Today’s topic has been in my mind awhile.
Years ago when living in California, I read of folks using rented storage spaces as places to part, hang out within and, a few folks, using as a home.
I am not and do not suggest or advise that anybody use a rented storage space as a home/house.
Circumstances vary too much for me to make any suggestion. Consider me to be a reporter telling of what other folks are doing.
Use your brain, people!!!! Educate yourself about the realities of the area you reside in.
Here is the type of rental storage unit I am thinking about. This one rents for $55 monthly in a small town in upper-state New York. It appears the area is generally a middle-class area so that monthly rate may be typical for such an area but less expensive in a more impoverished area.
That storage unit is part of a larger complex:
Storage unit sizes vary. Some firms have many sizes, some large enough for a vehicle and some too small to live in but usable for keeping stuff you do not have room in your vehicle, tent, etc. to keep at hand.
Some storage places are fenced in with limitations for entry. Many have an automatic gate that opens when you manually enter a code via buttons on a pad. Some may have a card you insert with a magnetic strip with the code allowing entry.
I have seen a few higher-end facilities that has a 24-hour manage with a residence on site, usually attached to the business office. Some have video monitoring, alarms, etc.
Those fancier places are going to cost more. The cheaper storage facilities have no monitoring, fence or an on-site manager.
I rented a storage unit 5 years ago during a move to my present location. I hadn’t found a place to live yet in the area 400 miles from the shanty up north. Every time I drove down to explore the area I was going to move to I brought along a pick-up truck load of possessions and left them in the storage unit.
That small storage facility was near the downtown area of a town of 8,000 and the office where the rental agreement was completed was at a real estate office several blocks away.
I recall three separate buildings housing the units with around 20 units per building. They were typical storage buildings made of sheet metal, concrete floor and doors that were opened vertically with the flexible, segmented door rolling upon metal tracks.
No fence allowed 24-hour access. The location was on a street with minimal traffic and surrounding buildings were a combination of businesses and a few homes.
It would likely have been an optimal place to use as a live-in storage unit. However, it would likely be best to also have a vehicle to also use as a part-time abode to lessen the chances of too-frequent use drawing attention to you living in the storage unit.
The power of Google!!!!
I think I have found a pic of the storage I used while moving:
My past readings mentioned people using storage units as places to engage in a hobby such as wood carving and other things. Some places have electrical outlets allowing the use of devices requiring electricity. I doubt if many of the low-cost storage places have electrical outlets.
You will have to investigate what is available in your area.
Here are a few general things to consider if you use a storage unit as a place to live in, either full or part-time.
The door can be locked from the outside. Have something capable of cutting through thin sheet metal if needed to escape. What if some sick freak locked you in then set the place on fire!!!. Maybe spilled gasoline that flows under the door or maybe another unit and the smoke invades your space. Make preparations for emergency escape!!!
Have a fire extinguisher handy. A powder-type that will work against all types of fires, fuel, wood, paper, etc.
Consider a composting toilet or the type that uses plastic bags to hold the waste allowing you to seal it then toss in the trash.
Do you snore? Consider creating a small “room” inside the storage unit to muffle the noise. Maybe cardboard boxes stacked up with your possessions inside? Create a “roof” somehow… maybe scrap boards long enough to place a tarp and moving pads or blankets or anything to muffle noise.
A battery-operated smoke/fire alarm would be a good idea.
If you have a vehicle allowing sleeping the unit may allow a place to park it and sleep there. Do not block the drive or be ready to quickly move it if somebody needs to access their unit.
The storage unit could be used as a living room!!! Sure, take a nap there or sleep some times but limit that type of use and you will likely increase your odds of not being noticed or, if noticed, no complaints made to anybody that will bother you or maybe evict you.
I just had an idea!!!!!!!
Pretend you are an artist and that the storage unit is your studio!!!!
Become a painter or sculptor or anything artistic. Build or find an easel. Grab some paint and brushed or pencils or anything used to create artistic stuff.
Heck, maybe you can create goodies you can sell at flea markets or various venues such as farmers’ markets or other affairs that are either free or cheap to show your wares.
Try to have a valid reason for spending so much time at the storage place.
Here are some links related to folks using a storage space for various purposes other than mere storage.
SoHo storage facility is becoming a haven for the homeless
The story above is from New York City, a place of crazily-expensive costs for everything. If you must be homeless I highly suggest seeking an area where living costs are much lower.
