There is clutter in my house.  There is clutter in my office.

Happily I have recently been introduced to Smart Boxes.  They are sturdy, stackable, water resistant and re-useable plastic boxes that are delivered to your front door and retrieved from your new front door.  They are great for moving, reorganizing or decluttering and can be rented for whatever period of time you need them.  I like the concept much better than buying cardboard boxes which inevitably fall apart, get wet and get ruined.

​Smart Boxes are just that...smart.

Big stuff can be a lot of fun.  Big stuff can also support your business.

Whether it be a recreational trailer you use as a cottage or a large transport truck that provides your living, lots of people have lots of big stuff.  The challenge is where to store that stuff. Most residential homes don't have driveways large enough to park those items, and neighbours generally frown on your putting it in the back yard.

​Our landlord in Toronto bought the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan for $500,000 US.  His first utility bill was $400,000 US so what initially seemed like a bargain quickly became a liability. What he realized very soon after buying, though, was that in addition to being a large empty sports stadium, he had purchased 200 acres of paved parking.  Soon he was renting out the parking lot to car dealers, car rental companies, trucking companies and the like.  Those rentals easily paid those utility bills going forward and he has never looked back.

Our building up north has a large paved parking lot that is perfect for storing such items.  We are fortunate to have a number of tenants who park their large items in our parking lot year round.  That business requires snow ploughing and maintaining of the parking lot.  It is good business for us and a good bargain for those who are storing their items with us.  It puts to work a parking lot that has more than enough parking for our tenants plus surplus parking for such storage.

It is a win-win situation for us and perhaps something to think about for those of you with paved parking lots that have space available.

Many people have many items they cannot fit in their house.

Our Muskoka property provides 170 indoor climate-controlled storage lockers and 115 vehicle storage spots for that need.  If you consider the investment we make in our trailers, RVs, boats, cars, motorcycles, it makes sense to take care of them.  Same with surplus items like our tools or our parents' memorabilia that needs to be protected.

As we downsize our houses, it is no wonder that storage facilities are popping up everywhere to deal with the surplus items of value that we can no longer fit into our streamlined homes.  The spare room has been replaced by a storage locker.