If you don’t have room for everything valuable that you own, a storage unit can be a good solution, but it’s important to make sure you’re paying for the storage unit!

What would you do if you found out that your mom’s storage units were going to go to auction? Would you help your mom make her missed payments, buy the storage unit yourself at the auction, or let it be auctioned off without a second thought?

The woman in today’s story was in this situation, and she feels guilty about her decision.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITA for winning my mom’s storage unit at auction instead of giving her the money to save it herself?

I (24F) was in and out of the foster care system. My mom would lose custody of me and my three siblings, only to do the bare minimum to get us back, just for the cycle to repeat.

I eventually aged out of foster care, went to college, and moved to another state.

I still check in with my mom every week.

Her mom isn’t doing too well.

She was diagnosed with heart failure. (which came on from other terrible decisions).

I offer support when she reaches out, whether it’s with money, food etc.

Most of the time I don’t hear back. And when I do, it’s usually because she wants something.

She has a long history of lying to and stealing from all of us. She’s currently homeless.

We have offered her a place to stay if she gets clean and she wont.

After we turned 18, we reconnected with our extended family, grandparents, and cousins, and those relationships have become important to us.

She finally heard back from her mom.

A couple of months ago, she called me in a panic at 2:00 in the morning. She said her storage units were about to be auctioned off, that she wasn’t even behind on payments, and that the owners were trying to scam her. She needed $1,000 immediately because there were only 15 hours left before the auction.

I told her l’d check in the morning once I got to work and see what I could do.

The next day, I did some digging and looked at the contents of the storage units.

What was in the storage unit really made her sad.

What was listed broke my heart: family photos, vases from great-grandparents, personal documents (birth certificates, Social Security cards, my mom’s clothing and tools, and everything from my grandmother’s house (she passed away just last year).

I decided to bid on the unit myself and ended up spending nearly $1,200 for it.

Afterward, I spoke to the owners, who told me they’d been trying to help my mom for months: discounts, payment extensions etc. But eventually, she just stopped answering them. They said they had no other option but to auction it.

I was devastated.

Her siblings are grateful.

My siblings said that if I hadn’t stepped in, all of those memories and important documents would’ve ended up in a stranger’s hands.

My siblings were relieved and grateful… but my mom? She accused me of violating her trust, told me l “emotionally robbed her” , that I stole from her, and said I was a mistake.

She even claimed our grandparents would be ashamed of me.

She took what was important to her.

I ended up taking a few days off work, drove out of state to the unit, and went through everything.

I only kept what belonged to me and my siblings-photos, documents, anything tied to our family history.

I didn’t throw away a single item of hers. Instead, I rented a new storage unit just down the road, moved all her belongings there, and paid three months in advance. I gave her all the info.

She feels guilty.

Now I’m stuck with this heavy feeling.

I can’t shake the guilt, like l crossed a line or sank to her level somehow.

But at the same time, I couldn’t bear to see everything important to us vanish, especially knowing it would probably happen again in six months.

AITA for buying the storage unit out from under her?

Sounds reasonable. If her mom doesn’t pay for the new storage unit, OP won’t care about anything that’s lost.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

She might need therapy.

She was very generous.

There’s nothing to feel guilty about.

Someone needed to buy it!

This is a good point!

At least she saved what was rightfully hers.