There’s something you should know about us: we talk to every customer on the phone. At least as of Spring 2017. The reason we go manual is because we need to know what you are looking to store and how much of it, so that we can send the right size truck and be sure we have space in our warehouse. At the traditional self-storage companies, they don’t need to know—nor will they ask—what you are storing. Select your size, pay your fare, here’s your key…off you go.

Something that we are often in position to learn about is WHAT people are storing. None of if provocative. Mainly beds, furniture, clothes, holiday decorations, boxes of “stuff.” When we get the manifest of what people are storing, we often wonder if people are truly doing the math on the situation. Further, there’s a whole giant population of people who AREN’T storing anything and probably should, who we never hear from.

Since we think about this all the time, we decided to just white board how we think about it. Bear in mind we wrote this about a dozen different ways before finally getting to the right answer, then we tried to write it legibly. It is listed below. It is our decision grid for whether you should trash or stash something.

OKAY, so we are having trouble with the image, but for now it goes like this:

Use Daily-Low Replacement Cost/Value: Home & Accessible

Use Daily-High Replacement Cost/Value: Home & Stowed with Care

Use Infrequently-Low Replacement Cost/Value: Trash/Recycle/Donate

Use Infrequently-High Replacement Cost/Value: Stash

We like the alliteration of trash or stash, but with “trash” most of the time we mean recycle or donate.

Basically, how it breaks down is that your home and garage should house stuff that you use daily and weekly and NOT things that you rarely use. That’s what storage is for. However, if things are cheap and rarely used, let them go.

Some Typical Examples

Baby Clothes? Stash. They are expensive, and typically only lightly used, and if you are having more children, can be put away until they are of age.

Adult Clothes? Trash. If they are “when I’m skinny again someday” clothes just donate and move on. If you lose the weight, then reward yourself with new clothes.

Computers/Printers/Electronics? Trash. Take them to Best Buy and move on. The cost for electronics continues to plummet and it just doesn’t make sense to store a TV or a printer that won’t be useful soon.

Documents? Stash. Especially Mortgages, deeds, and taxes. We can keep them safe, but you definitely don’t need them in the house.

Newspapers/Magazines/Term Papers from College? Trash. You can find that article or that recipe online. You don’t need to keep any of this.

Holiday Wrapping Paper and Ribbons? Trash. They are cheap and often decorated in a way that you wouldn’t dare use them for any other occasion. Plus they cost about two dollars. Chuck them and buy a new set next year.

Handcrafted Ornaments/Lights/Trees? Stash. We store a lot of these decorations and it is a prime example of how to store. Useful, necessary at certain times. Does not need to take up space in the home year round.