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The Burden Of Having Too Much Stuff

Flickr Creative Commons, aprillynn77

http://cptv.vo.llnwd.net/o2/ypmwebcontent/Commodore%20Skahill/Colin%20McEnroe%20Show%2008-01-2012.mp3

There is well over 2 billion square feet of self-storage space in the United States. For some perspective, if every man, woman and child in the United States stood up straight, arms at sides, they would all fit into the storage space that already exists.

In 2011, self-storage facilities grossed around $22.5 billion. Most of that was badly invested money, especially if you think of the value of what's in storage units and then think of the monthly rental as somehow a cost added onto the original purchase price.
 
Writer Michael McGrath, who's on the show today, now looks at the $400 mattress he stored for two years and realizes he accelerated the cost of it to a number topping $1,000. The problem for McGrath -- and for everyone -- is that he didn't have just one item to store. He had a bunch. And it was hard to see clearly what was going to happen.
 
Leave your comments below, e-mail colin@wnpr.org or Tweet us @wnprcolin.

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Colin McEnroe is a radio host, newspaper columnist, magazine writer, author, playwright, lecturer, moderator, college instructor and occasional singer. Colin can be reached at colin@ctpublic.org.

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