Don’t Put Your Dreams for Retirement in a Storage Unit
My husband, with the help of his eldest son, finally decided to tackle his mother’s storage unit. A task long dreaded, yet long overdue.
The 10×20 unit was jam-packed to the ceiling with boxes of fabric, collectibles and furniture from the home she left in the mid-90s. With resolve, they worked diligently unstacking boxes, sorting items and deciding the fate of things representing years of memories and dreams.
It took them three full days to empty the unit.
Originally, though, the unit had been set up only to be a temporary holding place for a short time. Her plan had been to get back to living the life she had planned for retirement.
That life included immersing herself in her favorite hobby of sewing. As a result, her sewing room had been carefully prepared several years before retirement. She’d ended up with so much fabric, her upstairs bedroom looked like a mini warehouse. But the life she planned eluded her.
Life Happens
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
–John Lennon
Shortly after she retired, her long-time partner fell seriously ill and needed assistance. Her daily routine became traveling a 10-mile round-trip, by bus, to his small home, as she never learned to drive.
After a while, she relented, giving up her own independence, to move into his place to give him the full-time care he needed. At that time, she moved her belongings, and her dreams, into the storage unit.
Her partner passed away some years later. As she had already made a home in the tiny place with his furnishings, her things stayed in storage. She refused offers from her children to help her go through the items in the storage unit. She would do it herself, and she alone would decide what to do with them.
As time moved on, she was diagnosed with beginning stages of Alzheimer’s, and became less able to take care of herself. We moved her into our home three years ago, and she is well-taken care of.
With Alzheimer’s now in the early part of the moderate stage, she has her good days, and days that are not so good.
When she first moved in, she somberly told me that living in a home that was not hers was definitely not in her life plan. Her plan was to be in her own house, independently living and fulfilling her dreams. There are two things I want to bring out by sharing this story.
One: Plan Now for the Things You Will Leave Behind
Now is a good time to plan where and to whom your ‘stuff’ will go. My mother-in-law didn’t get the chance to decide the fate of her belongings.
Many things were donated to thrift stores, and some things ended up at the dump. There is still a collection of about 80 Ashton-Drake dolls that must be decided on.
Recently, I was relating the storage unit saga to a few of my college friends over lunch. One of them shared that she has been paying an average of $175 a month for a storage unit that belonged to her mother. She has been paying this since her mother passed away 16 years ago.
The monthly fee was increasing to $200. Just for the heck of it, we sat there and did the math. She was perturbed to see that she had spent over $30,000 to store things that she will probably never make use of. Things that her own children most likely will not want.
Our children’s generation is not as keen on family keepsakes as our generation was.
Two: Don’t Wait for the ‘Perfect Time’ to Pursue Your Passion
Is there something you want to do, but you’re waiting for ‘the right time’ to do it? It could be something that may seem out of reach but could be accomplished if you just stretch yourself a bit and reach a little higher.
Perhaps you just need to reclaim your passion or recognize you can still start a new life. Don’t give up! Just do it!
Let’s Have a Conversation:
What do you think about storage units? Have you got one? Are you waiting for the right time to come to start a new hobby, move elsewhere or just do something you’ve always wanted to do? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
I am in the process of downsizing. I had a very rude awakening when i took a truck load of my treasures and “good things’ to the local auctioneers. They looked everything over in the pickup and wouldnt take anything!! They told me that everyone wants newer items now no matter how good the old pieces are. I was devasted and in shock! I really thought that i would make a lilttle money to help witth the cost of the move. I don’t have the energy anymore for garage sales. That truck load went tearfully to Value Village. I found a weekly thrift sale at a nearby church and donate bags of things every week.
Absolutely not! A huge sign of conspicious consumption. If you need storage, you are consuming way too much! Purge. It’s fun.
I do not have a storage unit. I retired at the end of June and since then I have been going through every single drawer, closet, etc and I am getting rid of things I don’t need. I don’t want to leave that task as a burden to my children. And frankly they don’t want my “stuff”!
This is such a good perspective. The only time I had a storage unit was after my home flooded, to hold things that were not damaged and could be moved back to my restored residence. I donated many many things when I moved back in, and there was still so much stuff (!), but at least it was out of storage. Fast forward 8 years. . . I moved to a new home 200 miles away. Again, lots of trip to donate to thrift stores, both before the move and as I unpacked. I have always been a sewist and crafter. And that creates STUFF. . lol. As I packed for my new (retired) lifestyle, I took a hard look at what I thought I might want to do for the (possibly) 20-ish years, narrowed that down to 3 areas, and purged a great deal. There is still a lot. My goal is to reevaluate in 1 year, and purge as needed. I am at a point in my life, that I think of what my children will do with this when I am gone. Thanks for sharing this story.
The younger generations are more mobile and they don’t want “things” like family collectibles holding them down. Those Ashford -Drake dolls are an example of items we treasured that have a very low current market value. I was never a big doll collector but I do have a few and looking at their current value on eBay completely floored me. I have a beautiful AM Dream Baby that I purchased from an elderly lady 50 years ago. According to EBay she is worth the same as I paid for her all those years ago. Now if I had only the insight to invest that money in the stock market, I would be much better off.