A Tale of Two Units... part 2

If you didn't read part 1 yet of this story yet, you might want to.  You can find a link to it here:  A Tale of Two Units... part 1 If you didn't, it isn't really necessary for this blog (but you should read it, it's good stuff!)

After our 3 hour long encounter with the 10X10 unit in the 103 degree New Orleans heat, we were thrilled to get to dig unit #2, a climate controlled 5X5?  No, I think it was more like a 2X3.  It wasn't completely full, either.   But first, back to auction day. When the unit had first opened up the day before, the first things we saw were a box marked "Baseball cards",  a bunch of sterilite bin towers with the drawers in them (I LOVE those things!) and clothing and miscellaneous items haphazardly thrown in.  There was also a box of caps (like baseball style caps).  Everyone remarked that it looked like he (the tenant) had already taken out what he wanted and left the rest- but to me, someone who is into sports is not going to leave his baseball cards and hats behind.  If he had collected them in the first place, they meant something to him, and if that was left, who knew what else was?   I think only one person was bidding against us, and as we neared $100 I could see Brian looking at me like "are you nuts?  This is only a 3/4 full 2X3"... but I just told him I had "that feeling" and he finished bidding on it like a pro.

Minus the baseball cards (which we removed before I took the picture), here's what the unit looked like:

We won the unit and immediately went in to quickly assess what was there and take the items of value.  Unsurprisingly, there were a bunch of sports collectibles, including the box of baseball cards (pictured below) and a whole slew of sports team hats and jerseys.  To our absolute delight (we are both HUGE New Orleans Saints fans) there were a couple original print editions of the famous copy of The Times Picayune (our local paper) from the day after the Saints won Superbowl XLIV, which every Saints fan has framed somewhere in their home.  Here's the one in my house:

That copy of the paper without any signatures or anything, is worth about $10-$20... because everyone wants one!   So we had about 4-5 of those, a Superbowl XLIV program, and a few other Superbowl Saints Championship collectibles.    All in all about $140 worth of stuff, paying for our unit.  Later that day, we actually went to Saints training camp, and Drew Brees himself signed all of our items.  Now they're each worth about $120-$150 a piece.   The trick to being great in this business is not just finding things, but getting the maximum value out of them.  I respect and admire Allen Haff from Auction Hunters a lot, because not only does he find great antiques, but he often restores them and pours a lot of love into them to make them worth five times more than they were when he dug them out.  Mad props to him, and so far, it's a technique that's working for us, too!
But back to our amazing Saints items-- we have now quadrupled the cost of our unit.   Here's a photo of Drew signing our stuff:

Here's a photo of the box of baseball cards:

Sure, there may not be a $10,000 baseball card here... although, I guess there COULD be, but even if we grab bag them 20 to a bag at a garage sale for $1 a bag (people love buying "mysterious" things -- we'll make $50 at least!   And we'll have fun going through them!

Back to our unit.  We've bought the unit and ransacked it for obvious valuables, and now it's Day 2 and we've brought the van back and we're doing our dig.

Ever wondered how people get their storage units repossessed?  I gave you the technical rundown on this a couple of weeks ago...  but that's not what I mean.   I mean, what GETS them to that point?  Well, in my experience, they're usually either starting some type of new company and get in over their heads, have had some type of major life change (move, marriage, divorce, baby),  or... they are idiots.  This guy... it seemed like all three things applied!   The books told us the story of his start-up businesses.  He had "Building a PC for dummies"  "Starting a Business for Dummies," "Learning to Screen-Print for Dummies,"  and more.  But there were others, too. He had books on theories of political conspiracies, including one gem about how 9-11 was orchestrated, that had a title having something to do with Alice in Wonderland.   He had books on how to please his woman.  He had all sorts of books that can ALL explain his current situation!   We kept them to sell at garage sales.  If you want one, please let me know and I'll be happy to get it to you :)

I mentioned earlier that we found the contents of a screen-printing t-shirt business?  That was actually an exciting part of this locker.  Getting those t-shirts printed is expensive.  Making the screens is even more expensive.  We found bags and bags of pre-screened t-shirts (already done), bags and bags of tie-dyed t-shirts, bags and bags of prepared (rubber banded) tie-dyed t-shirts (which I loved because it brought back many memories of being a girl scout),  the actual screen templates he used for the screen printed shirts, and all of his ink and dye.  Pretty cool.  We just need to see if we can find a buyer.  Here are some of the boxes of shirts and dye, along with a pretty nice computer monitor.