“About 10% of the country’s poor – or 1% of its total population – are believed to be homeless at any given time. For some, homelessness is temporary. For others, it becomes a long-term situation, and the economic downturn has caused a lot of people to lose their homes and jobs. This is the phenomenon behind the growing trend of people living in storage units.”
Read more at the link below:
How to Spot a Unit That’s Been Lived In
All the advice, information, etc. on this entire blog is aimed at USA residents AND people with a little “class.”
By “class” I mean that you respect other people and their property.
Sure, mere survival may require breaking laws that often treat the homeless as despised vermin; mere scum who are to be gotten rid of.
However, you CAN break the elite’s laws in a classy way.
The Boy Scouts had a saying decades ago and may still use it now; “Leave it cleaner than when you found it.” That was in reference to camping in a legitimate place but the sentiment applies everywhere.
Use but do not abuse. In regards to using a storage unit as a living space; whether full-time or part-time or even for occasional use as a place to relax in, do not allow filth to gather. Do not leave food around to attract bugs that will visit neighboring units where they may infest other folks stuff.
Keep things quiet!!! Noise attracts attention. Be quiet, peaceful. Do not have crowds in your place. Use common sense that, sadly, is not so common anymore.
Group Seeks Out and Helps Homeless Veterans
For several years I have read on many various message boards covering many various topics comments blaming the Baby Boom generation for much or all of the economic woes of the past few years. I grit my teeth in anger. Those spewers of knee-jerk rhetoric are obviously, in my opinion, uninformed ill-educate buffoons. I have been working-poor my entire life, doing the tasks required to make society function on a day-to-day basis. My efforts DID enrich folks higher up the hierarchy but there were PLENTY of low-paid Baby Boomers that received minute pieces of the proverbial pie and the future for us is bleak as evidenced by the linked-to article below:
‘We Shouldn’t Have To Live Like This’
I wandered around a little… starting off discussing the possibility of using a rented storage space for various uses; from full-time to part-time living within or using it akin to a living rooms, a place to relax with likely more leg and headroom than living in the typical vehicle will offer.
I repeat the following regularly: Plan ahead!!! Be ready for homelessness before it strikes you.
Have a vehicle you can live in before you are forced to live in it. Be aware of your area… look for potential places to park your vehicle so you can sleep inside and not be bothered.
Look for rental storage firms that appear to be conducive to using to meet some of your needs.
How about the local gyms where you can shower? Are there budget gyms where for a small fee you can clean up daily?
Look for other places allowing you to get and stay clean.
Our very small city (large town?) has a homeless veteran’s retreat open weekdays from 8 am to 6 pm. You can have telephone messages sent there and the workers will take the message for you. They have a washer and dryer so you can get some clothes washed. And a shower and sink to scrape your face and scrub your tooth or teethe if you have more than one.
Some of these places that can benefit the homeless are not obvious.
So… LOOK FOR THEM BEFORE YOU NEED THEM!!!
And… if things are okay for you now how about consider donating some cash or goods to one or more of those places?
The local veteran’s day shelter also assists non-veterans but the disgusting, sick, inhumane profit-is-everything lackeys of the local ruling elites HATE homeless folks so to fend off the negative attention the human scum filth putrid local wealthy demons (not all of the wealthy are that way but enough are) bring against that day shelter does not advertise they assist everybody needing help.
When I find a really good sale on food I buy a little extra and drop it off at the day shelter. When I have some still usable clothes to discard; to the vet’s place they go. I found a great buy on 12-packs of toothbrushes so I bought 3… 1 for me and 2 to the shelter.
Why not help others? Maybe some day YOU will be the one needing help!!!!!!
Okay, time to end this entry. The comment section is a great place to add any ideas, tips, hints, advice, etc.
If lengthy I can copy and paste the comment to the end of this entry for ease of reading.
Good luck to all of you and for those outside the USA please be aware that much of the misery inside the USA is hidden… our ruling elites and their minions, cohorts and lackeys have done a fine job of brainwashing the masses of common folks within the USA that the skimming of much of the wealth the masses create and the sending of that wealth into the hands of a small minority is how things are supposed to be.
And the charade extends to the entire world.
Yes Yes YES!!!
There IS good within the USA but there are too many bad things that are that way due to extreme greed by those in power.
All the best to all of you out there, wherever you may be.
And my last small bit of advice:
BE NICE!!!
.
Dead links removed July 13, 2022
Alternative Living Options 