I was completely floored when my long-term client said, “Maybe this summer we’ll empty that storage unit.” I know where this woman stores her checks and her jewelry, but I had no idea that she had rented a storage unit five years ago, in the middle of COVID! Girl, we need to talk about your storage unit!
If you don’t have a storage unit, you can skip this one, but can I recommend that you check out my classic article on how to prevent and get rid of moths? Moths are very active in the spring, and now is a good time to check and protect your good woolens.
You’re invited. My friends at Beacon Bridge Wealth Partners are hosting me to present an interactive 1-hour virtual event on Preserving your Photo Legacy on June 23. Even though it’s a private event, I’ve been given a few seats for my clients. If you are interested in joining us live at either 12 noon or 7 pm eastern time, please shoot me an email, and I’ll get you behind the red velvet rope.
Now, about those storage units…
We Need to Talk About Your Storage Unit
The storage industry is growing unbelievably fast in America.”With over 50,000 facilities nationwide, there are more storage locations in the United States than all McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Subway outlets combined,” according to Sparefoot. If you rent a storage unit, you are not alone.
You probably rented your storage unit when you were at the end of your rope, feeling squeezed in your house, overwhelmed by too much stuff. It felt easy, and it was. It might have been the best solution at the time.
But once you rent a storage unit, it feels easier to pay the monthly fee than to do anything else. I mean, you rented it because you just didn’t have the space to store the stuff, and maybe that hasn’t changed.
But ninety-nine percent of the time, renting a storage unit doesn’t make sense.
Hear me out.
Renting a Storage Unit is an Easy Way to Lose Real Money
A few years ago we were hired by a woman who had rented a storage unit after her mom passed away. Then she rented another. Then a third. Ten years later, she was trying to scrape together the money to move out west to be with her son’s family. Money was tight. Sadly, we calculated that she could have had $54,000 in the bank if she hadn’t been throwing money down the old storage-hole.
Fifty-four THOUSAND dollars!
But that’s not even the worst part. When we cleared out the storage units, we didn’t find family treasures for the most part. We found trash. Literal trash that went straight into the dumpster. These weren’t things that decayed over time, but things that were trash from the start. Partial boxes of Qtips. Broken fridge magnets. Stained socks. Most of what she had been paying to store wasn’t useful in any way. Not only did she “invest” $54,000 in these storage units, she never even wanted most of what she had been storing.
Good Reasons for Renting a Storage Unit
There are only a few situations where renting a storage unit makes sense.
When you are in a short-term living situation, renting a storage unit makes sense. If you clear out part of a home in order to do construction, for example. Or if you sell your home while you are building a new one, you need a safe spot to store your furniture for a few months.
A business that takes delivery of excess inventory might need flex storage.
Military or Peace Corps workers might need short term storage while on deployment.
I’ve seen man-caves, band rehearsal space, and even remote worker options in storage spaces. Check your facility to see what you can and can’t do in your rental unit.
Counter-intuitively, if you have an aging parent who can’t or shouldn’t live alone in their big house anymore, a storage unit may be the solution. They often don’t want to be forced to give things up in a big downsizing move, but they don’t really want to keep the big house, either. The solution is actually pretty simple: move the person to a safe new apartment or community while you pack up their excess items and move them to a storage facility. This frees up the home, which can be sold to pay for senior living expenses. Your elder may agree to move if they aren’t forced to give up their belongings and, instead, agrees to store them.
All of the above are good reasons for renting a storage unit. Most importantly, they are time-limited.
Bad Reasons for Renting a Storage Unit
Plenty of folks rent a storage unit without a plan and end up flushing tens of thousands of dollars. Here are situations when you want to think twice before renting a storage unit.
When the kids move out, they should take their stuff with them. All of it. Why store low-quality college furniture and a handful of memorabilia when they could be putting that rental money towards their next adventure? Unfortunately, if they don’t have a reason to keep their things with them, they will have zero motivation to empty the unit. The parent often feels bad about disposing of someone else’s things. And then there’s a bad emotional spiral. Read about the five stages of throwing out your adult child’s things here.
When a parent dies, you may be grieving and don’t feel up to the task of sorting through their things. But you have to ask, would they want you wasting money monthly to store things that you aren’t enjoying? Or would they prefer to pass on furniture and items while they are still in a usable, perhaps sellable condition?
Add those two situations together, and you’ll be talking yourself into storing grandma’s furniture for when your teenagers move out. But guess what your kids will want when the time arrives? Not grandma’s brown Queen Anne dining set and wobbly chairs. That’s right, they’ll want new furniture that they picked out themselves. Save your money and your back.
Moving your stuff to storage while you move to a rental property out of town may seem like a good idea, but it just makes the move harder for most people. Instead of one move, they turned it into three moves!
Risks in Storage Units
Those long, clean corridors look safe, don’t they? But don’t be fooled. My clients have had some pretty awful things happen to their stuff in storage units.
One unit burned down completely, caused by something going on in a nearby unit.
One unit was vandalized through the top, all the boxes rifled through, and family jewelry stolen.
One storage unit was wet all the way along the back wall, which was where she stored her books and photos. That was a mess.
I’ve heard about more rats, mice and moths than I care to discuss, even in the inside, climate controlled units.
Even if you don’t have any damage to your things, keys go missing, and locks that don’t turn for years seize up. I watched a client pay $150 to have her frozen lock busted.
And then there’s the smell. Even in a climate controlled unit, old things seem to pick up a storage unit smell. In non-climate-controlled units, a mildew smell is almost guaranteed.
There is no facility as secure as your own home. If your stuff is worth keeping, it’s worth keeping at home.
Have I convinced you yet that renting a storage unit is not a good proposition?
How to Avoid Renting a Storage Unit
Organize the heck out of your space at home first. Chances are that you have more storage space than you realize in your garage, laundry room, or spare bedroom.
Would you buy that same item today? If you wouldn’t buy it again, why would you pay to store it?
Sell, donate, or re-home furniture that you can’t use for the next 3-5 years.
Do the math. Compare the cost of storage (usually at least $1,500 per year depending on the size) with the cost of buying new furniture. Don’t forget the add in the cost of moving it to the storage unit and eventually moving it from the storage unit. If you could buy (or re-buy) the same or similar furniture for less than storing it, donate or sell it instead.
But if You Must Rent a Storage Unit…
I can’t believe I’m telling you this and making it easier to stay in your storage unit, but here’s a secret the industry doesn’t want you to know. They price the units like airline seats. When demand goes up, so does your price. You’ll often see price increases after just a few months. If you know you’ll have the unit for a while, pay your rent six months in advance, and always stay six months ahead of it. You’ll essentially be locking in your price. Read your contract, as the ones I’ve seen all refund unused prepaid rent.
Professional Organizers Love Storage Units
And by that, I mean that professional organizers love to help you clear out your rented storage unit. It feels overwhelming to you. It feels AMAZING to us. We’d love to help you enjoy your stuff again and free up that rental fee. The math is pretty compelling, too. It only takes the equivalent of a couple of months rent to recoup the cost of hiring a pro organizer team to finally downsize your storage space and bring your favorite things home to enjoy.
Do you have a question about organizing storage units? Hit me up in the comments.