Here's a close up of the tie-dye shirts.  Anyone want one?  I'm running a special... $2 a piece!  You can't beat $2 to make you feel young again.  It's like being in the 80s.  Seriously.

Fortunately, unlike our last unit, this guy's personal effects easily fit into one designer shoebox.  I also put his kids backpack in the box to be given back to him because a) the little kid is cute and b) the little kid's name is Chayse-Davide and it's monogrammed on everything.  The odds of me finding another kid with THAT name is as likely as me actually wearing a tie-dyed t-shirt.   I will say though, the kid is really cute-- so cute, in fact, that a Times Picayune (again with the newspaper) photographer took a picture of him enjoying Jazz Fest 2009.   That was a cute little clipping his uncle had sent him that he had left in his storage unit.  I put it in the shoebox.  Hopefully, he gets it back!

Here's the box of caps:  Some really nice ones, including 2 New Orleans Saints caps (YES!), a New Orleans Hornets cap (awesome!), and a bunch of other sports teams.  Most in pretty good condition, some still have tags:

And... drumroll please... oh my goodness, can we say designer shoes??  The guy's size is a little unorthodox for the guys I know (he's a 9, which seems pretty tiny for the boys I hang out with), but boy, did he have good taste in shoes!   Aside from the 3-4 pairs of super designer shoes (dustbags and everything), there are at least 20 pairs of Nikes.  Pictured below is only maybe 1/10th of them.

On top of the sterilites (with drawers!) that make me  happy, there was also something Brian loves, as it keeps his beer cold, and that is the mini-fridge.  At this point, we have mini-fridges EVERYWHERE.  But, here's one more!

And what bachelor pad would be complete without a man poster of some sort?  Here's a ROCKY movie poster!

There are some really snazzy jackets-- some look like the Fresh Prince would wear them, others are quite the Dillards catalog.  Brian kept a James Dean looking black leather one.  Watch out, Ladies!

Oh, and more Saints beads!   The bead below, affectionately dubbed "Saintopolis" by Brian (I have no idea, either), is now hanging on the rearview mirror of my car!

Some cds (okay, a lot of cds) and a ton of designer clothing (EVERYTHING he had was Ralph Lauren, all the way down to the socks and underwear)...  and we are now getting into the Rastafarian portion of our journey.   I was so relieved to be able to stop going through clothing (I had done about 5 laundry baskets full),  and it was time to pause for a picture with my new blanket and drum:

 I swear I don't normally look like that!  It was hot and I was sweaty and had been up since 6am.  I don't put on makeup before 8.  Ever.  The one exception to that was when I went on Wheel of Fortune.

Back to the dig, and more clothes.  Grr.   At least we have more sports themed t-shirts.  We found Packers, Broncos, Saints (yay),  and a few other teams.  No rivals though, except for the Eagles.  And I really don't like the Eagles.  So, even though this shirt was fine and there was nothing wrong with it, I threw it away.  I've done the same thing before with Cowboys blankets and Falcons caps.  My whole deal is that if I throw them away, that's one less thing that can end up going where something Saints themed should go.  And I've done my part for society.  Here's a picture of the Eagles shirt in the trash:

A free tie-dyed shirt to the first person who can tell me what the HELL this is.   I thought it was a gag of some sort, and then I thought maybe it was ladies stockings for a bow-legged lady.  Now I think maybe it's a doo-rag.   Whatever it is, it scares me.

Speaking of things that a) I don't know what they are and b) scare me... you HAVE to see this video Brian and I took at this point during our journey in this locker.    Here you go!

