Okay so my neighbor Terry just moved here from Chicago.
Terry calls me last week losing his mind because his moving company shows up in three days and his apartment still has people living in it. The tenants didn’t leave. Landlord’s not answering. He’s got a truck full of furniture arriving and nowhere to put it.
I told him welcome to California, buddy.
This happens ALL the time here. All. The. Time. I don’t know what it is about this state but the timelines never line up. Something always falls through. Always.
I moved here twelve years ago and my first week was a disaster. Flew out thinking I had an apartment lined up. Showed up and the place was… not what was pictured. Let’s just say the photos were from 2008 and not much had been updated since. So I’m sleeping on my cousin’s couch in Long Beach with two suitcases and the rest of my life in a POD somewhere on a highway. No idea where. Just floating out there.
That feeling sucks.
The stuff they don’t tell you about moving trucks
You know what’s crazy? Moving trucks get stolen.
Not kidding. My friend Maria parked her U-Haul outside her mom’s house overnight. Full of everything she owned. Gone in the morning. Poof. Insurance took six months to pay out and gave her like thirty cents on the dollar.
So here’s my advice. Don’t keep stuff in the truck overnight. Unload same day or put it somewhere safe. Somewhere with cameras and gates and people who actually watch the cameras.
Storage Zone has cameras everywhere. Not the fake ones either. Real ones. I’ve seen the footage when someone tried to cut our fence – clear as day. Guy got caught three days later. Stuff like that matters when everything you own is in boxes.
The climate thing is weirder than you think
People hear California and think sunshine. And yeah, mostly.
But inland? It gets hot. Like really hot. Like your candles will melt and your vinyl records will warp hot. My brother stores his record collection with me because his apartment in Riverside turns into an oven when he’s at work. No AC in that old building and records don’t like 95 degrees.
Coastal areas have the opposite problem. Fog, moisture, that ocean air that makes everything feel slightly damp. Good for your skin maybe. Bad for cardboard boxes and old photos.
So if you’re storing stuff long term, think about where it’s actually sitting. Not just today but in August when it’s 105. Or January when it’s foggy for two weeks straight. Climate controlled storage isn’t a fancy upgrade here – it’s kinda necessary for anything you actually care about.
Speaking of what you care about
Moving makes you realize how much random crap you own.
I helped my sister move last month and she had three boxes labeled “misc kitchen.” What even is misc kitchen? Who needs that many wooden spoons? She didn’t know what was in them. I didn’t know. They just existed.
We ended up putting two of those boxes straight into storage because her new kitchen is smaller. Six months later she still hasn’t opened them. So clearly she didn’t need whatever was in there.
That’s the thing about California living. Spaces are weird. Old buildings have tiny closets. New buildings have no closets. My last apartment had this bizarre nook in the hallway that was supposedly “storage” but was really just a hole in the wall. You learn to adapt or you learn to store stuff elsewhere.
The parking thing again but for real this time
Terry – my neighbor from earlier – finally got his moving situation sorted. Found a month to month rental to crash in while he fights with his landlord. Put all his furniture with us at Storage Zone. Cheap, easy, problem solved.
But the moving day itself was still a mess because he forgot about street sweeping.
Tuesday and Thursday mornings, 8am to 11am, no parking on his block. Guess when the movers showed up? 8:30. Truck had to circle for twenty minutes while four dudes stood around getting paid by the hour. Cost him an extra $150 just because of street cleaning.
Learn from Terry. Check the signs. Take photos of them. Set reminders on your phone. It sounds stupid but it’s real money.
The last thing I’ll say
Moving here is hard but living here is great.
I complain about the cost and the traffic and the whatever. But yesterday I drove down PCH with the windows open and stopped for fish tacos and watched the sunset and remembered why I put up with all the nonsense.
You’ll get there too. Just give yourself time. And space. And a backup plan for your backup plan.
If you need a place to stash stuff while you figure out your life, we’re here. Month to month, no drama, clean units, good rates. Storage Zone on PCH or the one over on Main – both solid. Tell them the guy with the orange truck sent you. They’ll know who you mean.
Anyway good luck. You’re gonna need it. But also you’re gonna love it.
Go eat a breakfast burrito for me. Best ones are at that little place on Pacific, you know the one. If you don’t know it yet you’ll find it. Everyone finds it eventually.
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