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Comment by brabel | Hacker News Reader

Swedish garages are never used for cars. Their only purpose is to hold a whole lot of trash that "you may need some day". I've visited lots of houses when I was on the market, nearly all of them had a garage or basement completely full of what to me looks like trash (as the article says, to the owners, it's old stuff that has some sentimental value, of course).

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> Swedish garages are never used for cars.

A bunch of American garages are the same way. There are lots of 2 car garages in suburbs that only have enough empty space for 1 car, if any at all. I suspect that this may be more of a widespread phenomenon than I had realized.

Growing up, I'd hear of all of these big tech companies that got started in some guy's parent's garage. I considered my parent's 1 car garage: mom complained when she couldn't put the car in it, and the rest was filled with tools and the lawnmower. No way a company other than a car shop could get started there.

I think a part of the issue lies with the fact that most homes built in large suburban developments of the 21st century don't have basements. My dad kept his tools and camping gear and other less used stuff in the basement. I have to sacrifice a parking spot and still usually need to move a bunch of "stuff" in order to use my table saw or work on anything larger than a bench top.

You forgot the semi-official extra storage that many houses come with, especially I guess in the northern half: the sauna. :)

Apologies to any sensitive readers from Finland.

In my case, no sauna and previous owners redid the garage into hall/utility (laundry) room/big bathroom and a small unheated workshop. Guess where the clutter lives, heh. :/

Saunas filled with stuff like warehouses arouse unpleasant feelings in me, and sometimes actually offend :D

I guess I'm a sensitive Finn :)

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