I wrote an article on this a while back for the Dollar Stretcher. If you have a storage unit, please find a way to just clear it out and save the money. Thousands and thousands of dollars are wasted when people put things in a storage unit and keep paying for them each month. In most cases, the items in the storage unit aren't even worth very much at all. If you like the stuff in your storage unit enough, find a place for it in your home. If you don't like it enough to have it in your home, sell or donate the items and save the money each month that you would have spent storing it. Storage units are a huge waste of money. In my mind, The only acceptable reason to have one would be for a short term (less than 6 months) when you are moving to a new area and are renting temporarily before you buy a home. But, I would still try to avoid it even in this type of situation.
What are your thoughts about storage units?
But what if you live in a city in a small appartment (2BR)? Where do you put all the baby stuff, maternity clothes, seasonal sport stuff, winter tires? These things are actually going to be used again, in a not so distant future. Buying a bigger appartment would be much more expensive than renting a small storage unit. I'm actually thinking of renting one soon. I'm not too bad at declutering and keeping only what is actually useful, but I wouldn't mind having my bicycle somewhere else than the living room in the winter, for one.
ReplyDeleteI understand what you are saying. My question to you would be how much are you paying and how long has it been stored or will it be stored and how much is the stuff in the storage shed worth. If you are paying more than the stuff is worth, I would definitely try to find another way of doing things. Do the apartment buildings have some sort of storage or a garage for your car? Could you put the tires in the garage as well as your bike and a few boxes? If not, do you have family near by? Would they be willing to store a few things for you? How much do you really have in the storage unit? Do you have a balcony that you could put a few things? Is there a storage closet outside? I wouldn't want my tires or bike in my house, although I could handle the bike if necessary. The tires smell and I can't stand the smell of rubber. I guess I would need more information before I could suggest other options.
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