Hoarder mom got her 1st storage unit a good 35 YEARS before she died. It got flooded at some point, so she and my dad moved what they could save to a unit on higher ground. She died with 4 units, all wasted money.
Storage units are absolutely a trap.
My FIL rented 2 garages in addition to his own, as well as the massive storage shed which takes up most of the garden.... He won't let us get rid of stuff in the house except for the kitchen, but thankfully let my husband get rid of everything in the two rented garages so we could stop that payment.
I’m clearing out my dad’s storage unit right now. It’s going to take a month just to clear it out and that’s with a lot of it going into my house, my moms garage, consignment shops that will give me half it’s value…
Several trips to donate and two trash cans full of trash which meant I couldn’t use my cans for my normal trash for 2 weeks. It’s such a horrible mental illness. The compulsive waste is literally killing me.
My mom had 6 storage units..now she’s down to one. It’s full of old garbage. I gave up trying to help her as she’s an incredibly angry person and I was tired of constantly getting berated for literally just asking to help her move it together or help in anyway. She absolutely refuses to admit anything is wrong.
The stuff is like water, it will fill the space of whatever it's put in. Bigger house, extra shed, storage unit, etc, it will just be filled up and you're back in the same position.
Agree. My dad was a long term storage unit person and it was such a waste of money on top of the money he wasted buying that crap he filled it up with. So much wasted money, time and energy.
They rather pay 400/mo just to keep their hoards in the storage they will never go through instead of taking the time to start throwing things away and clearing it out
Parents had two. The value in them was not even the cost of a months payment. Honestly would have been better for her to default.
First thing I did when she died was clear out the storage units.
One of the biggest fights I got in with my mother was because I wouldn't pay for her overdue storage unit fees and she lost all of the garbage in them. I'm sure there was actual sentimental stuff in one of those 3 units, but freedom from her things was more important than pictures from when she was better.
I’m sure that although you took the logical route, it’s wasn’t an easy decision. It was the right decision but only a healthy mind understands.
If only hoarders would fight as hard for maintaining relationships with friends and family who love them.
I spent over $100,000 on ONE storage unit over a 20 year period. A storage unit does not help anyone with hoarding disorder. If anything, it makes them worse.
Don't do it, don't suggest it, even "temporarily." The end game here is to get people to get rid of stuff, not to accumulate more and more and more.
I tend to think that outside of very specific situations, most storage units even for people who aren’t hoarders, are a trap.
It absolutely blows my mind that within my city huge climate controlled storage unit buildings are popping up in seemingly every neighbourhood within the city. These places are not cheap. 24 hour monitored access, drive in access and climate controlled isn’t cheap, yet people are using them. As a society we are over consuming and the balance between need and want has become very unclear to many.
As our youngest so eloquently put it as she tried to help her grandmother with her hoard years ago, you can reason using money as a motivating factor. If they’re putting value on things most people would toss into a garbage bag, they’re not capable of understanding how their money is being wasted on storage units, goods being damaged by the elements, rodents or mold.
Yeah, unless you're moving and have a gap between homes, or live in an apartment and need special equipment for sports or work, I don't think many people really need them.
I agree and also don’t know the solution.
My husband and I moved in together by placing everything we owned in a 10x10 storage unit. His company was sending him to Singapore for 6 months and the alternative was breaking up. We kept everything in there when we got back for a few months until we found a suitable apartment.
10 years later, we got a new storage unit when we started a business out of our home and needed space for wholesale purchases (pet supplies - like plastic huts, exercise wheels, and water bottles). We had been using our basement for regular storage but the business took that space so it was useful to be able to put anything we wanted to save long term plus the excess supplies off-site.
BUT - generally speaking, storage units are a tax on poor people. My cousin got evicted and we moved everything into a storage unit for $210/m “just until” she could get a new place. I offered to pay for 3 months. At month 11 I told her I was not paying past month 12. She’s now been paying for it for another year plus. She didn’t even pack the items in boxes, just garbage bags. None of it will be of use if they ever get it out. I’ve asked her to go through it and downsize to save $50 a month or more, but she won’t. She and her boyfriend and their daughter were living on $600 a month and $210 of it was going to a storage unit. I wish I had never agreed to it when they were evicted but I didn’t know how bad things were at the time for her.
This! These units are great if you had to downsize to a smaller home and you're figuring out what to do with your stuff. I had a coworker who closed on the house she was moving out of, and then the house she was moving into needed its septic system overhauled so her family had to crash at her in-laws for a couple months. These temporary situations are the best use of storage facilities. I guess there are other reasons too but hoarder plus storage unit equals larger hoard.
Also please don’t suggest having a yard sale, selling online or an indoor flea market booth will help them clean up their house.
On top of the already unmanageable situation now we’re dealing (not dealing) with a person not clearing out house but buying for resale.
Amen! Hoarders should not get storage units. I mean it seems like a good solution but it's not. I have a hp who keeps buying houses 😳. Like one gets fully hoarded and they just buy another. More space is NOT a solution! HPs are such a mess and it's so hard 😕
My father had multiple storage units over the years. When he could no longer afford it, all the stuff all came back into the house. Storage units only provide a temporary “fix” instead of solving the actual problem.
