What to do with household goods when travelling over a year??

Submitted: Friday, Nov 29, 2013 at 14:41

ThreadID: 105317 Views:2679 Replies:13 FollowUps:6

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exilebean

Hi Guys,

I hoping for some advice, comments on storing household items while travelling for extended periods of time. Basically we are 4 months away from heading off in the CT and planning to travel of at least one-two years hopefully three or well as long as the mortgage is being paid who’s counting. During this time we will be renting out the house to pay the mortgage and so will need to do something with the contents of the house (ranging from sofas/furniture, TVs, white goods etc.).

I have looked into keeping our belongings in long term storage, however at $3000.00 plus a year it’s a big outlay especially when compared to other options once you get to the two plus year mark. We have also looked at a fully sealed storage container, which we can get for around the same price as one year in storage. Only problem is although we have a large back garden we have no way to get a container down there due to access and unsure if it’s a good idea to keep it on a friends land, as though it maybe convenient now a lot can happen in a year. Another option is to build a shed (waterproof graded) at the bottom of the yard. This would equate to approximately two years storage, but also may add some value to the house. The final option is to sell it all. We don’t really want to do this as we have over the years upgraded furnishing and now have some expensive items that wouldn’t get much second hand but cost a fortune to buy it all new again. This concerns me especially as I imagine once we finish our travels (although we will be working our way around), we won’t have much money in the bank to re-kit a house and starting completely from scratch again is not ideal. However the hubby was told some horror stories by someone stored their items in long term storage and everything was mouldy through and through and had to be chucked, in which case they wished they just sold everything.

If anyone has any experience/advice, other ideas, do and don’t etc, please share take a minute to share.

Frazzled Bean

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Reply By: Member - Grundle (WA) - Friday, Nov 29, 2013 at 14:58

Reply By: Bushranger1 - Friday, Nov 29, 2013 at 15:37

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Reply By: allein m - Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 at 09:58

Reply By: exilebean - Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 at 20:55

Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 at 20:55

Hi Guys,

Thank you all for your replies and advice, you have certainly given me some food for thought. Although tempted to sell it all, I’m a bit of a realist and want to keep some furnishing incase were not in the situation to but everything again or something happens. I also have previously sold almost everything once before and we moved over here 6 years ago and there are some items we’ve said in hindsight we wouldn’t of sold. But armed with my trusty camera I will be trying to sell basically sell everything but keep essential basic furnishing such as one bed, a sofa etc. All we need to set up again quickly if need be.

I like the idea of storing the items in one room of the house, however we really need to get the top rent to cover the mortgage and doubt we’d get it if we rented it with one less room. I still like the storage container, however again still unsure of keeping it on someone else’s land, especially don’t want to be in the middle of woop woop to be told their selling and we have to find somewhere new to put it and we have no family over here so that’s not an option either. But I do like that we could sell if off when finished and have some cash back for it. So I am now looking at the option of using someone like Port Container Services, who will store container too. I’ve requested a quote and we post what I get back as it maybe useful so others. The shed is still a possibility (the size where looking at doesn’t need any council approval) however liking PCS option, if it’s as good as it looks on the website. Once I get more info I post it to this tread, as they are Australia wide apparently.

Thanks again guys for sharing your wisdom.

AnswerID: 522433

Follow Up By: JimDi - Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 at 22:55

Sunday, Dec 01, 2013 at 22:55

Hi Exilebean,
We left home in 2009, sorted out what we wanted to keep and put the rest into storage. We pull in occasionally and check the storage out and so far its all okay.
But looking at it I am not sure we even need all of what we kept. Its just family items that we cannot part with, I really have no idea why but neither my wife or I want to part with the items.

It is one of those half size garages with a roller door. Its professionally run and altho costs have risen to over a couple of grand a year we find it is far better than relying on a relative or friend etc.

The reason we arrived at this method is because we had friends who tried the build a shed method etc and it did not work out. In general terms the rental system is okay as its looked after by the onsite manager,its secure and well ventilated. As I said above so far so good. The cost is something you will have to learn to live with but it gives you peace of mind and no phone calls from unhappy tenants relatives etc.

As for keeping the basics like beds etc I decided not to. When I tried to sell them in Brisbane at the time I could not find any takers. So I decided to ring a charity and give them away. After talking to no less than five charities it was six weeks before one turned up to collect a good quality, lounge suite, dining room set and beds. Imported furniture is cheap these days even the "good quality stuff".

To finish off I will add that if you are looking for long term storage whilst travelling it does not need to be necessarily near where you live. We have rented our unit out in Brisbane but inner city storage is far too expensive so we went way way out and found it far cheaper.
regards
Jim

FollowupID: 803518