The Self Storage Dilemma-continued

When is it useful and feasible to use a self-storage unit? If you find yourself in a situation where it seems absolutely necessary to store your belongings; here are a few tips that may help you along the way. There are times in life when one is faced with the sometimes difficult challenge of ‘life changes’. Moving, relocating, downsizing, a death in the family, starting a new business, and getting married are all important life changes or transitions that may affect you in your lifetime and where it may be necessary to use a self-storage device.



Moving/downsizing

Moving is a stressful event in anyone’s life, if you are faced with having to move from a spacious home to a significantly smaller space, you may have lots of excess “stuff”. You are now faced with the difficult choice of what to do with all your ‘stuff, Do you downsize your belongings to meet the needs of your living area? Or do you rent a self-storage device based on your plan to move back into a larger space some day? When faced with difficult decisions such as these, keep in mind the following organizing tips.

Begin by asking yourself these questions

1. Do I really need it? This may be the most difficult question you have to ask yourself. We often times fool ourselves into thinking we really need an item when in actuality it is more of a want based on some emotional appeal attached to the item. Proceed with caution at this junction; consulting with a professional organizer may be of great value. A professional can provide a neutral opinion and an often times reasonable voice that guides you through critical decision making.

2. How often do I use it? Evaluating the frequency of use is a good measuring device to decide whether to keep or discard an item. As a general rule if you haven’t used an item for the past six months, get rid of it. Getting rid of an item, clothing or furniture does not have to be a negative experience either. In fact, it can be very positive and emotionally uplifting process. Let’s think about this for a moment. You have twenty seven dresses all the same color and pattern. You wear five of them often enough, but the other twenty two sit in the back of the closet and collect dust. You hold on to them anyway because it’s your favorite dress and they were a gift from your uncle. After consulting an organizing consultant you have decided you could live without the twenty two dresses you have not worn for the last six months. You make the decision to donate fifteen to charity and give the rest away to a younger cousin. What a great idea! Your cousin has always admired you in this dress, she is now very happy. And the items you donated, they are now being used also.

The Self Storage Dilemma-continued

With so many storage-unit options appearing just about everywhere individuals are faced with a dilemma. Should I store my “stuff” in a self storage device? When should I utilize a storage device? How long should I plan on storing my ‘stuff’?

Here is the dilemma; I have seen it all too many times friends, family members, even strangers store useless ‘stuff’ in a self-storage device miles from their homes and they don’t even know what they have stored in the unit? I myself have been guilty of this fault. Is it economically feasible to hold on to items that you could possibly forget about? On average the rental fee for the use of a self-storage unit will cost you anywhere between 60-80 dollars a month, depending of course on location and the size of the unit. That is an average total cost of $800 per year! What could consumers possibly have stored of value in a unit that costs $800 a year? And what happens when you miss a payment? If you have missed your payment you will be charged a fee. If you have missed several payments and you account is now past due several months your contract states that the company storing your ‘stuff’ has the right to cut your lock off and sell everything in the unit to auction. This is a double edged sword, unless your ‘stuff’ is truly worth saving; that is paying sometimes thousands of dollars in overdue rent and late fees. You run the risk of not only losing all your ‘stuff’, but also being indebted to the storage company.

Recently having just detached myself from the clutches of self-storage, I was waiting in the office of the self-storage company. The women working the front desk was deep in a phone conversation. “Five hundred dollars or the lock comes off and all your belongings will be sold at auction this Friday”, again the women repeated herself. After several uncomfortable minutes bearing witness to this poor soul on the other line being in such a predicament. I quickly closed out my account with the self-storage company paid my respects and walked out the door with a sigh of relief; knowing that I would now be several dollars better of each month. And what became of the “stuff” I had stored in the unit? Well, after sorting through all the “stuff”, I actually discarded most all of it, as for the rest family members were more than happy to come take what they felt was useful.