Where do you folks store all of your stuff? (Clearwater: sale, apartment) - Tampa Bay - Florida (FL) -Tampa - St. Petersburg - Clearwater - City-Data Forum

Grahamclan25 · 03-08-2010, 10:19 AM

My wife, 2 kids, and I live in a 2250 sq ft house in Ohio with a full basement and an attic and we still do not have enough room for everything. We are concerned that if and when we move to Clearwater, most of the houses we can afford will not have enough room. With most of the houses not having basements, has anyone ran into difficulty finding room for all of you things when bought a house after you moved? We have been looking at 2000sqft+ houses with 4br and 2baths but they do not look large enough but we do not want to spend more than $210,000.

jetlag · 03-08-2010, 10:46 AM

At the end of the driveway. Every Sunday and Wednesday night.

Seriously though, most of the garages in my neighborhood are packed full of crap. If you don't mind leaving your cars in the driveway you'll probably be fine. Otherwise you'll have to do what we did and start donating/selling/throwing stuff away.

moderngnome · 03-08-2010, 10:53 AM

It's called downsizing

Sounds like you guys have too much stuff!

We are a family of five, living in 1200 square feet in Chicagoland. We have a crawlspace (with only Christmas decorations), no attic, and a one car garage.

We tossed and decluttered and donated and tossed some more when we moved into this house (From a bigger house with a full basement).

You learn to live with less stuff. It is freeing, really

TampaKaren · 03-08-2010, 11:04 AM

If you live in a single story, you will have some attic space which isn't found in a two-story. Extra garage bays are useful for storage as well. Some non deed restricted communities allow yard barns. And you can purge most of the snow-related items before you leave.

BucFan · 03-08-2010, 11:19 AM

Might be worth it to rent a storage space at a commercial place. I did that up in Augusta, GA when I had a small place. It was near my apartment - good place to store clothing that you don't need (summer vs winter), sports equipment, bikes, etc - stuff you use only seasonally.

gypsychic · 03-08-2010, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grahamclan25

My wife, 2 kids, and I live in a 2250 sq ft house in Ohio with a full basement and an attic and we still do not have enough room for everything. We are concerned that if and when we move to Clearwater, most of the houses we can afford will not have enough room. With most of the houses not having basements, has anyone ran into difficulty finding room for all of you things when bought a house after you moved? We have been looking at 2000sqft+ houses with 4br and 2baths but they do not look large enough but we do not want to spend more than $210,000.

And you really want to pay to move all that stuff down? I think it's time to downsize!

algia · 03-08-2010, 01:37 PM

Well our lovely builders believe that people who live in Florida only own bathing suits!!!

Seriously tho....my theory is that if it's not Xmas/Haloween etc decorations and IT spent over 6 months stored then you are not going to use it again...stuff degrades if your attic/basement is not AC'd so....

But I wouldn't pay either to move all that stuff just so I can store it somewhere else!

baseballgal · 03-08-2010, 01:45 PM

Have several yard sales. When we moved I got rid of 75% of our stuff. Trust me. It is very freeing.

ozlo · 03-08-2010, 02:01 PM

You can only downsize so much if you have young kids. The obvious place to store things would be the garage. It's frustrating not being able to have garages here because there are some things you need to store away but really do not want to subjugate them to the humidity out there.

On a somewhat related note, I can't tell you how many older (built in 1980s and before) homes I have encountered around here that have little to no closet space and absolutely no form of pantry in the kitchen. More indicators of how Florida was a big ponzi scheme for senior citizens to buy into so they can come down and die---retire!

buyNtampa · 03-08-2010, 02:53 PM

I have a garage sale everytime we move - which is often! I tend to believe that if I have not used something in the past year or so, I won't miss it when it's gone.

Other storage solutions are out there for garages that allow you to continue to use for your cars. They make use of overhead space some are lifts and others are stationary. You need a high ceiling for these so search for different systems to see if they might work for you. If humidity will effect your items you may want to look into an air conditioned storage unit.

The cost of moving, and storing items that live in the basement and attic of your current home may not be the logical choice. Not that you have to rid yourself of all... It's choices.