What have you all done for additional storage space for your collection(s)?

[barythrin]

One interesting things to hear at the VCF was different folks collections, sizes, and storage stories. What have you done storage wise with you folks with larger collections? How did it work out and any suggestions you would give? I'm concerned with the cost and of course getting past that first feeling of not knowing if my stuff is safe bugs the hell out of me. At the same time, if I did get a storage space perhaps I could make better use of my space and equipment, or maybe it would just get filled up again in typical poor fashion (dunno). Cost though.. if I had a climate controlled storage that's almost $85/month minimum around here it seems and while it may be the way to go that's $85/month I could spend on computer stuff lol I mean 3 years of storage or $3000 to spend although it probably wouldn't happen that way either since space is already an issue.

It's different having a family plus a collection than the luxury of being single and having your best pieces in the living room or spare equipment in the kitchen.

 

[Unknown_K]

I guess you have to ask yourself what do you realy want to collect and figure out if you had most of that how much space you would need. How bulky is the stuff you collect and how much of it needs to be setup at any given time? People who collect mainframes have different problems then people who collect laptops or calculators.

Do you own a home, rent a home, or have an apartment? Do you expect to move around for work much? Do you expect to be collecting for a long period of time? Have you collected anything before computers that you still own (ask yourself if you are going to get bored in a short time like every other hobby you had)?

If you expect to be where you are long term and own a house then maybe building a storage shed out back for items not currently being used might be a good idea. This will cost the most up front but you won't get stuck with monthly fees and won't need to firesale everything is you can't affort storage anymore for whatever reason.

For the most part people store "junk" in storage buildings, stuff they realy don't use and pay good money to get it out of their house. Rented storage buildings to me are for short term use if you are moving and need time to get everything sorted out (usually from a bigger place to a smaller one). Once you are done moving in you get rid of the junk you don't need and get rid of the storage space. Those placed don't seem that climate controlled either, humidity and heat play hell on electronics.

 

[DOS lives on!!]

I took over our storage building in the backyard to store some of my collection in. It's proved to be pretty handy when I come home with another computer and think where in the world to put it.

 

[twolazy]

I ended up buying a raised ranch with a full basement. 1700sq ft basement for all my toys! Wife and I came to the agreement whatever place we got, I could have the basement for all my computer stuff minus the laundry area.

 

[Unknown_K]

I ended up buying a raised ranch with a full basement. 1700sq ft basement for all my toys! Wife and I came to the agreement whatever place we got, I could have the basement for all my computer stuff minus the laundry area.

Thats pretty much what I do now one large cool full basement (minus the small room for the bathroom and another small room for the furnace but I store stuff in there too).

 

[tezza]

I've deliberately keep the collection relatively small so I've not had to worry about "extra" space just yet. A some stage I'd like a room to display them in though. Perhaps when I retire or move house...

Tez

 

[NeXT]

extended storage resides in my apartment in a small crawlspace above the car park and a bit of the rest hides in the stairwell that now leads to the blocked off apartment downstairs.
At my parents it's the storage room under the deck.

 

[AppleIIfan]

Im in the process of emptying my closet, I removed the doors, Im going to build a large bench in it, to keep the network organized and everything, Ill then have a place to put out some of my collection and keep the others stored in a neat orderly fashion.

 

[njroadfan]

For the most part people store "junk" in storage buildings, stuff they realy don't use and pay good money to get it out of their house.

There is a solution to that, they are called garage sales (or garbage sales depending on how you look at it). Don't want the hassle of a sale? Put it on the curb, someone will take it within 10 minutes, always worked for me.

 

[Unknown_K]

Yes, in this economy anything you put out on trash day that is reusable will be gone pretty quickly. Some people make a job out of driving old beat up pickup trucks around looking for things to resell or maybe just use themselves.

I just think it is weird that people will litterally fill up a rental with total junk and pay for it montly for years instead of just getting rid of it in the first place. There are plenty of people in this world with bad finances that would save a ton of money just by cutting out the junk they don't want in the first place. I think one of the reasons schools don't bother teaching how interest works or finance in general is because we need millions of idiots paying for things they cannot afford and don't need to keep the rich in the money.

 

[Caluser2000]

I'm contemplating relocating my stuff from the conservatory to the bedroom where I should have put a double closet. Means they wont be subjected to the sun, or moister when the clothes dryer is in action. Will be getting extra heating and insulation in the house as it's quite and old drafty ex-state house with a reasonable sized property.

Fired up the Compaq all in one expecting an error of some sort, but no. Wifes away and its sitting on the kitchen table at the moment so been totoing with win 3.1 and dos. I'll leave it running for a few days. Damn heavy bloody thing it is too so don't want to be lugging it around too much.

The over flow of course is in the shed, not temp controlled and probably takes up a half a cubic meter or so if all packed together. It's a bit sprawled out at the moment.