A Penny Saved is a Penny Learned... part 1

 This unit was the 2nd of the 3 that we bought last week.  The tenants actually had two units directly next to each other, both 5 X 15s--  we bought this one for $285, and were about to buy the other one but we were outbid by someone who was actually a tenant (not THIS tenant)-- he had showed up to pay his bill and stayed for the auction.   There was no way we were going to go over $285 on the other (his winning bid), which was the same size as ours, but only half full.  

This is what the unit looked like when the doors rolled open:

Another picture:

Another picture:

And a video:

You can't see it from the picture, but there was a jewelry box behind the TV and on top of one of the dressers. This is one of the reasons we wanted this unit.  Here's a closeup of the jewelry box:

Another picture of the jewelry box.  There was nothing inside (minus some costume jewelry, pennies, and things like that)-- but it did come with the key, and is a great looking box. 

A picture of the rest of the unit.  We have a little boy's dresser (red and blue), another dresser, a real locker (super cute and cool) and a bed that could be bunk beds but I'm not sure yet.  There's also a washer, and about 10 assorted boxes and bags.

Another angle of the unit.

The first bag I opened was just bedding--  so we're going to trash that.

The next box I opened had varnish and paint, and some other junk so we just threw that box away.

At this moment,  the guy who had purchased the locker next door had shown up to collect his items as well... and he let me look at a few of his things (honestly because I think he wanted my opinion on their value).    Fortunately for us, our locker had all of the items of value in it.  Unfortunately for us, his locker had all of the interesting items!   This one bag, for example, was filled with sex toys, a bong, and something wrapped up in foil that I'm pretty sure was black tar heroin.   I was going to ask the guy what he planned on doing with this stuff, but honestly, it was none of my business and I hate when people ask me that kind of stuff so I just snapped a few pictures, answered his questions, and went back to my locker.

Here's a closeup of the bag:

His mystery, almost assuredly, drug-like substance:

There were also prison letters in his locker.  Of course.  I'm always bummed when I know I've missed out on some good prison letters.

Back to our locker.   It might not be as interesting as the other one, but at least we have SOME strippers this time! :)

It also appears like one or more of our tenants was ripping off people of their car stereos and navigation systems...  either that, or they are REALLY bad at wiring! :)

More electronic equipment:

A 50 cent novel:

Oh, you thought I meant the PRICE was 50 cents, right?  Joke's on you!

And another book, called "Knockin' Boots" -- wonder what THAT's about

This next tote had a lot of personal items in it, scattered, randomly, so I decided to take my time with it.

I found a TON of photos, and some gift certificates.  This one is for a free drink (with food purchase) at a bar in the Marigny area of New Orleans.  If anyone would like it, feel free to comment.   We'll do a random number generator on all of the comments (if any) to pick a winner.  Otherwise, Brian gets it :)

I spent seriously an hour on this one box.   I realized after about 2 minutes that she had dumped out the jewelry box into this box,  so on top of trying to sort out pictures for the tenant, I was also literally trying to sort out trash from treasure.  There were quite a few pieces of gold and sterling silver, so I was happy I didn't just dump this box.

See how large this stack of photos is?  This is one of five stacks this size.  Sheesh.  I still don't understand why, if photos are so important to people that they take, keep, and save, thousands of pictures, why they don't keep them in a more secure place.

Another stack of photos:

Anyone have any idea what this is?  A piece to a speaker?

No storage locker party is complete without a funky red lightbulb!

Speaking of light, our tenant had a huge lighter collection.  This was one of the more memorable ones.

At some point throughout reading all of the notes on all of the backs of all of the high-school dance photos (you know the ones),  I realized that our girl got pregnant somewhere during high school (along with about a half dozen of her friends).  All I can say is, at least they were seeking medical advice and taking the proper prenatal vitamins!

This keychain says it all!  Pretty sure that's why I'm knee-deep in a storage locker at this moment! :)

Either our girl travelled a LOT or she had great dreams to travel a lot-- there were hundreds of unsent postcards.   I'd find 10 or 12 from the same city at a time.  These are all from/of New York, and I'm assuming they are pretty old, because the Twin Towers are very evident in the one on top.  9-11-01, we'll remember forever.   One good thing about storage units is you're forced to remember (and reflect on) things like that (and Katrina for us), more often than you would normally, because you're constantly going through pictures and scrapbooks and diaries and letters, etc.

So, where's the baby daddy?    Well, according to our records, he's in jail.  Not sure for what (not sure if I ever will find out), but the bail/jail fees are pretty intense.

Another high-school prom photo.  Only it's a picture of another little (precious) newborn.   In the note on the back the mom is complaining about... well, here's the text of the note:  "She was very white looking, you know the picture taker was a hater. They made my baby darker"    Super cute little baby, though!

Here's another lighter.  Self explanatory.

Lots of Betty Boop purses, collectibles, and postcards also.  A LOT of our tenants collect Betty Boop.  Not sure what the correlation with that is.

Hand-drawn picture.  I get what it's trying to say, but I'm not sure I want to.

The tongue ring just makes it.  Don't you think?


A-HA... well here's one of our perpetrator's offenses....  (I assume there are more because I'm not sure that "Theft of Utility Service"  has a $25,000 bond... that seems excessive).

All of the photos and personal items I've collected are now in one box.   Can you see how much is in there?

Also, see those red and green bordered things? Those are the photos you take at Chuck-E-Cheese in the photo booth.  There are probably 100 of them in there.

