The year is 1995 in Newcastle, California and something just ended. Now please read on because I promise you, there's a happy ending here. This true story is about my own experience with self storage and the value it provided to us at a time when we were winging it willy-nilly through a tough time in our lives.
Moving is the Only Option!
What happened to us is probably not unique and happens all over the country. One day my husband came home to find that I hit a wall and couldn't live in our 800 square foot home anymore. See, happens all the time, right? Oh, an aside, we were not the original "tiny house" movement people (because back then, "tiny house" wasn't something people did on purpose). We weren't minimalists making a major point (because we had all the stuff others had except space). Nope, we were just a blended family doing our best to raise our kids. But on that day, I just knew we had to move. Sooner than later. Our family of six: four kids, two adults, two dogs (that's two large house dogs) and one "plump" house cat couldn't live in that "cute" house anymore. Those two small bedrooms, a crowded living room, small kitchen and one bathroom seemed too crowded all at once. Something needed to change!
Planning, sort of
We decided to sell our little home, buy some land and put a home on that land (the word "put" was chosen on purpose here because we had to go with a manufactured home to keep costs down). We hatched this plan quickly so that we could all survive the raising of our children. Oh, one small detail. I was finishing graduate school at the time which meant that I had to do my studying in a shared space with the boys (oh yeah, did mention they were all boys ages ranging from age eight to 14 years old?) and everything that goes along with sharing a space. Moral of the story (okay, the moral of this part of the story) is that we decided to move without much of a plan and therefore, we had to think fast. House goes up for sale in a terrible housing market (1996). I try to finish school. My husband tries not to become a statistic and we start packing and packing and packing. You know the drill. And then that's when self storage saved our sanity!
Timing is Everything
Time marches on and now it’s June of 1996. I'm out of school and in a new job. The kids and my husband survived the worst of our life together (so far) and our realtor tells us to "thin your possessions so people see the house rather than everything in it." Okay. But we have no place to go because we can't buy our manufactured home without selling our "cute" house. All we have is land! So, the only thing we could do is store everything not currently being used. Now remember I told you this was a good story?
Self Storage to the Rescue!
Well it goes like this. We go across town and find a storage unit big enough for just a million things we didn’t know we owned. Now picture this. We’re in a tiny house (did I say 800 square feet?) in a small town but somehow, we’re lucky enough that there is a self storage business less than 1/8th of a mile from our home! For real! So the kids and I go through everything we think we could survive without. Have you ever tried convincing four kids that they can, in fact, survive without their collection of action figure castles, Tonka trucks, 743 comic books and 35 pounds of Legos for a few months? It's not only not easy, it's hard to get them to understand that the toys will still be theirs only living across town. Five pairs of blank stares gazing back at me broadcasted their dissatisfaction with this plan. It was FIVE pairs of suspicious gazes because the cat chimed in to look suspicious at every opportunity because that's what cats do…they never pass up an opportunity to look dissatisfied with humans. Despite the less than happy feelings and mild protests here and there, we did it! It helped us BIG TIME to know our treasures were all going to be organized and accessible to us in one place in our secure storage unit. Unlike the people in this story. Don't worry, remember it ends well so read on.
Now it's August of 1996 and we finally got a buyer for our tiny little house! Because of a short escrow, we were out in no time. Some of us in my mom's house. Others in my mother-in-law's house and the rest in my grandmother's house. And EVERYTHING but the clothes on our backs in our self storage unit. I mean everything. But it ended nicely. Two and a half months later, we moved into our new home and all's well that ended well. I do have to say, it wouldn't have been as manageable without the option of self storage. Read on if you're not convinced.
All's well that Ends Well
The sequence of events of our move happened the way it did without much pre-planning on our part. We didn't have time for yard sales and other "thinning things activities." Plus, we needed to move to a larger home and we'd need everything we had. Many of our things had to be moved out of the little home so we could sell it. Then we sold the little house and had to stay somewhere until a new loan was finalized to include the cost of a modular home. Those things take time to manufacture, move onto the site and then still have to be finished. Before that part of the process even started to happen, we had to leave our house and no one in our family had room for the results of a family of six, their two dogs, one cat and all our treasures. What saved our sanity through all of this was being able to stage our move through our self-storage unit. See, nice ending, right?
Stanford Ranch Self Storage is the Solution
I know our story isn't unique and that many others find themselves in this same predicament. Stanford Ranch Self Storage is Rocklin's neighborhood self storage facility. We're committed to our valued customers and want you to experience the sense of relief that comes with knowing that your move is going to be made much easier with self storage. With Stanford Ranch Self Storage, you have the peace of mind that comes with having your treasures stored in an organized way in a brand new, modern self storage facility. We look forward to meeting you and being part of the solution for making your move as easy as possible.
Happy Move to You!