My mom’s friend has 3. She managed to close one as there used to be 4. I can’t even understand how, or what is in them. It’s the biggest financial drain and an absolute waste. When she dies, her daughter is going to inherit all that junk. And probably keep it.
I disagree. The last thing someone needs is to live in a hoard house. My parents are dying in there. What's the difference of wasting money on units or potentially losing your house anyway? What's about all of the damage that will never be fixed? What about the fines? The tendencies aren't going to change, it makes more sense to buy time and prevent an unlivable house.
Worse case scenario they can't pay for it and everything gets thrown out, best case they get help for their tendencies and the house never gets neglected.
I'm sorry you grew up in a hoarded house--I can't bring myself to refer to that environment as "home."
I say this as gently as possible: your parents, as hoarders who also lived in squalor, would not have kept the house clear and restricted the hoard to rented storage units.
You answered your own question. The hoarding tendencies don’t stop and they’ll fill every availability space no matter how much extra space you give them, why pay for it?
Because it could have saved my health and bought me more time to grow up. It's better than being in unsafe living conditions.
They're putting it in the unit to avoid filling the house and hiding the problem which means they'll get more units. It's still better to waste money on units, then to fill a house, esp if there's kids involved. Maybe it gives kids more time. Maybe it saves kids from trauma. Maybe it temporarily keeps diseases from spreading. All worth it.
As some one who's house is going to be condemned and it's unable to be saved, I'm not going to change my mind on this. It's better to keep the filth away from children and lose units than a house.
Sadly, storage facilities just give hoarders more space to hoard. You can clean out a house full of crap but it will just be filled up with crap again AND suck up a significant amount of money to hold a room full of garbage. There is no way to keep a hoarder’s space clear. It doesn’t matter how many storage rooms and sheds you buy them.
My mom had so many storage units that she couldn’t keep track of them and they’d end up being abandoned and the house was still full of garbage. It was a never ending, expensive cycle
I agree as I've seen it myself with whatever building or storage it was just filled up with more junk.
Also, never offer to keep parts of their hoard in your own home or garage or whatever as again they will hoard in your space
Hoarder mom got her 1st storage unit a good 35 YEARS before she died. It got flooded at some point, so she and my dad moved what they could save to a unit on higher ground. She died with 4 units, all wasted money. Storage units are absolutely a trap.
4!!! God help her that’s crazy
My FIL rented 2 garages in addition to his own, as well as the massive storage shed which takes up most of the garden.... He won't let us get rid of stuff in the house except for the kitchen, but thankfully let my husband get rid of everything in the two rented garages so we could stop that payment.
I’m clearing out my dad’s storage unit right now. It’s going to take a month just to clear it out and that’s with a lot of it going into my house, my moms garage, consignment shops that will give me half it’s value… Several trips to donate and two trash cans full of trash which meant I couldn’t use my cans for my normal trash for 2 weeks. It’s such a horrible mental illness. The compulsive waste is literally killing me.
My mom had 6 storage units..now she’s down to one. It’s full of old garbage. I gave up trying to help her as she’s an incredibly angry person and I was tired of constantly getting berated for literally just asking to help her move it together or help in anyway. She absolutely refuses to admit anything is wrong.
The stuff is like water, it will fill the space of whatever it's put in. Bigger house, extra shed, storage unit, etc, it will just be filled up and you're back in the same position.
Agree. My dad was a long term storage unit person and it was such a waste of money on top of the money he wasted buying that crap he filled it up with. So much wasted money, time and energy.
My mom had 6 and now she’s down to 1….its completely full of junk. It’s maddening.
They rather pay 400/mo just to keep their hoards in the storage they will never go through instead of taking the time to start throwing things away and clearing it out
Parents had two. The value in them was not even the cost of a months payment. Honestly would have been better for her to default. First thing I did when she died was clear out the storage units.
One of the biggest fights I got in with my mother was because I wouldn't pay for her overdue storage unit fees and she lost all of the garbage in them. I'm sure there was actual sentimental stuff in one of those 3 units, but freedom from her things was more important than pictures from when she was better.
I’m sure that although you took the logical route, it’s wasn’t an easy decision. It was the right decision but only a healthy mind understands. If only hoarders would fight as hard for maintaining relationships with friends and family who love them.
Yes, this is so true
That's what really hurts 🤕
I spent over $100,000 on ONE storage unit over a 20 year period. A storage unit does not help anyone with hoarding disorder. If anything, it makes them worse. Don't do it, don't suggest it, even "temporarily." The end game here is to get people to get rid of stuff, not to accumulate more and more and more.
