Thursday, January 30, 2014

Paying Your Life Away.......A Rant

I was working on the last installment of my Summer Road Trip Saga the other day.  I was going to include this little bit in that post but it really deserves a post of it's own.

This Summer we saw a lot of these signs while in the South.....these particular ones were seen in Virginia on our ride home......


close up of the previous shot....notice the little white/red signs on that building.....


Rent to Own sheds......and No Credit Check!


I don't see this sort of thing up here where we live, but then again, I don't get out much here, outside of my teeny tiny town or the big city in the valley below.  Let me know if this kind of thing-the Rent To Own concept-is prevalent in other parts of the country, besides the South, willya?


Seriously?
If you can't afford to pay cash for a shed, maybe you really don't need one now?

I think this is a sad, sad commentary on the state of our society.  Sheds are not like buying a house.
People really can't delay that gratification long enough to save up a couple thousand dollars and just go pay cash for a shed?
Really?!?

I rented a storage unit for many many years so this issue speaks to me.
Granted my storage unit was a business expense for most of the years I rented it, but I did store personal items in it too before I decided to let them go.

The storage industry is HUGE in this country now!
Facilities large and small to hold your goods temporarily when you don't have a place for them and more and more frequently, a place to store all your old junk and clutter that you don't need but can't emotionally let go of.
This idea started out as a good thing but it seems to have devolved into an industry that just is a languishing ground for our cast off junk.

Then those "pod" companies spun-off of the storage idea, so you could have your "stuff" on your own property(or picked up and stored in the pod at a facility if you didn't need access to it)but still be renting the container and not having to own a building.  While it's a good idea in the temporarily, I have seen people who have had these things parked next to their homes for YEARS now.  Temporarily went by the wayside long ago for some of the users of this business.

Plus there is this shed option, which has been around for ages--owning your own storage container/building on your own land in which to store your "junk".

Owning a storage shed use to be pretty straightforward.  Only folks who had property enough to put one up and lived in a place that allowed them on your property AND who could afford to pay for one owned storage sheds.
Lots of people have bought these buildings since before I was a small child.
But paying cash for a shed I guess made the potential customer base too small.
The people in the shed making/building business jumped onto the credit bandwagon at some point when I wasn't looking and now you can buy a storage shed on credit with rent to own terms.
Sigh.

Does this mean that sheds have gotten too expensive in the great scheme of things, if people can't afford to buy them outright?
Does this mean the economy has tanked so badly that no one has the funds to afford many things they use to buy handily with cash?
Does this mean Americans have gotten to the point that they can't delay gratification for ANYTHING anymore?

I just don't think buying a shed on "rent to own" terms is a very good idea.
And what happens when you don't make your shed payment?  They come put it on a trailer and cart it off with all your crap inside?
Uh oh!  Gotta watch out for that Shed Repo Man now.....lol

Making payments on houses, making payments on cars, making payments on furniture, making payments on riding lawn mowers, making payments on student loans, making payments on HELOCs.....When will the madness end????

Does anybody in this country wait until they can AFFORD something to buy it anymore?!

What is next?.....rent to own toasters?!?
Seriously, I can see this all coming to that.

Did anyone ever stop to think that all this buying stuff on credit, before you have the cash to actually pay for it will never lead us to a good place economically and culturally?!?

I just want them all to STOP IT.....STOP IT NOW!!!

I bet we would all be better off if we just turned off our televisions for good.
No more marketing in our face in our homes 24/7!
No more pressure on our kids to buy/own/wear/adore certain "celebrities"......you know, those people your young people look up to, who have accomplished NOTHING of historical significance.
Unless you call twerking, marrying another celebrity, or walking up and down a runway an accomplishment for the ages.

Sluggy-who feels the pressure to become a hermit & excuse herself from the culture she lives among more and more each day

 

5 comments:

  1. Whenever I see your posts with the word rant in it, I rub my hands together and say "hot damn, this is gunna be a good one."
    "If you can't afford to pay cash for a shed, maybe you really don't need one now?"-Best line in written history! I laughed so hard. Yes, if you don't have enough money for a shed perhaps you should save up. Those rent to own places burn me up too. Sit on lawn furniture until you can buy used and then upgrade.

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  2. I can't imagine "renting to own" a shed which is just a place to keep more crap. That is the problem now we have to much crap. It took me three years to clean the garage out so a car could park in the there but when this was my grandparents house the car was parked in there every night because they didn't have and couldn't afford crap.

    If we are judged by our belonging then I will be sadly judged because each day I get rid of more and more stuff. I just don't want it around

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  3. I have never heard of such a thing. DH and I were just a home show looking at sheds for our place and were surprised at how affordable a good sized barn-like structure would be. We have other priorities to fund before the garage mahal, as we tend to refer to DH's dream workshop/garage.

    We are renting a storage until and have for several years. However, we recently downsized from our prior unit and move to a unit about half the size and closer to our present home. Funny how stuff DH absolutely could not part with 10 years ago was tossed very quickly. Still, I have things in there from my mother's death to go through and decide upon and DH needs someplace to store his hobby equipment (backpacking, hunting, reloading, car parts, etc.) until we figure out the future garage mahal and other matters at the house. I hope to be downsizing again in the fall after I get mom's stuff sorted out.

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  4. Maybe those people should also turn in their rent-t0-own televisions and disconnect the tv so they will not know what all is possible to make them know what all there is that they have to have to be fulfilled.

    I knew someone who had two pods in the driveway for two years.

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  5. I agree except for student loans. Not everyone had parents save up for them, and even working full time it made more sense to borrow and go then try to save up or stretch it out. Just like I wouldn't put buying a house on that list (although really - you are just renting from the bank until you pay it off). But the "rent o own" industry should be illegal.

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