teach our kids) that our identities should not be so wrapped up in the things we own.
I think if our love language is gifts, we need to alter what we think of as gifts, and move towards normal consumables.
posted by vignettist at 9:47 AM on March 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
I suspect a lot of business with small footprints (boutique stores) or no footprint (contractors) use them this way.
Indeed. In downtown Toronto there is a relatively new 78-storey residential building with a commercial base: a bank, a big-box store or two, and a subterranean mall. The mall decided to try a new concept: what the developers term "retail condominiums" -- rather than renting, the commercial tenants own their units. Downtown real-estate being what it is, these units are all about 100-150 square feet, so it is only nail salons, cell phone repair places, and empty storefront after empty storefront with "For Sale" signs. Three years after opening, the commercial units in the mall are maybe 40% full, and the food court recently dwindled from two places to one.
I poked around this morning on Google Maps because I recalled that a few blocks away there was an early-20th century warehouse that had been turned into self-storage; perhaps the "retail condominium" people might use that. I learned that in the fifteen years since I moved away, the warehouse has been leveled and replaced with a twenty-storey condo, because of course it has.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:18 AM on March 28, 2018
Indeed. In downtown Toronto there is a relatively new 78-storey residential building with a commercial base: a bank, a big-box store or two, and a subterranean mall. The mall decided to try a new concept: what the developers term "retail condominiums" -- rather than renting, the commercial tenants own their units. Downtown real-estate being what it is, these units are all about 100-150 square feet, so it is only nail salons, cell phone repair places, and empty storefront after empty storefront with "For Sale" signs. Three years after opening, the commercial units in the mall are maybe 40% full, and the food court recently dwindled from two places to one.
I poked around this morning on Google Maps because I recalled that a few blocks away there was an early-20th century warehouse that had been turned into self-storage; perhaps the "retail condominium" people might use that. I learned that in the fifteen years since I moved away, the warehouse has been leveled and replaced with a twenty-storey condo, because of course it has.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:18 AM on March 28, 2018
Another weird thing I have experienced, is that when you decide to declutter your home and you give things away, there are people who will seem so pleased to get a free XYZ! And then they'll ask you to store it for them. They just don't get it.
They don't want an XYZ. They just want an option on an XYZ.
posted by theorique at 10:20 AM on March 28, 2018
They don't want an XYZ. They just want an option on an XYZ.
posted by theorique at 10:20 AM on March 28, 2018
Again, if it's something that makes you unhappy, then you should absolutely get rid of it. But bashing *other* people for what they store, to the point of dismissing the entire concept as "parasitical" "hoarding" etc... well, I think a whole lot of people are projecting their desires on other people. During my migratory period, my stuff went from storage, to cross-country moving van, to storage, to box room at house, to storage, before everything was finally unpacked and in one place. During that period some things came and went -- I gave the washer and dryer to my dad, the futon/couch was in times in use and other times stored, and so on -- but my books basically stayed in their boxes being moved from place to place for eight years. I pared them down when I moved here, and I'll probably pare them down more in the future, but it still makes me happy that I can reach up and pull down the same beloved copy of the Lord of the Rings that I got in elementary school. Not to mention the more practical fact that I still use the same quality set of pots and pans that I had at the beginning of that period, instead of throwing away and rebuying stuff.
posted by tavella at 10:30 AM on March 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by tavella at 10:30 AM on March 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
Until a couple of years ago, my parents owned and ran storage units. They started with 2 buildings, then a few years later expanded to add a few more. They were consistently at full capacity and kept a waiting list.
Many of their customers lived in a nearby trailer park, where you obviously don't have much storage. They also rented to several small businesses who stored equipment or excess inventory. A construction outfit had 5 of the larger units.
They rented outdoor parking spaces too, mostly RVs and boats but also a few project cars that the owner was planning to fix up.