Speaking of strange things... in another hamper of clothing,  I was pleasantly surprised for a change of pace by finding this.  At first I thought it was a Bible... but it turns out it was a hollowed out book!  I really wanted to find jewelry or money, but instead...   what I found was... (any guesses)??

That's right, it had been used as a holding box for some lovely marijuana.  Sigh.    Just once I wish these people would realize that I am a good person and therefore drugs mean nothing to me.   Can't they just leave me cash instead?

I still really wanted the box/book because I thought it was super neat and really pretty, but Brian convinced me that I didn't want all this residue:

 and also, that knowing my luck, I'd get into an auto accident with a K-9 cop and go to jail for drug trafficking.    So.... the hollowed out book is sadly in the garbage at the storage facility.  Knock yourselves out if you'd like to go try to find it.

I DID eventually find a Bible...  I always go through them because people keep very important things in Bibles.  Except for pot which goes in secret hollow books.   But, most other important things are kept in Bibles.  I always go through all books, but I take special care with Bibles going through page by page.  A lot of times people will leave money, safe combinations, whatever you can think of on pages with verses that mean something to them.  I did find a lot of things this time, but nothing valuable-- mainly bookmarks, letters, and things of that nature.

And if you're wondering about our book, "Letters from Storage Lockers" - I did find TWO journals filled with a couple of letters that are coming home with me.  You'll get some great letters pretty soon!

My battle scars of the day:

Look at all of the trash bags!  3-4 bags of things thrown out!  That made Brian aka "Captain Trashbag" super happy!

All in all, it was a pretty good dig.  Here's what we found:
sports cards
sports jerseys
sports t-shirts and caps
Nike shoes (25 pairs)
designer shoes (5-10 pairs)
a really nice Sony sound system for an MP3 player (also takes cds) and matching speakers
kid/baby stuff.. backpacks, gym bags, baby lotions and washcloths, bibs, and clothing
Computer screen
Mini-fridge
Saints newspapers & programs (now signed!)
Designer clothing including a few suits
The disgusting brown thing we have no idea what it is (see video)
An entire screen-printing business
Enough tie-dye shirts to last another 20 years


That's it for now... stay tuned, there is some super exciting news to come this week!  Also, be prepared for a tale of the WORST AUCTION EVER!

A Tale of Two Units... part 1

The other day I posted the listings of the auctions we were going to on Monday... we ended up buying two of those units.  See comments on that post to find out which two, if you're interested.   We woke up bright and early this morning and were unloading units before 7:30am.  Four hours in both units (and 10 minutes in a dumpster because Fred Sanford... I mean Brian, saw something he liked)... and we were done, exhausted, but excited, as usual.   Here, is the tale of those two units (part 1):

Unit #1 was an outdoor (read: hot) 10 X 10 unit.  It was not completely full, and it was at the very last auction site of the day.  People were tired, and lazy, and hot, and I think that contributed a lot to why we were able to get it for such a reasonable price.  We only bid on 3-4 units the entire day, and we won 2 of those 4.   I got my strong "storage psychic" feeling on two units, and those were both of the ones we ended up getting.  Mad props to Brian for trusting me and going with my instincts -- and he totally is responsible for winning them at such low prices because he was the bidder.

Here's what our unit looked like when the doors opened:

Three things were pretty apparent when the door opened.  1)  It was a young family with children,  2) they were lower-middle class, and 3) they hadn't taken the items of sentimental value out.    Although points 1 and 2 might not be a reason to buy a locker, reason 3 definitely is.  If someone does not take the time to take their emotional valuables out, they probably didn't take the time to take their true valuables out of the unit.   There was always the risk that this couple divorced and that's why they left that artwork-- but I could see a few other personal belongings and it was enough to take the risk.   There were also two additional reasons we liked this unit a lot:  1)  The red Wolverine box had some tool items in it, and underneath were 2 brake rotors and a set of ceramic brake pads.  I know the value of those having spent so many years in the automotive industry (usually $50-$80 a rotor and $40-$300 for pads depending on what they fit).  2)  See the wooden hamster wheel looking thing?  To the right of that is a cardboard box that I could have sworn said "wedding gifts" on it.  Do you see it?

