Did someone just say the S-word? Spring! Budding trees, chirping birds, and everything that comes along with warmer weather. Spring also reinvigorates the urge to finally get out there and make some sense out of all stuff in boxes. Let’s see. There’s some in the attic. More in the garage where the car is supposed to live. And the rest is out there in the tragic remains of the cheap sort-of-plastic shed on the side of the house. And maybe the cold weather has killed all the spiders living inside it. Thanks a lot, whoever you are, for mentioning the S-word.
We humans love to collect things. Unfortunately, our desire to provide appropriate storage for what we amass is seldom on par. There are as many explanations for why we collect so much stuff as the amount of stuff itself. Most experts agree it’s simply because our emotional connection with possessions trigger memories that help us recall the past.
All that stuff is a way to help us remember.
By The Numbers
There’s a price to pay for hanging on to memories. Consider these storage factoids:
- Self-storage is a $22 billion industry in the US alone
- There are about 58,000 self-storage facilities in the US, taking up over 2.3 billion square feet
- The industry employs over 172,000 people
- It generates more than $3.5 billion annually in property taxes paid to local governments
You’ll find something even more interesting if you dig a bit deeper into the numbers. About 65% of those who use self-storage facilities have similar space in their homes, ranging from an attic or garage to a basement. This statistic suggests that we either prefer not to store stuff in our own homes – or we have so much stuff that it won’t even fit in the seemingly ample storage areas featured in the average private residence.
What Kind Of Stuff Do We Store?
- The LA Times recently reported that the average American home has about 300,000 items in it, and according to NPR, the size of the average American home has tripled in size over the past 50 years
- 10% of us rent space to store our stuff
- 25% of those with 2-car garages don’t park our cars in them because it’s full of our stuff (32% say they can squeeze at least one car in)
- We spend an estimated $1.2 trillion annually on items we do not need, says the Wall Street Journal
How much stuff do you have? Let’s say you actually follow through with your intended spring cleaning, and you do manage to part with a few things. You still might encounter what we think is the best reason to stop renting a space here, and shoving a box plus the old Victrola record player there. Drum roll, please, for one last statistic.
The Daily Mail in the UK reports that over the course of a lifetime we sill spend 3,680 hours (that’s 153 days!) searching for up to 9 things that we misplace every day. Where was the box of stuff? Was it at the self-storage place 5 miles away, or is it up in the attic? Was there ever a better reason to use this spring season to plan for a Miracle Truss® steel storage building so all your stuff can live in one place?
We have designs that are small enough to tuck into your back yard, ranging up to buildings large enough to keep your RV and other “big toys” right on your property with you. They’re durable and affordable. We can help you do the math. Many Miracle Truss customers discover they could have already paid for a custom steel truss storage solution on their property with the rent they’ve paid to self-storage facilities. Our DIY design helps to save cost on the erection costs also.
Did these self-storage statistics stir up the entrepreneur in you? We can help with that, too. Start your own self-storage business with our products. We’ll even send you the information for free.
