Storage Wars in real life with kids

Have you seen the show Storage Wars? Well, apparently, much of it isn't real. However, you can actually buy, at auction, the contents of a storage locker that someone has failed to pay for. I have been wanting to try it for years
Now, keep in mind, the renter gets ample opportunity to get their stuff out, so chances are the things they leave behind are worthless in their opinion.
But, sometimes there are treasures, and often enough, there is a profit to be made in the long run.
I have been researching this idea since I saw the first episode of the show. I've interviewed buyers and storage unit owners to get as much data as I could before trying out this mystery shopping adventure for myself.
I also attended a few estate auctions where I could buy a pallet for a few dollars filled with boxes of assorted goods. I found I could sell enough in my Ebay store and the rest in a yard sale to make it worth my while.
So, I watched and I waited for a storage auction near me. They are not available in bunches like you see on the show. They are usually one at a time and far between.
The first one was filled to the brim with office furniture. I could have had it for a song, but I froze in fear. I didn't bid at all. I let it go and kicked myself the whole way home realizing I could have sold the stuff right out of the locker (they give you 7 days to clean it out here) or I could have hauled it to the metal recycling (I learned later the owner did just that and made a sweet profit)
The second chance I had was a locker full of tools and that went too high for me.
Finally, the third time was the charm. I bought it cheap and got a huge locker full of stuff.
This picture was taken after two van loads of mostly garbage had been cleaned out  It was mostly clothes and I took about 6 trips to Goodwill and filled several trash cans to start. I did sell one dresser right out of the locker, so I am hopeful. I filled my van 13 times to move all the stuff, and the rest is to be seen. I did end up freecycling a couple of furniture pieces that the kids and I could not lift into the van, but most of it looks like good rummage sale material. Wish me luck.
Someday, our hard work will pay off and we will be able to spend our earnings having fun (and educational) adventures together. For now, we are learning together - business basics: the cost of the locker was more than the bid price - we had to buy a lock, 100+ garbage bags before we were done, driving expenses on the van for 13 trips (about 50cents a mile), and hopefully we can all get paid for our time when the deal is finally done. Working for yourself is awesome, but it is never easy!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to can Cider to keep for the winter

Image
  In a previous post, here , I told you about our pear picking trip. Today, we met our friends with their truck full of pears at the local cider mill where we learned about the pressing process. We helped with the bottling. We got to bring home 13 gallons of fresh cider for our efforts.  Our friends freeze theirs, but my freezer is still full of the cow we bought in the spring, so we needed some other ideas. I have more basement pantry shelves available than I do freezer shelf space. So, tonight we canned some using the water bath method, processing 20 minutes.  If you are just learning about canning, I suggest buying a Ball Canning Book.   I prefer the older versions if you can find them because the recipes are often simpler and require ingredients I usually have on hand.  If you've never done any canning at all, and aren't ready to buy a book about it, then I suggest Taste of Home's online directions to help you start your first time. This is my first ti...
Read more

The Number - How much money do you need to retire and live the life you really want? Notes from Eisenberg

Image
  It’s tough right now. I know it. A cart of groceries at Walmart cost $250 yesterday. We didn’t even buy meat. It can be really devastating to look at your budget, to look at your life, and see that all the hard work you put into your career to get to where you are, and all the hard work you put into cutting bills and expenses so that finally the income exceeds the expenses more often than it doesn’t… and then see the prices of everything you need skyrocket so fast that all that work is lost. It feels like a punch in the gut, and then the government follows it up with an uppercut by telling you that inflation isn’t really that high. If you’re young, you still have a lifetime of earning to make up for it. But, if you’re over 50 you’re looking at some harsh realities. You can’t afford to dip into savings now and you don’t have a lot of opportunities to increase earnings. If you are still working, you can still be saving, so there’s no time like the present to figure out how much...
Read more

Homemade Laundry Soap Directions and Tips

Image
  To enjoy the Vacation Education lifestyle, it takes time and money. Making money takes time and energy too. To help my family earn our way to free time and vacation education, I like to find ways to NOT spend the money we have worked so hard to earn. Making laundry soap is one of those projects that pays for itself over and over again.  I invested $17 in these two items, Washing Soda and Borax. That was nearly five years ago. I have made enough laundry detergent to do laundry for our family and still have lots of these ingredients left for years to come. We do about 15 loads of laundry per week for comparison. (This seems excessive to me, so I am looking for ways to reduce this, but for now my best strategy is to save on the soap itself) You can DIY this laundry soap too. There are lots of variations of this recipe on the internet since making laundry soap was made popular by the Duggars tv show. I can get a bar of Fels-Naptha at my local grocer for about $1. Walmart has the...
Read more