All in all it was a pretty low-stress small business. They rarely had defaulters. They auctioned off maybe 10 units in the 20 years they ran the place. One of those units contained the ashes of the renter's grandparents. My father traced the family down to return the urn.
posted by Eddie Mars at 11:22 AM on March 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
Many of their customers lived in a nearby trailer park, where you obviously don't have much storage. They also rented to several small businesses who stored equipment or excess inventory. A construction outfit had 5 of the larger units.
They rented outdoor parking spaces too, mostly RVs and boats but also a few project cars that the owner was planning to fix up.
All in all it was a pretty low-stress small business. They rarely had defaulters. They auctioned off maybe 10 units in the 20 years they ran the place. One of those units contained the ashes of the renter's grandparents. My father traced the family down to return the urn.
posted by Eddie Mars at 11:22 AM on March 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
Investors see abandoned malls as a candidate for conversion into self-storage consumer cubby holes, a true full circle of consumerism.
My storage unit was in a former "sound" stage used to film the The Keystone Cops, Charlie Chaplin, Fatty Arbuckle, and others . Apparently the first enclosed film stage in history.
Looking at the "Present Day" photo on the wiki, looks like the transformation from stage building to storage unit building was pretty recent. I was was there 2015-2018.
posted by sideshow at 11:30 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
My storage unit was in a former "sound" stage used to film the The Keystone Cops, Charlie Chaplin, Fatty Arbuckle, and others . Apparently the first enclosed film stage in history.
Looking at the "Present Day" photo on the wiki, looks like the transformation from stage building to storage unit building was pretty recent. I was was there 2015-2018.
posted by sideshow at 11:30 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Reading this today is unusually sad for me, as we pack up our house to put it on the market. So many boxes, hauled down to the storage unit.
As a book collector I reserve a special hate for Marie Kondo.
posted by doctornemo at 12:15 PM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
As a book collector I reserve a special hate for Marie Kondo.
posted by doctornemo at 12:15 PM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
As a book collector I reserve a special hate for Marie Kondo
I've found her to be a bit of a boon as people get rid of their collections . . .
posted by aspersioncast at 12:29 PM on March 28, 2018
I've found her to be a bit of a boon as people get rid of their collections . . .
posted by aspersioncast at 12:29 PM on March 28, 2018
As a book collector I reserve a special hate for Marie Kondo.
People who hate Marie Kondo misunderstand what she's saying, in my experience. And it's ironic that so often it's book-lovers railing against their misunderstanding of her book's message.
If your books give you joy, keep them. She's not saying "dump everything", she's saying to consider whether keeping the thing benefits you or drags you down.
Keep the books. Keep the overstuffed junk drawer, if that makes you happy. But if it doesn't? If you look at the garage full of boxes you stashed there after a parent's death and feel sad every time? Maybe it's time to let go of some of it.
posted by Lexica at 1:25 PM on March 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
People who hate Marie Kondo misunderstand what she's saying, in my experience. And it's ironic that so often it's book-lovers railing against their misunderstanding of her book's message.
If your books give you joy, keep them. She's not saying "dump everything", she's saying to consider whether keeping the thing benefits you or drags you down.
Keep the books. Keep the overstuffed junk drawer, if that makes you happy. But if it doesn't? If you look at the garage full of boxes you stashed there after a parent's death and feel sad every time? Maybe it's time to let go of some of it.
posted by Lexica at 1:25 PM on March 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
I got rid of my copy of Marie Kondo.
posted by elizilla at 2:35 PM on March 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by elizilla at 2:35 PM on March 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
IIRC, she encourages us to do that, too.
posted by asperity at 2:52 PM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by asperity at 2:52 PM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Except "makes you happy" is really kind of a silly standard. I mean, if you *have* to reduce your possessions to a handful for some outside reason, it becomes reasonable, but for daily living? No. My pots and pans don't make me "happy", they just do their jobs well and I prefer not dumping and rebuying them every time I'm in between long term residences. My clothes don't make me "happy", apart from maybe one or two t-shirts that specially amuse me, but they do their job and fit, which is what I care about.
posted by tavella at 3:12 PM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by tavella at 3:12 PM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
I got rid of my copy of Marie Kondo.
