‘It became an anchor for stuff I really want to keep’: the stabilising weight of self-storage when moving home and away

ABSTRACT

The process and stresses of moving home are a common experience in our lives, and few find sorting and packing household possessions easy. When moves are temporary, uncertain or contingent on other factors it can be particularly difficult to know what to take with us, so renting a self-storage unit allows for movement and mobility without the need to reduce the material convoy or make premature decisions on what to keep or dispose of. Contrary to previous research, which has focused on the purchase or divestment of objects during life course transitions, house moves and experiences of mobility, this paper argues that the practice of storing objects is equally as important. The data for this paper is drawn from object-elicited interviews undertaken in the UK with three women who were motivated to rent self-storage to store their household possessions when moving to a new home temporarily or more permanently, across the country and abroad, in the pursuit of different opportunities (education, work, lifestyle change). Self-storage is seen to both accommodate materiality caught up in feelings of uncertainty and indecision, and anchor possessions which collectively stand-in for a sense of home when itself is not yet remade.

El proceso y el estrés de mudarse de casa son una experiencia común en nuestras vidas, y pocos encuentran fácil clasificar y empacar las pertenencias del hogar. Cuando las mudanzas son temporales, inciertas o dependen de otros factores, puede ser particularmente difícil saber qué llevar con nosotros, por lo que alquilar una unidad de almacenamiento permite el movimiento y la movilidad sin la necesidad de reducir el convoy de material o tomar decisiones prematuras sobre qué conservar o eliminar. A diferencia de investigaciones previas, que se han centrado en la compra o el despojamiento de objetos durante las transiciones del curso de la vida, la mudanza de casa y la experiencia de movilidad, este artículo sostiene que la práctica de almacenar objetos es igualmente importante. Los datos para este artículo provienen de entrevistas elicitando objetos realizadas en el Reino Unido con tres mujeres que se sintieron motivadas a alquilar almacenamiento para guardar sus pertenencias domésticas cuando se mudaron a una nueva casa de manera temporal o más permanente, en el país y en el extranjero, en la búsqueda de diferentes oportunidades (educación, trabajo, cambio de estilo de vida). El almacenamiento acomoda tanto la materialidad atrapada en sentimientos de incertidumbre e indecision. como también ancla posesiones que colectivamente representan un sentido de hogar cuando aún no se ha reconstruido.

Le processus de déménagement et le stress qui y est associé forment une expérience courante dans la vie, et peu d’entre nous trouvent le triage et l’emballage de nos effets domestiques faciles à faire. Quand il s’agit d’un déménagement temporaire, incertain ou dépendant d’autres facteurs, cela peut devenir particulièrement difficile de déterminer ce qu’il faut emmener avec soi. Par conséquent, louer une box de stockage au garde-meuble permet plus de mouvement et de mobilité sans avoir à réduire la quantité de biens matériels ni à prendre de décision hâtive concernant ce que l’on doit garder ou jeter. Contrairement aux recherches précédentes qui ont ciblé l’achat ou la cession d’objets au cours des transitions de la vie, des déménagements et des expériences de mobilité, cette communication soutient que la pratique de l’entreposage d’objets est tout aussi importante. Les données relatives à cette communication proviennent d’entretiens par élicitation d’objets qui ont pris place au Royaume-Uni avec trois femmes qui avaient entreposé leurs effets domestiques quand elles avaient emménagé dans un nouveau logement temporaire ou plus permanent, dans une autre partie du pays ou à l’étranger, avec pour but de poursuivre des vies nouvelles (études, carrière, change de mode de vie). Elles perçoivent le garde-meuble comme un moyen de concilier une matérialité prise dans des émotions d’incertitude et d’indécision et un point d’attache pour des possessions qui, ensemble, représentent l’image du foyer quand celui-ci n’est pas encore recréé.

KEYWORDS:

• Material culture
• mobility
• anchor
• home
• moving house
• storage

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• Cultura material
• movilidad
• ancla
• hogar
• mudanza
• almacenamiento

MOTS-CLEFS:

• Culture matérielle
• mobilité
• attache
• foyer
• déménagement
• entreposage

Acknowledgments

The author is very thankful for the three women who participated in this research by giving their time and insights. I’d also like to thank the self-storage companies who assisted in the recruitment of participants. Special thanks are extended to Amy Walker for her continued support. I’m also very appreciative of the three reviewers who provided encouraging and constructive comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. ‘Biographical objects’ – enlivened by the memories and emotions endowed upon them – transgress the perceivable physical boundaries between persons and their things and show that possessions can go a long way to becoming surrogate selves (Appadurai, 1986; Hoskins, 1998; Kopytoff, 1986). Things, therefore, stand in for the self thereby making it solid and knowable.

2. Equally, whilst housing can at first glance appear a sedentarist object of study, housing researchers have a long-standing tradition of wrestling with this dichotomy, and engaging with the mobilities turn has been part of this work (for discussion see Dufty-Jones, 2012, pp. 210–213).

3. Other participants in the study were renovating properties, down-sizing, storing items for their children (Owen & Boyer, 2019), belonging to deceased relatives (Owen, in press), or following a divorce. However, some simply did not have enough space for their possessions at home or used their self-storage unit as an extension to their home space.

4. Renting a self-storage unit, unlike storing possessions in a sister’s cellar or parent’s loft, gives users total ownership and autonomy over their things, where there is no burden on loved ones or requirement to negotiate access (Owen & Boyer, 2019).

5. Emma only ever referred to her fieldwork location as Africa, rather than a particular country/ies.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ES/J500197/1,ES/T007508/1].