By Maureen Winer
Most of us have something that we feel we can not possibly part with, especially when it has deep sentimental meaning. Such is the case of my brother-in-law, Bill*. Bill is an intellectual and has held prestigious positions at a few well-known universities, including one in Baltimore. Bill has established one of the most renowned prestigious world education programs through Oxford University. But Bill has a secret: he likes to store things.
Bill’s storage habit began innocently enough when he left Chicago to take a position in the northeastern part of the country. He was only going to be there for a couple of years, so he stored many of his things. He especially wanted to keep a number of treasured items from his deceased parents’ home in the Chicago area. As his career took off, Bill moved from University to University, with storage units in each location as he left to go to the next.
Then Bill married my sister-in-law, Carol*. Carol had lived in Manhattan for over 30 years and was living in a one-bedroom apartment when the two of them got married. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Oxford for two years while Bill worked on his project, returning occasionally to their apartment in Manhattan. When they came back to Manhattan for good, they left behind – you guessed it, a storage unit in Oxford!
By this time, the cost of having six storage units was getting out of hand. His total storage costs to-date were more than $15,000. Bill also enjoyed visiting his storage units on occasion, just to remind himself of what he had and so, added to his $15,000 storage bills were costs of airfare and hotels.
Recognizing the need to cut down on their costs, Bill and Carol decided to consolidate a couple of units. They flew to Chicago and rented a moving van. As Carol was going through some of the smaller items, Bill was moving things onto the van. Looking into the van Carol gasped in disbelief. Staring back her in the midst of all their boxes were the laughing green eyes of a half-bodied Styrofoam Jolly Green Giant! Surely Bill was just toying with her. Carol was deadly calm, but quite emphatic at this point; “It cannot go with us.” Round and round they went about how Jolly had been in the rectory at his parent’s church and what a great thing to have if they ever bought a house in upstate New York. His mother got him from a local grocery store that had him on display for a promotion. It gave Bill such comfort to have Jolly because he reminded him of his mother’s great sense of humor. Carol eventually prevailed, but only after threatening divorce. They found a home for it with a friend of the family. Now, Carol and Bill only have four storage units (including the one in Oxford).
What do you have that is keeping you from moving on? Are you paying to store it? Bill’s Jolly Green Giant was not only ugly (it was originally all green, but when someone borrowed it, he painted part of it flesh colored), but it served no real purpose. When does the cost to store items exceed their value, financially and emotionally?
There are over 8,000 moving and storage companies in the United States with an annual revenue of over $13 Billion. There are over 4,500 storage companies in the United States for documents (such as Iron Mountain), and self-storage (such as Storage USA), with a combined annual revenue of over $20 Billion. I suggest a new stimulus package, one that doesn’t rely on anyone but you. Purge, digitize documents, sell what you really don’t need and give yourself a raise! Parting with Possessions can help you know what your things are worth and how to sell them so you can put some money in your pockets.
* Names in this article have been changed to provide anonymity, although the photograph protects no one.