Awesome! Much as how in Zen once you reach the opposite shore there's no reason to keep lugging the raft along with you, if you've gotten what you needed from her books there's no reason to keep them.
My pots and pans don't make me "happy", they just do their jobs well and I prefer not dumping and rebuying them every time I'm in between long term residences
She directly addresses this quibble, which is based on misunderstanding what she means by "brings joy". To paraphrase from memory, your winter boots may not "bring you joy" in the same way that a beautiful sunrise or a baby's laugh or a purring cat does, but does having warm, dry feet during winter give you more joy than having cold, soggy feet? Then keep the boots.
Speaking of clothes, I've managed to get my wardrobe to the point where most of it does bring me joy. This shirt makes me smile. That one is warm and cozy and looks good on me. Those pants are comfortable and fit well. That's joy in a moment-by-moment kind of way.
posted by Lexica at 3:43 PM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Awesome! Much as how in Zen once you reach the opposite shore there's no reason to keep lugging the raft along with you, if you've gotten what you needed from her books there's no reason to keep them.
My pots and pans don't make me "happy", they just do their jobs well and I prefer not dumping and rebuying them every time I'm in between long term residences
She directly addresses this quibble, which is based on misunderstanding what she means by "brings joy". To paraphrase from memory, your winter boots may not "bring you joy" in the same way that a beautiful sunrise or a baby's laugh or a purring cat does, but does having warm, dry feet during winter give you more joy than having cold, soggy feet? Then keep the boots.
Speaking of clothes, I've managed to get my wardrobe to the point where most of it does bring me joy. This shirt makes me smile. That one is warm and cozy and looks good on me. Those pants are comfortable and fit well. That's joy in a moment-by-moment kind of way.
posted by Lexica at 3:43 PM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
I've never understood self storage as a concept. If you have to pay someone to keep your stuff where you never see it, you don't need that stuff. Obvious exceptions for short term storage for practical reasons. I recently sold a house with ~20 years of accumulated stuff and I threw 90% of it away.
Then you've never been temporarily homeless or nearly homeless. A lot of things that don't make any sense in America become more obvious if you are poor.
Example, where does a homeless person store their personal belongings, old photos, family mementos, etc? They certainly can't carry them around, so self storage, or safety deposit boxes, are the only reliable way to protect what belongings they have left.
I did in fact grow up what I would now consider poor, but at the time did not realize was poor. I was always housed in childhood though. However I was homeless for a few months in my 20's when I moved to California on a whim. I lived in my shitty Ford Escort and squatted in an unoccupied unfurnished apartment near Macarthur Park. I was privileged in that many of my belongings stayed behind in my family's home in New Jersey and I always knew I had backup in friends and family if things got really desperate.
My view on this has also definitely been skewed by how often I have moved house as an adult (more than 10 times, most recently 3 times in a single year) as well as by having to essentially take all of my mother's belongings last year and decide what to throw away or keep. Again, I was privileged in that my mother's family is large and was able to divide sentimental items among them. But, I've learned to not get attached to my belongings and to be ruthless in throwing away junk. I mean, I still have a lot of junk, but it all fits in my studio apartment and I'm not buried in it.
I'm sure there are many situations where it makes sense to store some items of high dollar or sentimental value because your circumstances have changed. But, I think people are also just storing straight up worthless junk. I get that that's a value judgement as well though. One man's trash, etc. Storage units aren't even in the top ten of the category 'Things Everyone Seems To Understand But That Totally Baffle RuncibleShaw'. (#1 is loyalty to professional sports teams)
Also, Sobell, I think you missed the part where I wrote, "Obvious exceptions for short term storage for practical reasons." Cheers.
posted by runcibleshaw at 6:48 PM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Then you've never been temporarily homeless or nearly homeless. A lot of things that don't make any sense in America become more obvious if you are poor.
