Self-Storage Stories: Photographs and Keepsakes

After writing my recent AC article about the minimalist lifestyle, it struck me as ironic that someone like myself who is trying to minimize the clutter in her home would be engaged in an occupation where I keep dragging more stuff home! I won two abandoned self-storage units in an auction last week, and now my house is even more cluttered than before. This is just a temporary situation, though, as most of it will be gone in a short time; either sold or donated to the local thrift shop.

Buying abandoned self-storage units can be fun and profitable, but sometimes it can be heartbreaking. You can often tell much about a person's or family's life by what you find in their lost belongings. The units contain a huge variety of material possessions, sometimes valuable ones, but also photographs, legal documents, tax records, and other highly personal belongings.

These personal records and images tell stories of births, marriages, graduations, proms, military service, divorce proceedings and child support orders, restraining orders, and other life experiences. While some storage unit facilities request that you return these items to the facility, it's doubtful that many foreclosed renters ever get these personal records and photographs back.

One of the units I purchased tells me that the renter was a young man who is now about 33, judging from a high school yearbook and Junior-Senior Prom mementos. He loved Micro Machines and Construx as a youngster, since there are huge collections of both. He was also an NFL and Komets (Fort Wayne, IN) hockey fan. An engraved wedding album (thankfully empty of photographs) tells me he was married in 2001. A family portrait shows parents with two young men, so he apparently has one brother. He must have had a dog, or may still have (chew marks on a few items and a couple dog toys).

Although I considered returning the most personal effects to the facility, I doubt it would do any good. The facility manager, at the start of the auction, said that efforts to find the owners of the units being auctioned that day had come to nil; in his words, "They have fallen off the face of the earth."

I don't know what misfortune happened that caused this young man to lose his self-storage unit. Collections of mini-alcohol bottles and shot glasses indicate he enjoyed his alcohol. Perhaps he has a drinking problem and is spending time in jail. I hope not, and pray that he and his wife are still married and enjoying life together.

My plea to you is this: If you ever feel the need to rent a self-storage unit, please don't put anything in the unit that you ever wish to have back. Keep your photos and other keepsakes with you if possible, or leave them with another family member or friend. No one rents a unit with the idea of abandoning it, but sometimes life takes a turn we don't expect. Please don't break my heart by finding your most precious memories inside a cardboard box.