Still looking for a piece of property. No takers yet, but I’m confident that its going to happen at some point in the relatively-near future. I like to think a year or less. As such, I’m starting to think that I need to start staging things for the eventual acquisition. My basement, although capacious for most of my needs, is getting a wee bit cluttered since it is currently containing what I feel I need to stay where I am, and containing enough to stockpile the (eventual) alternate location.
Since Im pretty confident (not 100% but definitely north of 85%+) that this acquisition is a real thing, I’m contemplating renting a secure storage unit (or at least as secure as you can get) to pre-position some gear for the eventual move and clear up some space in my current home. I’d never stockpile stuff like ammo, guns, expensive electronics, etc, in a storage units but other things…sleeping bags, barrels of freeze dried pouches, spare epmty fuel and water jugs, hand tools (shovels, axes, etc), etc, might be good candidates for storing away off-site until the new place is mine.
It would be nice to free up some space at the primary location and have a bunch of the secondary-location-gear in one place for easy relocation. The risks, of course, are obvious – storage units, even in fenced and monitored locations, are not the most secure places. Ive a friend who rents a storage unit here in town and the place seems pretty secure – fenced, cameras, gated keycard access, etc. As I said, I wouldnt be comfortablle putting a footlocker of AR-15s there, but the bulky, fairly-low-value, and fairly-low-attractiveness items might be a good choice for that.
Of course I may be getting ahead of myself here. I still havent found something that checks off enough boxes on my ‘want list’ to pull the trigger. And, before you start in with the whole ‘perfect is the enemy of good enough’, I’m smart enough to realize that while Id like to get 100% of what I want (who wouldn’t?), I can probably be happy enough with ‘pretty close’. But..even ‘pretty close’ hasn’t quite surfaced yet.
So..as the world slides into the unknown of potential World War III and/or economic malaise, I’m still looking and still trying to find the bolt hole to run to before it all falls apart too badly.
A common response. I’ve done that several times.
I’d recommend resisting the urge, unless you find some REALLY GOOD deal. Beyond a few easily and inexpensively acquired things (home cleaning supplies, etc) you don’t know what you’ll need, as opposed to want. And a significant portion of what you want will likely be unnecessary. At least it was for me
“Have fun storming the castle.”
Eventually, all the tumblers will click, and you’ll get most of what you want.
Best Wishes.
IMHO you can neither trust fellow storage patrons who see you filling your unit nor employees of the business but I guess based on my experience dealing with schemers and crooks I’m a bit jaded
Oh, I dunno….I hate to always assume the worst out of people but it does save a lot of grief in the long run. I was thinking a unit large enough to back my tarp-covered pickup into and then unload in privacy.
Good idea. Scope the place and figure out when they have slow traffic as well.
Back when I still lived in LA….I worked in West LA (Westwood) and lived in Santa Clarita – a good 35 miles away, over two mountain ranges. Not ideal for a bug-out on foot.
We later moved to Sedona, Az….even worse.
I was much more concerned about a nuclear war then than I am now. What to do?
I rented a couple of storage units – big ones. Set them up with supplies, water, firearms, etc. Even some flats of bagged concrete to build an ad-hoc shelter (stacked bags of concrete are quite dense). One shelter near work, one in the San Fernando Valley about half-way home.
I was worried about theft. One solution was backing in, and hiding as I worked on the shelter. The other trick was getting some crap furniture (sidewalk pickup, Goodwill, etc) and putting it at the front of the unit, pretty well blocking the view if anyone did break in: A lot of junk means nothing valuable, right?
At least I never had to test that out: No break ins. Nor thankfully did we have to test the shelter aspects.
When we moved to Arizona, the plan was to bug out via car, then by air if possible (my wife and I were both pilots). If it wasn’t, some street legal dirt bikes in the shelters. The emergency route (Primary. Alternate, Contingency, Emergency) was to walk it: Walking across the desert required a hella lot of water so a push cart was staged.
Buy a shipping container, load it at home , and then store it a RV storage facility. When you find property, just have the container delivered.
The lifespan of even freeze dried food, let alone dehydrated food or even buckets with mylar bags of beans and rice, degrades rapidly at extreme temperatures. I don’t know how hot a basic shipping container would get in a Montana summer. A friend of ours initially used one to contain overflow storage while building/finishing a small ‘bugout/weekend’ place in Texas, and the summer temps ruined a lot of costly food.
This is an utterly vital thing to keep in mind.
Chances are a storage locker will never be looted. But “The Sun shines also on the wicked” and that applies to one’s supplies too. Heat, humidity, insect/rodent pests… All these can and will degrade stored supplies — and they’re far more likely than a burglar to deprive one of their supplies.
What is an “empty water jug”? Never heard of one.
Watch “The Ugliest House in America”. It gives you some ideas of what to watch out for. There was a hideous one on 30 acres recently.
“I’ve always assumed the worst in my fellow man;
Over the last 80 years, I’ve seldom been wrong.
