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Family keeping furniture/goods for me
When my grandparents passed away I was a teenager, and some of their things, such as china, crystal, furniture, etc. were expressly passed down to me. Their house was sold, and those items came to stay at my parents house. After I grew up and moved out, my Dad continued to keep those items for me, until I had a place large enough to use them.
Fast forward a few years, I get married and move across the country. During that time, my Dad also marries and moves out of his house in with my step mom, still in the same neighborhood, but leaving most everything in the old house, as sort of a storage place.
I found out today that my Dad's old house has been broken into, along with other neighbor's homes that are weekend vacationers. So it was a perfect target. According to my Dad, nothing was really taken other than mechanical stuff and copper wire. He said he filed a report with the sheriff's office and they're patroling more often, but there isn't much else he can do.
I want to ask him to split the cost of building a shed on his current property to keep all these items in storage where they will be safer. The shed will be large enough to store these items and have space leftover for anything else they would like to store. The added benefit being that he will then be able to sell the old house and recoup some money from the cost of the shed.
Does this seem reasonable, or too self involved? Should I just leave him out of it and find a random storage center place on my own and hope that monthly rent provides more protection?
ETA: Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I'll be doing research on a storage unit and checking the calendar for a good time to visit.
Re: Family keeping furniture/goods for me
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
Are you serious? Why in the world should your dad pay anything for a storage unit to hold YOUR stuff?
Why don't you just pay to have all your stuff shipped to you?Keep the things in storage yourself. You're an adult - old enough to take care of your things!
And I am scratching my head trying to figure out why you think your things will be MORE secure in a shed.
If anything, offer to pay to install and monitor an alarm system in the home.
I've looked into having it all sent here. It would be fairly expensive to properly pack fragile items and insure them, and they would still have to be kept in storage once they're here, as I don't have room here for them. So I might as well just store them somewhere back there, and use the money it would have cost to ship them towards storing them there.
So the stuff is small enough that it wouldn't fill up a shed? For goodness sakes, take responsibility for your stuff, ship it to you and put it into storage by you.
And even if it *mostly* filled the shed, your dad shouldn't have to pitch in ANY money for this idea.
Rent a storage unit and put a good lock on it. Then, make plans to travel to see your dad this summer and road trip the stuff back. It could be a fun adventure!
But yeah, you have to take responsibility and get the stuff. A shed might not be weatherproof or thief proof.
What are you even planning to do with all of this stuff? Are you going to use it once you move into a bigger home or something like that, or are you just going to keep it at your dad's house forever and not use it?
If you're planning to stay in your current area and planning to eventually use this stuff, then have it shipped to you (or drive it home yourself) and keep it in a local storage unit.
If you're just hanging onto it for sentimental reasons, I'd personally just pick out a few choice pieces to keep and then find a way to get rid of the rest, if it's just going to sit in storage across the country. Split it up amongst family members, sell it, or donate it to a worthy charity. I understand not wanting to part with something that your grandparents left for you, but it's sort of useless if they're just sitting around and collecting dust and they aren't being enjoyed/used.
Even if you don't plan to use these things but you still want to keep them, I'll ditto the PPs who said to take responsibility and store it someplace yourself.
I'm with the pps...you need to take responsibility for your own belongings. I see you having two options. One is renting a storage locker near your dad and moving the stuff there. The other is going there, packing it into your car or, if necessary, a UHaul, and bringing it to a storage locker by you. If you want it badly enough even though you have no space or use for it right now, then this is the cost of keeping it.
Whether your dad will get use out of a shed is a moot point. If he wanted one on his property to store things he's interested in keeping, he'd have put it there already.
I'm kind of wondering if you even want those items. It's been a long time and you've had plenty of opportunity to bring them over to your home (even if it's flying distance away, you could grab a few items each visit. You do go to visit, right?), but you haven't done so.
If you want to store them, you take care of it. If your dad wants to store his own stuff, that's his call, but if it's your idea and he wouldn't have thought about it without your items, etc, you take care of it yourself. There are plenty of storage locker/moving companies who would be happy to help you pack and store the things (for a fee, of course).
I think you'd be surprised at how reasonable the price of a simple storage unit is - especially for the stuff you are looking to keep safe/secure.
Paying to build a storage unit on someone else's property makes no sense.
Find a storage facility and move your stuff there. Asking your dad and stepmom to build you a shed so they can watch your stuff some more, instead of you taking responsibility for your own things yourself, is insane.
Storage facilities are well lit, well patrolled, and have security gates and codes for entry. Take your stuff there and leave it; and don't make your dad and stepmom spend money on your things one more minute. You're an adult.
Or if you don't want to pay to ship the stuff rent your own storage unit back home and move your stuff into it.
But seriously, are you ever going to be ready for this stuff? When was the last time you looked at it? Go home, look at everything and decide if you really want it all. Sell or donate the stuff you don't want then store the stuff you do on your own dime or maybe after you thin things out you can actually accommodate the items in your home.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
I think I've been too bogged down in my company's quality improvement initiatives, because I was thinking the same thing. Get rid of what you don't like or know that you won't use. You could sell it, donate it, or see if there are other family members who want it.
Once you clear what you don't like and will never use, rent a storage unit. It's really not that expensive.
But really, you've had this stuff for years, don't use it and don't miss it. It's time for serious thought about getting rid of some of it. Just because it was given to you doesn't mean you have to keep it.
Eh, I can see wanting to hang onto china, crystal, and antique furniture, but not having a place to put it in one's current residence.
But in that case, I'd pay for a storage unit of my own and not have family responsible for storing it. There are climate controlled units where you can store things for a reasonable rate.
If you're planning to stay in your current area and planning to eventually use this stuff, then have it shipped to you (or drive it home yourself) and keep it in a local storage unit.
If you're just hanging onto it for sentimental reasons, I'd personally just pick out a few choice pieces to keep and then find a way to get rid of the rest, if it's just going to sit in storage across the country. Split it up amongst family members, sell it, or donate it to a worthy charity. I understand not wanting to part with something that your grandparents left for you, but it's sort of useless if they're just sitting around and collecting dust and they aren't being enjoyed/used.
Even if you don't plan to use these things but you still want to keep them, I'll ditto the PPs who said to take responsibility and store it some place yourself.
This. When I moved out of my parents' house for good (after college) I took my belongings that I wanted and gave the rest away. Their house isn't my storage unit.