Example, where does a homeless person store their personal belongings, old photos, family mementos, etc? They certainly can't carry them around, so self storage, or safety deposit boxes, are the only reliable way to protect what belongings they have left.
I did in fact grow up what I would now consider poor, but at the time did not realize was poor. I was always housed in childhood though. However I was homeless for a few months in my 20's when I moved to California on a whim. I lived in my shitty Ford Escort and squatted in an unoccupied unfurnished apartment near Macarthur Park. I was privileged in that many of my belongings stayed behind in my family's home in New Jersey and I always knew I had backup in friends and family if things got really desperate.
My view on this has also definitely been skewed by how often I have moved house as an adult (more than 10 times, most recently 3 times in a single year) as well as by having to essentially take all of my mother's belongings last year and decide what to throw away or keep. Again, I was privileged in that my mother's family is large and was able to divide sentimental items among them. But, I've learned to not get attached to my belongings and to be ruthless in throwing away junk. I mean, I still have a lot of junk, but it all fits in my studio apartment and I'm not buried in it.
I'm sure there are many situations where it makes sense to store some items of high dollar or sentimental value because your circumstances have changed. But, I think people are also just storing straight up worthless junk. I get that that's a value judgement as well though. One man's trash, etc. Storage units aren't even in the top ten of the category 'Things Everyone Seems To Understand But That Totally Baffle RuncibleShaw'. (#1 is loyalty to professional sports teams)
Also, Sobell, I think you missed the part where I wrote, "Obvious exceptions for short term storage for practical reasons." Cheers.
posted by runcibleshaw at 6:48 PM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
If you were going t stop paying your storage bill why not collect your gold bars first?
Jail, sudden lack of money before you can get to it and then your time is up, death...
posted by complaina at 7:37 PM on March 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
Jail, sudden lack of money before you can get to it and then your time is up, death...
posted by complaina at 7:37 PM on March 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
What I don't understand is the people that don't pay their fees on storage units with very valuable stuff in it.
They don't have any money? They got sick?
If you were going t stop paying your storage bill why not collect your gold bars first?
Maybe they didn't even realize there was gold in the unit, like they had had a hoarder relative's stuff packed up and stored because it seemed wrong to just throw it out.
Of course, maybe the renter is spending some "time" somewhere and either wasn't able to keep up the payments or (if the gold was obtained by something other than legit means) felt s/he was already in enough hot water without having to deal with any additional charges. (You know that some thief, somewhere, has used a storage space to store their loot).
Or, more likely, the renter could have simply died and the surviving relatives either didn't know about or didn't have the wherewithal to deal with the unit.
posted by gtrwolf at 8:24 PM on March 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
You always hear about people from the Depression saving everything, and my grandmother was the type to save the box from the frozen spinach and use it to hold cookies to give to the mailman at Christmas. But, as noted above, the need for storage doesn't square with the fact that the per capita square footage of American homes has essentially doubled since the children of the Depression started buying houses. The need for storage has increased right along with the storage in our homes, which implies that stuff is actually multiplying!
posted by wnissen at 10:22 AM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by wnissen at 10:22 AM on March 29, 2018 [1 favorite]
My understanding is that Kondo wants us to retain objects that give us joy, not merely happiness.
I can't say every item in my library gives me joy. Some are useful. Some are memory holders. Others are potential. Still others make me happy.
posted by doctornemo at 6:00 PM on March 29, 2018
I can't say every item in my library gives me joy. Some are useful. Some are memory holders. Others are potential. Still others make me happy.
posted by doctornemo at 6:00 PM on March 29, 2018
" No. My pots and pans don't make me "happy", they just do their jobs well and I prefer not dumping and rebuying them every time I'm in between long term residences."
yeah, you gotta read the book! Pots that do their jobs well absolutely fit her definition of bringing joy. She's very clear about that! She talks about joyful screwdrivers!