Cheers
I agree, but I like to think that, while everyone is capable of being a complete douchebag, there are people for whom that isnt their default setting. In the Jewish faith theres a belief that there are 36 righteous good people on the earth at any given moment, and it is because of these 36 that god doesnt wipe the whole lot of us off the planet and start over. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzadikim_Nistarim) I kind of like that idea…in a world full of..well..people like me…there’s at least a couple dozen genuinely good people out there that keep the idea alive that maybe we arent all complete jerks.
But, yeah, you save a lot of time just assuming everyone is.
Maybe instead of the Great Bunker in the Sky, you are going to the Rusty Container down below. But there’s still time to change the road you’re on…
So do you have the contact details of the other 35?
The Talmud teaches Jews that it is okay to lie to, steal from and cheat gentiles. I would guess that these 36 righteous people are not Jewish per the teachings in the Talmud.
Henry Ford wrote about these creatures in his fine book “The International Jew”.
CZ, do you really want this loathsome nonsense being spread on your site?
Just as there’s no way to pick up a turd by the “clean end” there’s no way to host people like this without ending up smeared with their shit.
I’ve long had a policy, rightly or wrongly, that I approve pretty much all non-spam posts, even if I don’t agree with the political/religious/racial/whatever sentiment behind it. I may (or may not) disagree with someones ideas but, to me, it’s not my place to ‘cancel’ their voice…if their message isnt received well, people will ignore it; if its received well, they won’t. If you look back through the years theres been some racist, sexist, religious nonsense posted and I usually let it slide unless its way way out of bounds.
I’m not worried about being tarred with that brush because I think people who have been here for a while have gotten to know me well enough through my postings to know that, by and large, I’m a pretty fair-minded guy…I try to judge persons, not peoples. But, I do understand your point of view.
The followers of the Talmud wrote this, not me. As unpleasant as it is, it is truth.
https://shoah.org.uk/lying-stealing-and-cheating-in-jewish-talmud/
https://mustafa-apologist.blogspot.com/2016/11/lying-stealing-and-cheating-in-jewish.html
Aside from all the “security” coverage provided by the storage facility, is there any type of insurance provided or available? Or maybe your homeowners insurance covers your stuff in the storage facility?
Moving your preps in some ways is like buying a gun safe – there are A LOT of additional people ya have to trust as soon as ya buy it – now ya have to trust the guys at the store or online business where ya bought the safe, the delivery people, the neighbors who see you moving it into your home, any tradespeople (plumbers, electricians, etc) that come into your house, etc.
I like it, but if you’re uncomfortable with this – ““I’ve always assumed the worst in my fellow man” – try this – “Trust, but verify”.
Regarding safes…
Pay cash, rent a UHaul for the day, buy a couple of cases of beer and call a trusted friend or three. Anything less than 700 pounds is not that difficult to move so long as stairs are not involved. An appliance dolly will handle the weight and going up a step or two is not terribly difficult or dangerous.
For a full flight of stairs this can be dangerous though. Get a pro — a bonded one — in that case. The risk of disclosure will be minimal and if someone gets crushed under 1200 pounds of steel it won’t be you or yours.
Or use smaller safes. I moved a lot when in the Army. Had several “10-14 gun”-size safes instead of one large one. Light enough that they could be moved with a basic hand-truck, including up and down stairs (lived in a third floor apartment once: not a fun move but it was accomplished). Moves were made using a “sleeve” of cardboard boxes around the safe. To anyone observing it looked like I was just wheeling a stack of boxes of books or kitchen gear inside. Taking the door off and moving it separately also helps a lot.
Then conceal the safe(s) once they’re inside. A room that no one has any reason to be in is good, or a closet, with a basic locking knob on the door. That’ll keep casual visitors and tradespeople from seeing the safes.
Bolt small safes together. It’s not hard to drill a few holes in the sides for bolts (add some thick large washers to reinforce against prying attacks) and bolt to the wall/floor as well. Make multiple portable safes into one large item that’s too heavy to carry away and too big to get through a door.
If there’s no suitable closet, look for an armoire or cabinet that will hold a safe or two. I see candidates on Craigslist frequently, often for free or very cheap.Remove the interior (cut out the back even, so you don’t have to wrestle the safes over a kick panel at the front) so that the safes are covered, and fit a lockable handle to keep the curious from snooping.
Whatever you do, don’t put your safe in the garage. No temperature or humidity control, a thief can just back a truck in and tip the safe into it. And keep your tools locked up so a burglar can’t use your angle grinder to cut your safe open.
I’ve had storage units burgled twice now. Same facility, different units. The third break in was caught immediately and nothing was taken. The insurance that most places require you to carry will pay for anything missing.
The first time, I had declined the insurance. The second, I had it.
The first time, an organized gang parked a stolen truck across the end of the “cul de sac” the my unit was in, cut locks, and raided all the units. They then put their own locks on the units so the theft wouldn’t be discovered right away. Storage manager said this type of theft is common.
