Where do you store your stuff?

Life has left us with a lot of stuff. No matter how much of it we sell or give away, we will still be left with a lot more than will fit on any boat in our budget. There's a good chance that our boat era will span a time when we own no dirt home, making us live aboards.

I've used self storage places before, but they have to be packed and uppacked to move. It occurred to me that our stuff would surely fit in a 40 foot (or even a 20 foot) shipping container that could be stored in a lot somewhere and easily loaded on a truck for delivery to some future spot. Also occurred to me that our stuff would also fit in a semi trailer that would be even easier to haul to some future spot.

Where do you live aboads store your stuff if you don't have a dirt home?

George Carlin had it all figured out

HeadedToTexas said:

Life has left us with a lot of stuff. No matter how much of it we sell or give away, we will still be left with a lot more than will fit on any boat in our budget. There's a good chance that our boat era will span a time when we own no dirt home, making us live aboards.

I've used self storage places before, but they have to be packed and uppacked to move. It occurred to me that our stuff would surely fit in a 40 foot (or even a 20 foot) shipping container that could be stored in a lot somewhere and easily loaded on a truck for delivery to some future spot. Also occurred to me that our stuff would also fit in a semi trailer that would be even easier to haul to some future spot.

Where do you live aboads store your stuff if you don't have a dirt home?

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We are planning to move aboard full time this fall, selling our home. We have been downsizing for two years and have it pretty much done for what is going aboard.

When I went through all of our remaining stuff, all supposedly "too valuable" and couldn't possibly get rid of, I added it up and it would cost me somewhere around $5-6K to COMPLETELY REPLACE everything (we're LBYM folks). Moving all of it, paying $100-150/mo for what could be many years, and then moving it all again made no sense to me whatsoever. "Stuff" can be replaced. Instead, we are selling all the contents of our townhouse with it. Other stuff went to Goodwill.

We have three small office totes with sentimental stuff (kids, etc.), also carefully selected, and that is all that we'll have to find a place for.

What works for you may be different....

Hmmm, hadn't gotten that far yet, though it makes complete sense. If boat life doesn't capture us permanently, we intend to move on, not back "home." Starting over with what we save on storage and moving might be a good way to start. Interesting.

We had an estate sale and got rid of everything except the art, antiques, heirlooms and extremely valuable stuff. The math mentioned above really gets expensive, even in two years, which was our original plan. We liked the lifestyle and our boat so much that turned into 6+.

A container works if you find a cheap enough place to put it, but a lot of hassle both before and after.

Shed your burdens IMO makes you free.

john61ct said:

A container works if you find a cheap enough place to put it, but a lot of hassle both before and after.

Shed your burdens IMO makes you free.

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Oh, I forgot to mention that above!

Getting to this point is INCREDIBLY liberating!! We both feel fantastic having less.

caltexflanc said:

We liked the lifestyle and our boat so much that turned into 6+.

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That would be a great outcome, but it does accentuate the stuff storage problem. And the dirt home for that matter. Did you ever feel like knowing that dirt stuff was back there impacted your decision whether or not to stay on the boat?

HeadedToTexas said:

That would be a great outcome, but it does accentuate the stuff storage problem. And the dirt home for that matter. Did you ever feel like knowing that dirt stuff was back there impacted your decision whether or not to stay on the boat?

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We did our math based on 2 1/2 years.
And, no.

Also consider the things that can be ruined when subjected to the heat/cold/humidity in a storage container.
We downsized a few years ago and full timed in a motorhome for a couple years. Even with our furniture in a climate controlled storage container some of it was damaged. It would have been better and cheaper to buy new furniture.

folivier said:

Also consider the things that can be ruined when subjected to the heat/cold/humidity in a storage container.
We downsized a few years ago and full timed in a motorhome for a couple years. Even with our furniture in a climate controlled storage container some of it was damaged. It would have been better and cheaper to buy new furniture.

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Good point. We had an excellent moving and storage company who was very experienced in art and antiques. We were living in Dallas so temperature fluctuations were an important issue.

Everything came out fine 7 years later when we unloaded it in North Carolina.

Having cleared my fathers house, my mothers place and now our place, I can say that 99% of your stuff has no commercial or financial value. There are so many baby-boomers retiring and downsizing that the market is flooded with antiques and "brown" furniture. If your kids don't want your stuff even with sentimental connections, who else would? And who under the age 50 or so would want to have their home filled with granny furniture?

Even art can be problematic as fashions and tastes change, unless your pieces are by a known artist with a long track record of sales, especially recent sales, it too is worth lots less than you might think. Do not forget than insurance values are far removed from the price you will get at auction.

There were many pieces that Goodwill did not want since they were impossible to resell.

In the end most things went to the dump in a big dumpster, some was put on the sidewalk and was picked up by free-lance recyclers. Dishes, pots and pans, flatware, small appliances all went to Goodwill along with ski gear, winter coats and other linens.

A little different situation but same idea. We are planing to sell our house up
north and stay in FL. full time. We spent a whole summer getting ready for a
huge garage/house sale.