On to the dig.  What we typically do is go right to the things that we think are valuable and remove them from the unit.  Because we managed to do this yesterday, 5 minutes after we bought the unit, I was able to process it in spacial order.  (I start in one corner and work my way around, just like you would do if you were cleaning a really packed messy room).  

The first thing I found is what I'd like to entitle "Kool-Aid Kit" -- it's everything you need to make Kool Aid!   The mixing bowl, pouring bowl, packets of Kool Aid, and even a special Coca-Cola collector's glass to drink it out of.  Sigh.  Who goes to such great lengths to pack their kool aid?   At least we have the collector's glass!

The next thing we found was a deep fryer.  It is covered and grease and oil and wholly disgusting and I would have thrown it out but I left it up to Brian and I believe he kept it.  But, I know it can be cleaned.  And those things are expensive!

There was a box of decently nice men's clothing... mostly our regular brands of Rocawear and Nike...

There was also a box of women's clothing.  One or two baby girl pieces but mainly woman's clothing.  Lots of her stuff was brand new even though it's cheap brands (Forever 21, Aeropostale, etc).  It's still really cute though, so if any ladies are looking-- check my Facebook albums or comment or e-mail us at storageheroes@gmail.com.   Size S-L tops and size XS-S bottoms.

There was a box of kitchen supplies... after throwing away the butter, oyster, and sour cream containers this is what was left:

So far my "keep" box contains a notebook of love letters (I'm sure you'll be reading them here shortly), as well as some Saints and Hornets cups.  WHO DAT!  Yes, I stole them out of the Kitchenware box.  yes, I plan on keeping them for myself.  Got a problem with that?  You'd do the same thing! :)

There's also some men's, women's, and baby girl shoes.   The ladies shoes are super cute (size 8), and some are pretty nice brands.  There's one pair of baby girl shoes new in the packaging.

A few baby toys and pieces of some type of baby...  thing.  (You can tell I don't have kids)...

Remember I thought I saw a box with "Wedding presents" written on it?   I did.  It had several uniform looking boxes inside, and at first I thought maybe they were empty (lots of people keep boxes for glass with the styrofoam inserts inside so that when they move they can do so without breaking it).  But nope, turns out they were actual, unopened, wedding presents!   Crystal, china, silver and gold plated goblets and cake cutters-- some monogrammed (bummer).  I always hate when they monogram it with the full names and dates because it's totally useless--  at least if they did something like "Ted" I could try to find other Ted's!  But all in all there is a LOT of it...  about 12 pieces of unopened crystal.  I even got to rip into some Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Dillards gift wrap!  And it was fun opening wedding presents, I'm not going to lie!    Oh, and PS - if you're getting married between now and 2012-- please do not be surprised (or offended) if we give you crystal.  It's super super nice, if it makes you feel any better :)

Turns out, there was also another box of wedding gifts.  Score!

And here's what the writing on the box looked like:

There were also a few really nice mirrors and large pictures / art...

 A vacuum cleaner and our ever-increasingly-common printer, in box.  (We have like 8 of them, no lie).

There were a few other nice mid-ticket items, like a boom box and 2-3 suitcases:

And the ever-typical box of rollers.  But no fake hair!  I'm pleasantly surprised, and even a little impressed!

That was about where the organization in this unit ended.  The wedding gifts, shoes, clothing, baby stuff, and hair rollers were, for the most part, in pretty decent order.  I guess they were organized in the home? Everything else was just thrown in trash bags, shopping bags, on the floor-- you name it.  I started putting it together.  Rule #1 if you're ever going to get a storage unit, is don't get a storage unit.  Rule #2 if you're going to get a storage unit, is to organize your things before hand.  Half the time you'll realize I'm right about #1 and you don't even need a unit if you throw away all of the trash and sell the stuff you aren't attached to.   Rule #3 is if you're going to get a storage unit and you still organize your things and need it-- at least make sure to take the personal sentimental items out.  The items that would kill you if you lost them.  The memories, the photos, the yearbooks, the things you can't get back.   This is a very sore spot for me because I lost a lot in the flood of 1995 and I lost even more in Katrina-- but I was one of the lucky ones. I still have stuff.  Lots of my friends lost absolutely everything.  I can't imagine how people can be in this city, go through Katrina, and still leave their most valuable belongings on the floor of a storage unit.  But I digress.  Here is just a few of the personal belongings I found:

Here's their original marriage certificate:

Super bad idea to leave that in there.  Even if the marriage ended poorly, it's probably still not a good idea to leave something with your maiden name, mother's maiden name, date of birth, and signature lying around.  Just saying.

