I made a shocking discovery recently: when your kids grow up and move out, they don’t take their stuff with them. Oh sure, they take the Xbox and all your good wine glasses, but the lifetime supply of Legos and their soccer trophies? Not so much.
To be fair, it is tough when you are first starting out in life. When you are living in a one bedroom apartment, you simply don’t have the room to take possession of all your childhood memories. Not to mention the fact that it is difficult for young people to know what keepsakes they will find most meaningful years from now. But I did see one really valuable piece of advice on this website about simplifying: the fewer things you keep, the more special they are. When your grandmother gives you a small keepsake box filled with precious memories she wants to share with you, it is a very moving moment. If, on the other hand, she has to have a forklift drop a packing crate on your front lawn filled with her precious memories … hmm, not the same thing at all.
Nevertheless, kids have a way of postponing the decision. And implicit in their postponement is a certain disregard for your wish to declutter your own space.
I heard about a great example of tough love the other day. The parents of an adult child who seemed to be using their home as his own personal off-site storage solution politely informed him that they would be moving all of his belongings into a real storage unit – they would even pay for the first three months of rental fees. After that, it was up to him. A generous but firm response to the dilemma, one where everyone wins. You get your space, they get to keep their stuff. And if they find that a 10×10 storage unit is a little more pricey than they can afford right now, then it is time for them to take a good look through the boxes of their childhood and make some tough decisions. Then they can downsize to a 5×5!
If you find yourself in this situation and you live in the Phoenix area, the Tucson area, the Los Angeles area, or the Las Vegas area, Dollar Self Storage may be able to help you mend this sore spot in your relationship with your otherwise outstanding offspring. Because we want our homes to be a safe haven for our adult children – they just can’t bring their stuff.
It can be tough if your kids use your house as a storage unit. You can either decide to get rid of it, or maybe just get rid of some of it. I think it could be good to let them get a real storage unit until they have a bigger place of their own. That way they can still keep stuff from their younger years that they feel is important.
I really appreciate that you actually highlighted the point of the less things that we keep, the more special they are. As a person that used to save everything, I can attest to the fact that I was basically a junk collector. If I am going to use a storage unit, I better be storing things that absolutely have long term value.
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I need to get a storage unit temporarily. We are renovating the rooms in our home one by one and need somewhere to put each rooms’ contents. Are most storage unit places 24 hours?
My parents actually just gave me all of my boxes that I was keeping at their place. It was kind of fun to go through the boxes and see some of the stuff from my childhood. However, It does bring up the point of where am I going to put all of these things. Some things are cool enough and sentimental enough that I want to hang onto them. I may need to look at renting a mini self storage unit.