We have been in this house 25 years and had brought many items from earlier
moves. We made enough from this sale to buy our current trawler.
The houses(2) will go on the market when we head north in May. We will still
need another sale before the final move. Really hard when nothing will go down
with us. Good luck.

caltexflanc said:

We had an estate sale and got rid of everything except the art, antiques, heirlooms and extremely valuable stuff. The math mentioned above really gets expensive, even in two years, which was our original plan. We liked the lifestyle and our boat so much that turned into 6+.

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I've mentioned estate sales here before. They don't have to be huge estates. There are professionals to run them all around and you'd be amazed what they can get for your things.

As to the mention of using shipping containers, I've seen it done, knew one woman with 6 of them behind her home, all on concrete slabs. They were filled with mice and rats, bees, mosquitoes and every other creature you don't want to deal with when opened up. So much that a moving company refused to unload them.

I've seen things left with moving and storage companies fine several years later and worthless several years later. Bed bugs are problems in some storage facilities as well.

My point is that if it's worth keeping, then plan on spending a good bit on storing and protecting it. If it's not worth premium storage, then it's not worth keeping.

I had a 5 year business plan that required selling the family home and investing that money. I realized then that when I moved back to dirt I would want different “stuff”. I rented a 10x10 storage for things that I would continue to use like skis, bikes, scuba, travel bags, tools, spare boat items, etc.

The business plan was successful and yet here I am some 25 years later still living aboard.

One of the hardest things to give up when moving aboard was the shop space. Living aboard and doing repair / rebuild projects on the boat is a huge PITA. I've rented a garage that doubles and a small shop and limited storage space. I share it with another liveaobard so costs are quite low.

We are planning on selling our house this Summer, and I'm shocked on how much stuff we have accumulated in the past 24 years that we have lived in this house!

There is no way that I would store stuff in a shipping container, long-term, stored outside. We have our extra stuff in climate controlled storage, in appropriate containers in a storage facility that is well maintained.

Jim

Portage_Bay said:

One of the hardest things to give up when moving aboard was the shop space...

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You're so right. Our boat/marina is just a little over an hour from our house, but not having my fully equipped shop at the marina drives me nuts. I'm gradually developing an entire second set of tools and equipment and parts bins and the large dock box is full of it, but that's silly. So many jobs I do on the boat I think, if I only had my drill press (big vice, bandsaw, whatever) this job would go so much faster and be more precise.

Sobering input. Thank you all for the reality. I can see that it's silly to hold on to stuff that no one else wants, stuff that I've had for decades, and pre-marriage stuff that has been collecting dust in boxes for years. Daunting prospect all the same.

House full of useless crap meet rubbish skip.

Need to get back and do that soon and get rid of the motorbike and car and rent that house out.

We moved overseas about 12 years ago. We sold, gave away, or threw away 95% of what we had accumulated. The feeling was almost zen-like.


We returned to Australia about 5 years ago, and when we unpacked the 5% we kept, we wondered why on earth we kept the majority of it.


I'd suggest aiming for 2%.

If it doesn’t fit in my motor home or my boat, don’t need it.

If you give away all your stuff, what do you do for toys?

Isn't that the point of the boat?

The other ones just need to be smaller to fit.

Or you rent them.

Rent the toys, it’s cheaper in the long run.

tiltrider1 said:

Rent the toys, it’s cheaper in the long run.

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Even boats?

MurrayM said:

Even boats?

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A boat is NOT a toy.

I had a friend who said that everyone should relocate to NYC once in their life to learn to utilize space better and declutter. Space there is limited and very expensive. That extra bedroom, another $700 a month on the rent. Then small rooms so you economize.

I was single and living in a three bedroom apartment and my mother had a three bedroom apartment when she died. Now three bedrooms for a single guy makes no sense, but this next step is the big one.

I had to empty her apartment and didn't want to make an immediate decision on what of hers and mine to keep. So, I rented a 3500+ sq ft home, 5 bedrooms, two living areas. It was a great home out in the country on 8 acres and no more than her high rise apartment had been. I said, I'll lease it a year and then move back into a small apartment. I got married and in total lived in it six years, still with most of the things from both apartments. Two of us, five fully furnished bedrooms, only two of which were ever slept in during the entire time (not going to comment on current bedrooms but all have been used on many occasions at least).

Finally we bought a small place on the lake. It was 3 BR, 1200 sq ft, but we converted it to 2 BR and 2400 sq ft by finishing the lower level and some other work. Still donated almost all our furniture, all the stuff I'd moved into the 5 BR home 6 years earlier and had filled that home with.

I just postponed the decisions, not one year but six. How many people move and have many things they don't need to pack because they're still in the boxes from their last move?

The next great TF Debate: Whether or not a boat is a toy.

Hobbies and toys that you built yourself, like small boats, motorcycles, classic cars, hunting rifles, furniture, etc as well as the tools and shop equipment you used to build them are VERY hard to eliminate! I have the drill press, table saw, belt/disc sander and air compressor on CL, but I still have to deal with all the electric hand tools like drills, sanders, saws, routers, etc. It is not easy.......