My Things Are In Storage

Moving.  Change of address.

Moving companies and U-Haul look forward to spring and summer because that is when most people move from rental apartments to homes they have bought; move from apartment buildings where tenants play music the whole night; move to other cities with better job prospects, move to Auckland, Australia to work at the Consulate of Canada, move to Miami after retirement to soak in the sun after decades of mischievous Canadian winters; move because of marriage/divorce or move to join the army.

It is very exhausting because of what is in the TO DO list: telling banks, the telephone/T.V./internet service provider, the government, hydro company, post office, schools, the gym, community organisations and other people you deal with that you will no longer be living at 702 Depression Drive.  What can I say?  There must be a Depression Drive somewhere out there, since life is one long depression.

Most moving companies can, for a fee, fold your clothes and pack fragile kitchen stuff nicely before loading it into their snake-long trucks and drive them inter-state to your new province or city.
I’m scared of snakes but aren’t they clever?  They know when and how to shed their skin.  Not human beings.  They don’t like throwing away things. They hoard.  Material possessions define who they are, the bigger the better. 

Basements have suitcases with size 10 dresses when owners are now size 40, bell bottom pants that were symbolic of the good times i.e. booming economies and guaranteed jobs, old Harley motor bikes, kids’ bicycles and hockey sticks.

The propensity to keep things we will never use again resulted in storage companies, located in industrial areas of most cities. People proudly say, “My office furniture is in storage.”

It might be a waste of money in the long run because the traditional office with its desk, photocopier and filing cabinet is on its knees.  Just look around downtown and count the OFFICE TO LET signs. The office has moved to the coffee shop, the park, sports stadium, anywhere.
Before spending money to keep things in storage for a year, it would be prudent to check the following.

·         do you want short term or long-term storage?  Short term gives you breathing space to decide if you want to keep your possessions or sell them.

·         will you sell them for more now as compared to selling them after two years?  They might be paintings that Sotheby’s is interested in.

·         will you buy or rent space that is the same size as your old house or office?

·         will it be easy, later on in life to find replacement parts for old appliances or farm equipment?

·         are you keeping things in storage for your kids?  Will they appreciate them when they are older?

You can add more questions, but it is important to remember that there’s only one thing that gets more valuable over time.  Land.  But we don’t keep it in storage, do we?
By:  Nonqaba waka Msimang.