Some people find it useful to rephrase it into William Morris's "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." Same thing. Kondo thinks stuff can bring you joy if it's useful, or beautiful, or beloved (sentimental stuff), not just if it's like an ecstatically wonderful vacuum. A vacuum that does a good job is fine! A vacuum that upsets you every time you use it because it's a terrible vacuum is not fine and if you can replace it, you should. But a vacuum that just vacuums like it's supposed to is fine, you don't need a fancy-ass overdesigned pretty vacuum, just one that brings you satisfaction (or "joy") because it does its job well.
My dustbuster brings me a lot of Kondo-defined joy because it cleans up messes. It's just a dustbuster. It's not all that pretty. But in 60 seconds with my dustbuster, it can get my kids' mess up so that I can have guests over without cooking crumbs everywhere. That's not fancy, it's not a gorgeous piece of design, but it fits in the spot I have for it and it does its job well, and doing its job allows me to do other things I want to do (have friends over to a nice house), so it brings me joy.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:41 PM on March 29, 2018 [6 favorites]
yeah, you gotta read the book! Pots that do their jobs well absolutely fit her definition of bringing joy. She's very clear about that! She talks about joyful screwdrivers!
Some people find it useful to rephrase it into William Morris's "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." Same thing. Kondo thinks stuff can bring you joy if it's useful, or beautiful, or beloved (sentimental stuff), not just if it's like an ecstatically wonderful vacuum. A vacuum that does a good job is fine! A vacuum that upsets you every time you use it because it's a terrible vacuum is not fine and if you can replace it, you should. But a vacuum that just vacuums like it's supposed to is fine, you don't need a fancy-ass overdesigned pretty vacuum, just one that brings you satisfaction (or "joy") because it does its job well.
My dustbuster brings me a lot of Kondo-defined joy because it cleans up messes. It's just a dustbuster. It's not all that pretty. But in 60 seconds with my dustbuster, it can get my kids' mess up so that I can have guests over without cooking crumbs everywhere. That's not fancy, it's not a gorgeous piece of design, but it fits in the spot I have for it and it does its job well, and doing its job allows me to do other things I want to do (have friends over to a nice house), so it brings me joy.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:41 PM on March 29, 2018 [6 favorites]
I know a couple who met and combined households in the middle of life. They were able to compromise on which of their possessions became part of their combined life, but they also ended up with two large storage units full of all their other stuff that they didn't want to get rid of. It's been in storage, untouched, for more than 14 years now, and will probably end up being a problem for their children to solve.
Temporary can turn into long term, without people planning or intending for that to happen.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:37 AM on March 31, 2018
Temporary can turn into long term, without people planning or intending for that to happen.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:37 AM on March 31, 2018
You always hear about people from the Depression saving everything, and my grandmother was the type to save the box from the frozen spinach and use it to hold cookies to give to the mailman at Christmas.
Back when margarine first went on the market, the Dairy Council or some other powerful dairy lobby got regulations passed that artificial coloring couldn't be added to it. They figured if it looked less like butter, people would be less likely to buy it. So, margarine came with a little packet of yellow food coloring you'd mix in yourself after you bought it and got it home. About 20 years after the dye ban was lifted, dad found a whole drawer full of unused dye packets in his mother's kitchen.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:15 AM on March 31, 2018
Back when margarine first went on the market, the Dairy Council or some other powerful dairy lobby got regulations passed that artificial coloring couldn't be added to it. They figured if it looked less like butter, people would be less likely to buy it. So, margarine came with a little packet of yellow food coloring you'd mix in yourself after you bought it and got it home. About 20 years after the dye ban was lifted, dad found a whole drawer full of unused dye packets in his mother's kitchen.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:15 AM on March 31, 2018
« Older Poem: I lik the form | Today it is us. Tomorrow it will be you. Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by runcibleshaw at 7:39 PM on March 27, 2018 [6 favorites]