No matter where you live, from a studio apartment to a multi-bedroom house, you’ll quickly find that despite your best efforts, your dwelling gets filled to the brim with… stuff. Things. Knickknacks, trinkets, accoutrements, and the like. Like a vapor, we tend to fill out the area we are given with the things we surround ourselves with, and never seem to have enough room. After all, that TV that was perfectly sized for your bachelor pad looks outright puny in a larger space. As we collect stuff over the years, it can be tempting (and maybe even required) to get a new place for your things. Storage units provide ample space, security, and get those things you don’t need every day out of sight. Many times, these units may be required: downsizing, seasonal items like bikes or decorations, or sentimental items like pictures that don’t need to be taking your car’s room in your garage.
But what if this unit is costing you more than just the monthly premium?
Often times, storage units aren’t a cure, but a treatment, keeping an issue at bay instead of outright solving it. If you have a storage unit, or are flirting with the idea of one, check the items below to ensure that you are using them for the right reasons.
You Have Too Much: It happens. You make a purchase here, a purchase there, and before you know it, your home is full of things. At one point, all of those items may have been required and even used frequently, but over months and years, they’ve gained dust. If you find yourself short on room, take a tour of your home and identify all of the items you haven’t used in a given period of time (twelve months, for example). Furniture, cutlery, books, art… it’s all fair game. You may be amazed at how much room you already have if those under-utilized items went away.
It’s Too Hard to Part: A gift from a grandparent who has passed. An item of clothing that reminds you of a memory. A piece of furniture gifted from a friend. We have a habit of putting sentimentality into objects, having them harness memories and emotions of our lives. That’s a flaw. While it may sound cold, removing an emotion from an object paints it in a different light. Yes, your friend gave you that piece of furniture, but that token of kindness will remain even if the piece doesn’t. Getting rid of that item of clothing doesn’t erase the memory it invokes. Now, we’re not saying rid your home of everything you don’t use daily… keep family pictures, keep those items that bring you happiness just knowing they exist. But if that feeling isn’t there, remove the item. The memories remain.
Your New Space Will Get Filled: Remember how we talked about filling up the space you have, no matter the size? That happens even after the storage unit. Let’s say you clear your garage, putting all items into storage… do you think that temptation to put unused items in your garage as you collect more will be gone just because you can park your car? Opening that space up is flirting with repeating old mistakes. Don’t think that open space will stay open forever… at the end of the day, it may actually cause you to collect more things.
More Useful as Cash: Let’s say your storage unit is $100… over a ten year period, that would cost you $12,000 to keep all of that stuff. Now take a tally of everything you would put in a storage unit… is it worth $12,000? Or, even better, could you make some money back on those items if they were sold or donated? It’s hard to get rid of things, especially if they were purchased recently or used somewhat frequently, but the cost of a unit could be refunded as well as avoided overall if the item was sold to individuals who may use it more readily.