Anca Lenta
Anca is a real estate researcher and writer at StorageCafe, focusing on housing and self-storage trends across the U.S. She specializes in data-driven analysis that sheds light on how development, migration, and market shifts shape cities and communities across the U.S. When she’s not analyzing numbers, she’s leveling up in the latest game or getting lost in a good novel. You can contact Anca via email.
Roommates living together in shared apartment, using laptop and books while discussing coursework.

How to Keep Personal Belongings Organized When Living Together

You dreamed of the Friends apartment. Or maybe just a tidy place where you and your roommate had your own corners of the world. For couples, living together was supposed to feel like home. For multigenerational living, it was supposed to bring everyone closer. What nobody warns you about is that living together introduces a whole new layer of organization in shared spaces. Your stuff, their stuff and everyone’s habits are competing for the same square footage.

Furniture and cardboard boxes in living room for donation.

Where to Donate Furniture in San Francisco: 6 Organizations That Make It Easy

San Francisco has no shortage of places to donate furniture, which is good news in a place where moving trucks seem to be a permanent part of the streetscape. Anyone who’s ever watched three friends pivot a couch around the tight corner of a San Francisco Victorian knows moving day here can turn into a spectator sport. Apartments change, roommates come and go and sometimes the couch that fit in one place might not make the trip to the next.

Bedroom with basket of stuffed toys.

How to Store Stuffed Animals: Cleaning, Display and Long-Term Preservation Tips

Storing stuffed animals properly means cleaning them before you put them away, choosing the right container for the type of piece and protecting anything sentimental or collectible from moisture and temperature swings that break down fabric over time.

Woman putting books for donation in cardboard box.

Where to Donate Books in Boston

Boston has no shortage of places to donate books — from the Boston Public Library to local bookstores and beyond. For a city that gave the country its first large free municipal library, that tracks. Its literary roots run deep, and they never really stopped growing.

Different sneakers on shelves indoors, closeup.

How to Store Sneakers the Right Way: A Collector’s Guide to Sneaker Storage

Sneaker storage has become a bigger conversation than ever. Between viral unboxings, midnight raffles, resale apps and social feeds dedicated to carefully curated shelves, building a sneaker collection has become part of the cultural zeitgeist. The challenge begins once the excitement of a new pickup fades. Finding room for every pair while keeping them in mint condition is something almost every collector eventually has to figure out.

Woman in RV putting dishes away in cabinet.

RV Storage Ideas: Smart Solutions for Every Space

The best RV storage ideas work by finding space you already have but aren’t using — under beds, inside cabinet doors, on walls, above entry steps and in the overhead bunk. Most RV owners run out of obvious places quickly, but the real storage capacity in a typical trailer or motorhome comes from vertical surfaces, divided compartments and rethinking what each space was designed for.

Woman putting cup in kitchen cabinet.

Kitchen Cabinet Organization Ideas for Less Chaos

The best way to organize kitchen cabinets is to store items where you actually use them: mugs near the coffee maker, plates close to the dishwasher, spices next to the stove. Small placement decisions like these turn crowded cabinets into functional ones, and they cost nothing to implement.

Folded sweaters in drawer.

How to Store Sweaters

Knowing how to store sweaters correctly — folded flat, kept in breathable containers and away from moisture — is what separates a knit that lasts a decade from one that pills or gets eaten alive by moths after a single season.

Woman holding a paper heart near old out-of-use kid clothes for donations.

Clean Out, Give Back: Where to Donate Clothes in Los Angeles

Few cities reinvent themselves like Los Angeles, and wardrobes tend to follow suit. Between changing seasons, evolving trends and an endless calendar of occasions worth dressing for, closets fill up fast, making the question of where to donate clothes in Los Angeles one that most Angelenos eventually find themselves asking.

Interior of room with coat rack and female shoes on shelves.

How to Store Shoes Based on Your Personality

Your shoe closet is lying — not about how many pairs you own (that number is likely higher than you’d admit), but about who you are. The way you approach shoe storage, or avoid it, is one of the more honest reflections of your personality that exists in a home.

A room with a desk, chair and computer on the floor in front of an open door that leads to a patio.

Tiny Home Storage Ideas for Every Nook and Cranny

Tiny home storage is one of those challenges that sounds straightforward until you’re standing in 200 square feet wondering where the winter coats are supposed to go. You didn’t downsize for the storage anxiety — you did it for the coziest place you’ve ever called home, a wallet that finally feels lighter, and a minimalist lifestyle that suits you just fine.

Woman creating a floral arrangement for a special event.

How Self Storage Can Help Event Planners

When you attend a great event, you rarely think about the choreography happening behind the curtain or after the last guest leaves. Unless, of course, you’re an event planner — an industry that has grown 8.6% per year on average over the five years between 2020 and 2025. It shows no signs of slowing down either, as small businesses and event planners continue to carve out their place across America.