I got really excited to find a letter, only to realize that it was just a child's drawing.

This box is entirely full of disposable cameras

The pile of jewelry and costume jewelry so far:

A McDonald's Arch Card:

No idea what was in this particular picture.  I'll blow it up so you can try to figure it out at home.  Sometimes when you're in a unit and you open 40 boxes and take 200 pictures, sometimes the minor details and un-exciting finds just pass by you.

A book of Prayers and Poems to God.  We find something similar to this in a lot of prison units.  Usually implies repeat offender, because they hand this out in prison, and the fact that it's in the unit usually means the offender has repeated.   I hope this guy is doing okay and is on the right track now!

I found this strange looking black mesh thing:

And then I realized it must be the back to the mystery item I found earlier.  A perfect fit:

So, I guess it IS a speaker.

Hair supplies.  Another super-duper common find.

Poker chips, still wrapped up in the original cellophane.

Ahh, the Crown Royal bag.  Ask Brian if you don't believe me, but I swear we find one of these in every locker.  I don't know why.  Sometimes we find the bottle too, but usually just the bag.  People can't throw them away.  I guess because if you're booze is fancy enough to come with a drawstring fake suede like baggie, you sure as hell better save that for a special occasion.

And by the way, this entire bag was filled with pennies.

A picture of the pennies inside the bag:

A really nice cedar jewelry box.   Any guesses what is in this one?

Pennies and screws.

More purses.  Filled with?

Pennies.

A cute little screw set:

At this point I found this metallic suitcase that looked like what the casino chips come in, and since we already had a roll of chips I was excited... but it turns out that it was filled with (You'll never guess in a million years)...


.......

Floppy disks.  Of the 3 1/2 " variety.  I had no idea they still MADE those.


Maybe our guy was a DJ?   Or maybe the girl was, who knows.  Here are a bunch of sound effects cds.

Another shot of the cds:

Lion King snow globe!   My day is now complete. Yes, I'm being sarcastic.  I do want to see the Lion King show though (shout out, it's at Mahalia Jackson theatre in New Orleans through March and I heard it's really great.  Feel free to send us free tickets.)

A combination CD changer. If only it took 3 1/2 inch floppies, too!

A close up:

Job history.  Poor girl, it really did look like she was trying to support her son the best she could, and that she was saving every penny.   I'm sure the bond payments didn't help her keep to her budget.

Oh yes, and line #1  DEFINITELY explains the hundreds of Chuck-E-Cheese photos.


Someone worked at Texas Roadhouse (another Storage Hero favorite).  We were so excited by this that we went and ate at Texas Roadhouse that day!  But, no coupons were found in this holder :(   If someone wants to send us Texas Roadhouse coupons, again, feel free :)

Cute little baby frame:

More electronics, including a DVD player.

Someone was also studying for a CDL license:

More random auto electronics:

A box of tool and tool like things:

Pink flip flops!

Another DVD player and a box of stuff we decided to keep:  (Actually, I think at this point I was still there by myself because Brian was working in the store... but I knew it was stuff that he'd want to keep).

Close-up of our DVD player.  Still no slots for 3 X 5 inch floppy disks :)

She really loved pink.  Even the cut-off lock was pink!

Another random box of stuff to dig.  Brian was back by now, it was POURING RAINING, and we were ready to go to Texas Roadhouse to eat.  I think this bin is still in the back of my car waiting to be processed.  We'll let you know how that goes.  Mainly tools, I think.

I do remember by going through this briefly that there were just random things-- really heavy tools and jacks, for example, on top of fragile cds that had broken under the weight.

Here was one such CD.   And no offense or disrespect to Pastor Tilton or any of these other pastors who make these types of materials-- but why is it that I always find cds like "Keys to Prosperity"  in repossessed storage lockers?  Hmm...

Another CD.  Read the title.

Now, it is REALLY "Ghetto"  when you can't even SPELL ghetto.

A Louis Vuitton looking bag, but NOT, definitely not.  Still cute though.

My newfound purses. We'll probably play a round of "what's in the bag"  in our next blog on this unit!

Another bag:

Contents of purses and bottoms of boxes.  PENNIES EVERYWHERE.

Another box filled with randomness.

Cute onesie!  It says "When God created me, he was just showing off!"

Anyone need a Cleopatra-ish headpiece?  Comes with free fake snake!

At this point there was a little tiny thing wrapped in about 5 different plastic bags.  It made me highly curious so I immediately unwrapped it.

Turns out, it was just a bottle of heart shaped nailpolish.

That's it for today... you can see this is a long blog on a pretty small unit... but lots more interesting stuff to write about!   (Oh goodness, I sound like Brian!)  Next thing you know, I'm going to start mis-using the ellipsis.   (you know, the dot dot dot in-between things, like this...  Brian thinks the number of dots you use is completely subjective and dependent upon how excited you are about something, and that is just NOT THE CASE.)  But I digress!

Until next time!

Storage Heroes Tip #14:   When buying companion units (different units that belonged to the same tenant)-  try to get all or none of them.  If you can't, make sure to be cordial and respectful of the other person, and give him/her your contact information in case one of you has an item the other person needs.  It does no one any good if you each have half of a piece of furniture!

Storage Heroes Tip #15:  If you are unsuccessful in buying all of the companion units, and you can, try to show up at the same time as the person who bought the other unit so you can scope out their stuff :)