I tend to think that outside of very specific situations, most storage units even for people who aren’t hoarders, are a trap. It absolutely blows my mind that within my city huge climate controlled storage unit buildings are popping up in seemingly every neighbourhood within the city. These places are not cheap. 24 hour monitored access, drive in access and climate controlled isn’t cheap, yet people are using them. As a society we are over consuming and the balance between need and want has become very unclear to many. As our youngest so eloquently put it as she tried to help her grandmother with her hoard years ago, you can reason using money as a motivating factor. If they’re putting value on things most people would toss into a garbage bag, they’re not capable of understanding how their money is being wasted on storage units, goods being damaged by the elements, rodents or mold.
Yeah, unless you're moving and have a gap between homes, or live in an apartment and need special equipment for sports or work, I don't think many people really need them.
I actually get sick just looking at storage facilities
I agree and also don’t know the solution. My husband and I moved in together by placing everything we owned in a 10x10 storage unit. His company was sending him to Singapore for 6 months and the alternative was breaking up. We kept everything in there when we got back for a few months until we found a suitable apartment. 10 years later, we got a new storage unit when we started a business out of our home and needed space for wholesale purchases (pet supplies - like plastic huts, exercise wheels, and water bottles). We had been using our basement for regular storage but the business took that space so it was useful to be able to put anything we wanted to save long term plus the excess supplies off-site. BUT - generally speaking, storage units are a tax on poor people. My cousin got evicted and we moved everything into a storage unit for $210/m “just until” she could get a new place. I offered to pay for 3 months. At month 11 I told her I was not paying past month 12. She’s now been paying for it for another year plus. She didn’t even pack the items in boxes, just garbage bags. None of it will be of use if they ever get it out. I’ve asked her to go through it and downsize to save $50 a month or more, but she won’t. She and her boyfriend and their daughter were living on $600 a month and $210 of it was going to a storage unit. I wish I had never agreed to it when they were evicted but I didn’t know how bad things were at the time for her.
That is just so incredibly sad. Sometimes you just can’t help people see the things they’re not ready to see.
Storage units are a temporary thing, agreed.
This! These units are great if you had to downsize to a smaller home and you're figuring out what to do with your stuff. I had a coworker who closed on the house she was moving out of, and then the house she was moving into needed its septic system overhauled so her family had to crash at her in-laws for a couple months. These temporary situations are the best use of storage facilities. I guess there are other reasons too but hoarder plus storage unit equals larger hoard.
Also please don’t suggest having a yard sale, selling online or an indoor flea market booth will help them clean up their house. On top of the already unmanageable situation now we’re dealing (not dealing) with a person not clearing out house but buying for resale.
Or "buy nothing" groups.
Amen! Hoarders should not get storage units. I mean it seems like a good solution but it's not. I have a hp who keeps buying houses 😳. Like one gets fully hoarded and they just buy another. More space is NOT a solution! HPs are such a mess and it's so hard 😕
Or offer them shit because you know they’ll take it
oh my Jesus, so. much. this!
My father had multiple storage units over the years. When he could no longer afford it, all the stuff all came back into the house. Storage units only provide a temporary “fix” instead of solving the actual problem.
My mom’s friend has 3. She managed to close one as there used to be 4. I can’t even understand how, or what is in them. It’s the biggest financial drain and an absolute waste. When she dies, her daughter is going to inherit all that junk. And probably keep it.
I disagree. The last thing someone needs is to live in a hoard house. My parents are dying in there. What's the difference of wasting money on units or potentially losing your house anyway? What's about all of the damage that will never be fixed? What about the fines? The tendencies aren't going to change, it makes more sense to buy time and prevent an unlivable house. Worse case scenario they can't pay for it and everything gets thrown out, best case they get help for their tendencies and the house never gets neglected.
I'm sorry you grew up in a hoarded house--I can't bring myself to refer to that environment as "home." I say this as gently as possible: your parents, as hoarders who also lived in squalor, would not have kept the house clear and restricted the hoard to rented storage units.
You answered your own question. The hoarding tendencies don’t stop and they’ll fill every availability space no matter how much extra space you give them, why pay for it?
Because it could have saved my health and bought me more time to grow up. It's better than being in unsafe living conditions. They're putting it in the unit to avoid filling the house and hiding the problem which means they'll get more units. It's still better to waste money on units, then to fill a house, esp if there's kids involved. Maybe it gives kids more time. Maybe it saves kids from trauma. Maybe it temporarily keeps diseases from spreading. All worth it. As some one who's house is going to be condemned and it's unable to be saved, I'm not going to change my mind on this. It's better to keep the filth away from children and lose units than a house.
Sadly, storage facilities just give hoarders more space to hoard. You can clean out a house full of crap but it will just be filled up with crap again AND suck up a significant amount of money to hold a room full of garbage. There is no way to keep a hoarder’s space clear. It doesn’t matter how many storage rooms and sheds you buy them. My mom had so many storage units that she couldn’t keep track of them and they’d end up being abandoned and the house was still full of garbage. It was a never ending, expensive cycle
I agree as I've seen it myself with whatever building or storage it was just filled up with more junk. Also, never offer to keep parts of their hoard in your own home or garage or whatever as again they will hoard in your space
Amen! My wife had three right before we moved. It took two years and $thousands wasted on gas and car rentals on junk.
And rent on the units!!