Never again: Self-storage rental

Reading a story about how the foreclosure crisis is impacting other industries reminded me that several years ago I made a thousand dollar mistake. That's right--I rented a self-storage unit for just a few months. And as anyone who has ever rented a self-storage unit can attest, a few months can quickly turn into a year or longer.

For reasons I believe involved an offer of a free month's rent as well as a plan to clear out part of our basement in preparation for an upcoming yard sale, my wife and I signed the paperwork to rent a unit for $99 a month and filled up our temporary garage. We moved furniture, full-size arcade games, unused equipment from my wife's former startup business, and building materials for our rental properties. I recall the warm and fuzzy feeling of being able to park a car in one bay of our drive-under garage. Of course we still had too much crap to be able to park both cars in the garage, but it was a start.

And then I'm sure that life just got in the way. A year later I moved whatever hadn't sold back into the basement, where I'm sure it is again collecting dust. There is no longer room to park a car in the garage, but one day I will reclaim the basement and the garage with the help of eBay and Craigslist. Soon, I hope!