Here's the entire stack of personal items when I was done with it.  It included: titles to the cars, birth certificates, marriage license, baby shower pillow (signed with all of the guests and their well-wishes), baby shower photo album, engagement portrait, high school yearbooks for both of them, middle school yearbooks, baby bracelet, hospital bracelet for Mom, high school graduation mug, wedding planning binder, baby photos, ultrasound CD, and more.  I still can't understand what would possess a person to leave this behind.  Even if their life together had ended - there were items in their from their childhood, before they met in high school-- and also, things from their children's childhoods.    Sigh.

We also found this thing.  If anyone can fill me in on what the hell this is, I'd appreciate it.  At first I thought it was for a large hamster.  It also kind of looks like a cage.   Or interpretative art.  Brian thinks it's a changing table.  He might be right.  I'm still undecided.  And how do you change a baby's diaper in a jail circle?

A closeup of the infamous printer.  Anyone want to buy it?  Give me $30.

Ooh!  We also found this construction worker "don't hit me on the side of the road" shirt- which Brian was happy to model for you all:

This is his mean "construction worker face", I guess...

Ah!  The fake hair.  It's always there somewhere... especially if there are rollers around!

We're getting ready to leave, and we realize there's one bag we've not looked through.  It is in a trash bag, and at first glance, looks like trash.  But I hear something clanging around (you learn very quickly that change, jewelry, and tools have a particular ring to them)-- and I know that I have to trust my instincts.  Plus, I know that I'm not going to be able to sleep wondering if I missed something!  So, I roll up my sleeves and "take one for the team".    It was mostly garbage.  There were empty Gatorade bottles,  McDonalds bags from weeks and months ago, used qtips, papers, candy wrappers, generally... trash.  BUT- there was about $1 in change, 3 or 4 sockets (from a set that we had 26/30 of),  and some XBOX accessories.  My best guess is they assembled a trash bag and at the very last minute found a junk drawer they needed to pack-- they dumped it into one of the 8 bags, not realizing one actually WAS trash.  Gross.   Here's a look at what the garbage bag looked like from the top:

I also had the misfortune of finding THIS.  *NO* idea what it was supposed to be... but I'm sure it was supposed to be it LONG ago.  Brian is lucky he was at the dumpster when this little gem came out of the trash bag!

Here's a close up.  You're welcome.  Let me know if anyone has a guess to what it is/was.  By the ribbon and cling wrap, I'm going to go with some type of Holiday cookies/bread/pie .... from 2008.

All in all, it was a pretty successful dig.  Let's do a wrap-up:

Found:
  Collector, life-size, porcelain doll (no pictures yet but they'll be coming, probably in a separate blog)
  Wedding presents, crystal, gold-plated things, frames, goblets, etc.
   The same printer we keep finding
  Fake hair & rollers
Picture frames, mirrors, curtains, 3-4 sets of brand new bedding (to match some curtains), and household items
Brake pads and rotors (if anyone needs them, let me know... I think they fit a 2000 Oldsmobile)
Baby girl dresses (several really really nice $40+ dresses, new with tags)
Baby girl clothes and shoes
Adult man/woman clothes and shoes
a special Chris Paul jersey (stay tuned for a pic of that)
a nifty Construction worker shirt
fun pictures of Brian in above-mentioned shirt
some old pizza... pie.... cookies... something
a bag of trash
and a wooden hamster wheel... oh no, we threw that away
and old coke glass, kitchen collectibles, and a deep fryer
a brand new purse with $98 price tag and a brand new wallet with $28 price tag (stay tuned for pics)