The second time, the thieves cut the lock and pulled about 6 black and yellow storage bins out in minutes while the onsite manager was at lunch. She found the breakin when she got back.
The time nothing was stolen, it was another patron of the storage facility, going from unit to unit and cutting locks. This was not a super genius.
The first two were in a gated facility with cameras and access codes but walk up access to the units. The aborted theft was on the second floor of an indoor facility.
FWIW, adding the unit to my commercial insurance cost the same as using the insurance the facility offers.
There are risks to everything in life.
n
Sad to hear but not unexpected. A lot depends on where you live, I would think. I would never have trusted a storage unit when we lived in the ‘burbs, but have one in a nearby small town here in the Ozarks. Even after selling and sorting and dumping things, we had way too much ‘stuff’ going from brick mcmansion to wood cabin. And our stand-alone garage is not rodent-proof and climate controlled (it’s on the list, like a lot of other things, when funds are available).
This storage place has the gate and cameras, etc., is climate controlled, and we use a heavy duty shrouded padlock. Thus far no real issues other than water leakage to one unit during some local flooding. We had everything in plastic bins on metal shelves and wooden pallets off the concrete floors, and were able to combine everything into one unit with no harm done. It’s not ideal, but we don’t worry overmuch about theft out here, and lord willing will one day have a full basement – but until then the storage unit is a necessity.
A long while back a good friend of mine was between homes and had stored all his stuff, firearms included, in a commercial storage facility. There was drainage (dry wash) to the rear of the facility that the transients hung out in, someone actually broke through the cinderblock wall into the back of several units and pilfered the valuables.
Hole in the wall gang. See the movie Casino, it was a real thing. In my prior urban a.o. this was actually done by a crew to cut into residential house walls and loot the place. A nosey neighbor asked the fellows what’s up? They explained “gas leak”, the neighbor was pacified by the explanation departef and they completed the burglary mission.
Saw this on Rawles’ website:
A fan of SurvivalBlog is one of the organizers of a real estate raffle for a 32-acre parcel of waterfront land in northwest Montana that looks quite retreat-worthy. I generally shy away from raffles and any sort of games of chance. But because this raffle will benefit a good cause (an animal shelter in that part of Montana), and because the property would be quite suitable for building a retreat, I decided to give this fundraiser some publicity in SurvivalBlog. The raffle ends on July 31, 2025. For details, see: DreamPropertyRaffle.org.
Curious to know what CZ thinks of this property and the area/community around it.
When I have used storage units, I got a temperature-controlled unit in a building. It not only needed a card and a code to get inside the outer fence, but to open the door and to use the elevator. We also could provide our own locks. After that, I relied on misdirection to protect my stuff.
— I got bankers file boxes and put two rows of ammo boxes on the bottom and stacked books on top. I labeled the boxes “Dad’s Books,” and if you looked through the finger holes on the box ends, you saw books. I doubt anyone would want to take them. I also put files in the boxes and wrote “taxes 2007-2017” on top.
— I got a wardrobe box form a UPS store and put a couple long guns inside in the middle. Then I stuffed each side of the box with clothes from my closet. These were not “mission critical” guns. Had they been stolen, I would have gotten over it.
The other advantage of this approach was that when the movers picked up the boxes, they had no idea they were moving “sporting goods.”
The logistics of this type of relocation is harder than just finding your next spot and consummation of the transaction. If your going from a standing house place with your goods to another standing house it is not as challenging. If you are fiddling around with new location that needs a dwelling structure built and property land with ancillary items, wells, power, ground excavation etc, that will stretch out your in limbo time frames that adds exposure risks to your stored stuff. If you can get a property that is built up and established by the prior owner that can eliminate this in between dilemma of storing gear and added logistics steps to get set up. Instead of the near ideal raw land 20 acre location to set up your own way, a consideration should be made for a 5 or 10 acre hobby farm type property already established by a boomer dude that has a house, garage, etc already and is being sold off by the widow-family that may nearly meet your needs or desires. A good bones structure wise old time farm house, distressed foreclosure property, etc that requires sweat equity labor on your part may fit the bill, and eliminate these in between hazards. I moved two states over 4 years ago from a house to a bigger house/lot/ features so that was my necessity strategy but it worked out better than the blue hive shithole I fled from so it was a win-win. Stay flexible so as to stay frosty.
If you really get it narrowed to a location then a rental storage unit makes sense.
Lots of the bulky stuff that will to the new place. Also a good general set of gear (if third line) and probably a gun or two.
Not saying you should put 20k in guns there but one of those $150 Rugers makes a lot of sense.
If you can find 20 acres “close” to Missoula that checks 80%-90% of your boxes, and you can get it within your budget, that would be an impressive find to brag about. Our friends had a 10 acre parcel in Boundary County, ID for sale. It checked all of your boxes except for location (It’s about four hours from Missoula). It sold for $280,000 in the middle of the winter. Prices are just ridiculous.