That said, self-storage isn't just for people who can't stop accumulating stuff. In cities like San Francisco and especially Manhattan, it often makes sense to put rarely-used or not-yet-used items in storage, like camping gear, or heirloom furniture that you don't have the space for at the moment.
I've found self-storage useful when moving between cities -- it's hard to predict exactly when you'll find the right place, so it's a reasonably cheap way to buffer the transfer.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/399/c...
That said, self-storage isn't just for people who can't stop accumulating stuff. In cities like San Francisco and especially Manhattan, it often makes sense to put rarely-used or not-yet-used items in storage, like camping gear, or heirloom furniture that you don't have the space for at the moment.
I've found self-storage useful when moving between cities -- it's hard to predict exactly when you'll find the right place, so it's a reasonably cheap way to buffer the transfer.