Storage Auction Schedules

I find the whole scheduling thing a challenge, but my first two resources are the local newspapers and the Internet.  In most cases, those two can both be found in the same place. So I go online to find the legal notices in the local papers. Free computers are available for scheduled use in most libraries, which have the advantages of being both quiet and air-conditioned.  But I like to spend hot afternoons in front of my computer, and I usually do my research from my Lay-Z-Boy in the den. 

The big newspapers will usually let you read the postings on-line, and I like to copy and paste them into one document.  I usually start with the LVRJ (gosh, what a great affiliate link they would be!) because they've got such a user friendly web-site.  Then I check the legal news publications.  These publications experience a different financial environment and often make you buy a copy or a subscription.  (I really hate the ones that

Going to an Auction: What You'll Need

How do you get started?  We thought that was a no-brainer.  Go to a few auctions.  Don't plan to buy, but carry money.  Okay, we did that.  Tips for getting started begin with this piece of advice:  Avoid this activity in the dead of summer.  But if you're like us, and no longer in control of the way your universe is currently spinning, you may find that the hottest part of the day is a good time to research up-coming auctions. 

Our first trip out to bid on storage auctions we learned a few things.  Such as, if you insist on going out buying in the summer, then you'll want to take along an ice chest full of drinks.  Mostly water.  Lots of ice.  And remember basic things, like ice melts.  If you freeze a couple of those bottles of water the night before, you're far more likely to still have an ice-cold drink at the end of the day.  (That's something everyone who lives or plays on

Finding Local Auctions and Sales

Once we decided to start going to auctions, and realized that first we had to find out where and when, I settled into the business of putting together lists of sales.  I don't know how other people do it, maybe they start by tagging along with a friend, but what we got was a tip that U-haul runs all of theirs on the same day every month.  (It turned out to be the wrong day, but at least it gave me a place to start looking.)  So I immediately jumped on the Internet and started searching for random notices, and that's how I discovered that we had been told the wrong days. 

We keep a storage unit at Public Storage a block from our house, so next I started looking for facilities that I was already familiar with.  Don't ask me why.  But when that didn't pan out I started making phone calls.  The female voice on the phone at the first Public Storage I called told me that they advertise all their auctions in the Nevada Legal News.  So I make a regular practice of going to that site and paying my