I remember the first time I got a storage unit. I was so excited to finally clean out my garage. I started throwing everything in there – Christmas decorations, old clothes, my kid’s sports equipment. Then my wife came out holding a bag of potatoes that had started sprouting in the pantry. “Should we just put these in the storage unit?” she asked.
I almost said yes. Thank God I didn’t.
Let me give you the real deal on what NOT to put in your storage unit. This isn’t from some manual – this is from my own painful experience.
Food is Public Enemy Number One
Look, I get it. You’ve got extra cans from Costco. Your pantry’s overflowing. That storage unit looks nice and empty.
But here’s what happens: mice. And I’m not talking about cute little cartoon mice. I’m talking about professional burglars with whiskers. They can smell a single bag of chips from three units away. They’ll chew through drywall, squeeze under doors, and once they’re in, they throw a party.
I had a neighbor who stored some birdseed. Just one bag. When he opened his unit two months later, it looked like Woodstock for rodents had happened in there. They’d chewed through his daughter’s baby blankets to make nests. The cleanup cost him more than everything in the unit was worth.
And canned goods? Think they’re safe? My unit got really hot last summer, and a can of paint actually exploded. Imagine if that had been soup? Your stuff would be covered in nasty, spoiled food.
Plants Are a Heartbreak Waiting to Happen
My sister tried to store her ficus tree when she was between apartments. “It’ll just be for a week,” she said.
After three days, it started dropping leaves. After a week, it was dead. But the worst part? The damp soil grew mold, and that mold spread to her cardboard boxes. She lost photo albums and books to that mold.
Plants need light. They need air. A storage unit is a dark, still box. It’s basically a tomb for anything green. If you care about your plants at all, give them to a friend. Don’t kill them slowly in storage.
Pet Stuff Will Come Back to Bite You
We’ve got two dogs, so I understand the temptation to store extra pet food. But listen – pet food is like filet mignon to pests. That bag of kibble might as well be a welcome mat for every mouse in the neighborhood.
And here’s the big one – pet medicines. My vet told me this straight: if flea medication or heartworm pills get too hot or too cold, they become useless. You might as well be giving your dog sugar pills. That’s not just wasting money – that’s putting your pet at risk.
Even dog beds can be trouble if they’re not perfectly clean. Any little food smell or drool can attract bugs.
The Bottom Line
Your storage unit is perfect for so many things – seasonal decorations, tools you only use sometimes, that exercise bike you swear you’ll use again someday. But it’s not a substitute for your pantry, your garden, or your vet’s office.
The whole point of getting a storage unit is to make your life easier, not to create bigger problems down the road. When you store with a good company, they’ll tell you this stuff straight – because they’ve seen what happens when people don’t listen.
Keep the food in your kitchen, the plants in your window, and the pet meds in your cabinet. Your future self will thank you when you open that storage unit and find everything exactly how you left it – clean, dry, and pest-free.
Trust me on this one. I learned the hard way so you don’t have to.
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