We were discussing with CW1 that when she moved in together with her boyfriend, he rented a storage locker for his "bachelor" things that didn't fit in the joint home. She told him that none of those things will make it back to the house as they will not fit their current life but he still has a hard time of letting go and so they still rent that storage locker. They've been living together about half a year or so, getting engaged soon, so likely his bachelor stuff will not be needed. (It includes, among other things, some neon sign and a large cardboard cut out of some hockey player.. in case someone's wondering.)
I contributed my story of my exCW that paid $100 a month for a storage locker for her husband's stuff in NJ after he move to Canada to be with her. A year later they finally drove down to clear out the locker and ended up throwing away 90% as garbage and old dented pots and pans and were left with perhaps 10% something useful to keep. But $1200 for that?? She was so angry.
So current CW2 contributes that in 2013 they were set on moving from Brisbane to Perth when at the last moment the job fell through with Perth. They had already rented a shipping container for their stuff, including appliances, for the move. At the time, they went on a vacation to home country (in Africa) and then didn't return. So now, in 2017, he is set on shipping that container to Canada where we're currently at. The cost of renting that container? $520/quarter.... not sure if that's Australian dollars to boot. And those Australian appliances.. wrong power for Canada.
My aunt and uncle, after living for about 4 years in Canada, at age approx 28, accepted a job offer in indonesia, at an expat oil camp. The contract was only for 2 years, and the company paid for movers for them, and a storage locker fees while they were away. They only had a few weeks to arrange everything.
At the last week, my aunt was overwhelmed, and the packing crew came before she was ready. While she was trying to sort out issues about furniture, the packing crew packed EVERYTHING remaining in every cupboard. The only thing they did not pack was the kitchen trash, but they DID pack the trash cans from the bedrooms, with trash still inside. Of note, my aunt being frugal and low $ after they first moved out, had bought nearly everything at garage sales up to that point.
They moved overseas with a small amount of personal items, and the rest went into storage.
My uncle ended up extending his work overseas, with different companies, for the next 25 years. They had to pay for the storage unit for most of those years. On one rare 2 year stint back in Alberta, they shipped their new rosewood furniture with them, it too, went into another storage unit. 30 years later, they finally faced up to the storage unit that they had been paying for all these years, and in a trip back to canada to renew drivers licenses, etc, they finally cleared it out and reduced it by 3/4. And yes, rosewood furniture from Indonesia will crack in dry Alberta winters.
Can you imagine realizing that you have been paying over $100 a month to store the trash, cheap christmas paper wrap, your junk drawer and garage sale "finds" for 30 years?!