The Sounds of Suckage

[captain_slinky]

Molly and i went to a Storage Facility Auction today... kinda.

Ever been to one? It sounds pretty depressing. Somebody didn't have enough room in their lives for a bunch of dreams and hopes, so they put them in a Storage Unit. "Some day..." they say to themselves "I'll have the time and the money to deal with this. But right now I just need it out of here. Right now, it's worth it for me to pay $67 a month to not have it in my life... to just put it on "Hold" for a while. But I'll be back!"

The contents of each storage unit tell their own depressing story. The contents of an entire apartment along with lots of children's clothing and coloring books. Electronics that were top-of-the-line when they were put in here to be forgotten. A stronghold of hunting gear and pornography. Fourty-seven unassembled kitchen cabinets. Enough brand-new candles and accessories to open your own boutique. So much junk, you've got to wonder why somebody paid so much money to keep it all for so long.

Eventually, if you stop paying the storage unit rental, the owners of said Sotrage Unit are allowed to sell your crap to the highest bidder. What happened? Did this person have a change of heart and decide he no longer needs that Futon and all those video tapes? Or did he suddenly die and no one knew about the unit? What happened to the little girl that all those stuffed animals belonged to?

Thinking about it makes me sad :(

Anywho, Molly and i were on our way to a great big auction in Lynnwood. SIX STORAGE UNITS! The e-mail we received said it was to start at 10am. We got there at 10 and the nice lady said "Oh they'rwe starting down in Arlington... they won't be here till 11 or so at the earliest". So Molly and I went to Wendy's for breakfast, came back at 10:30 to sign-in and register, but the nice lady said "Oh, they're all done now. They got here a little early".

GRRRRRRRR!!! I wanted to buy some of those crushed dreams and forgotten aspirations, dammit! NO FAIR!

Comments

[bjorker.livejournal.com]

Whoa, dang! Where do you find out about these things?
So they auction off the whole unit's worth of stuff as one big ol' package, though, right? Like you have to take it all, you can't just pay for the stuff you want? Hrrm.

At that time this morning, I was down at this awesome rummage sale. I got a buttload of fantastic crap AND an hour of hunting-and-bargaining fun for the low low price of $8.95!!! :P
(which is especially exciting because somehow I managed to spend over $50 at two different VVs yesterday. I need to stay out of there for awhile, oh sigh).

That rummage sale is going on all weekend. I recommend checking it out-- it was huge, and there was a lot of stuff that I didn't even see because they had way too much to set out all at once. So there were still boxes of stuff stashed under tables, and whatnot. And most of it was dirt cheap.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

RUMMAGE SALE?!?!?!

Thanks for the heads-up!

Yeah, when it comes to Storage unit Auctions, it's a silent auction; whoever bid the highest amount gets the unit. You have to get everything out of the unit and have it spotless within 48 hours or have to pay for another full month of storage. They take all the potential bidders to each of the units and open it up so you can see what's in there. you can't poke around or anything, it's just a quick visual inspection.

My brother picked up two units for a grand total of $10 last time. It's how we got our new giant TV and futon :)

[bjorker.livejournal.com]

whoa, now that's a bargain. I totally want to come next time!

Which reminds me that I need to get my damn truck fixed! I saw so many purdy things at the rummage sale that I had no way of getting home. grrr. I don't know how I could commit to clearing out a storage area without it, but dammit i wanna play too.

[sasjhwa.livejournal.com]

Do you have enough room in your storage unit to fit the contents of another? $804 a year is pretty hefty if you have to rent a second one.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Plan is to buy the storage unit on a Thursday, clear it out by Saturday morning, take it all to the Swap Meet off of 128th St sw, sell the stuff on Saturday and Sunday, then take whatever's left to Good Will for a hefty tax deduction.

[sasjhwa.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a good plan. :-) Good Luck.

[nani-ka.livejournal.com]

That is something i'd love to participate in. How do you get on the list?

Also, I have someone who has a bunch of baseball cards in a box - about 1000, at her guesstimate - she has no idea what's in there or what they're worth & would like to find out. Are you qualified to "appraise" baseball cards? I can't remember.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Nope, sorry, not a baseball Card guy. Sports are like KRYPTONITE to My People!

As far as storage unit auctions are concerned, all you have to do is drop in at the office of whatever units you like and ask to be put on their auction notification list. Sometimes you get a big crowd of people, other times you get barely enough for them to actually have an auction (they have to have at least 4 people).

I came *this close* to callin you and Freak to see if you guys wanted to come this time! Next time, though :)

[lynna12000.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info about the auction. I never thought about doing that before. I'll talk to the people at the storage unit play I have my comics at. My kitchen cabinets could use an update.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

My Brother (the person who introduced me to this wonderful concept) was kicking himself because of that darned Kitchen Cabinet unit he missed out on... hi shigh bid was $3, it went for $4.50. Some $20k worth of fine oak kitchen cabinetry in there!