Storage units are a practical solution to many situations. You can rent one if you’re in between homes and need a place to store your belongings. It can also come in handy if you’ve gathered a lot of objects that you don’t really use, but you don’t want to throw away either. While extremely useful, the problem is that people tend to spend way too much on renting them.
More than half of the rented storage units are used for periods of over one year, which is already a long-term arrangement. Few scenarios require this service for such a long time, but many homeowners get stuck in this expensive habit because they find it difficult to let go of their belongings. Most renters choose a ten by ten unit, which costs on average $122 monthly.
If you find yourself in this situation or you want to avoid it, here are some tips on how to cut down the costs of storing your things in a Winnipeg self storage facility.
Don’t Store so Much Stuff
It may sound like a counter-intuitive solution since you are looking for ways to store your belongings, but do yourself a favor and go through everything that you have and plan to move to a storage unit and ask yourself: is it really worth keeping?
Decluttering has a therapeutic effect on people, once they find the energy and motivation to do it. That’s because most of the times storing countless objects is a symptom for procrastination or defective emotional attachment.
Of course, when it comes to items of sentimental value, the price you pay is worth it. But try to be honest with yourself and determine if, indeed, all the things that you store are needed to keep the memories alive. Only select the items that you can restore or actually use. And, that brings us to the next point.
Store Things That You Actually Use
If you are one of the homeowners that have an extra storage room in a rental facility, you might have chosen this solution at a time when you needed things out of the way, and fast. Rental storage units are worth the money in the short-term, but getting too comfortable and stocking your things there for more than a year gets expensive.
You are better off using the things that you have stored. Ask yourself if you would use the items in your storage room at least by next season. If the answer is no, then you are paying for keeping clutter.
Make Money by Selling Your Clutter
If you are storing clutter, move on to the next best strategy: sell the things that you store. Maybe a friend or a relative needs the furniture you replaced recently. Or you can invest some time in listing your things on buy-and-sell websites, and even organize a garage sale. You can get decent money on the things that you are not using anymore but are still functional. This strategy will pay your storage unit for some time, and you can even switch to a smaller and cheaper one, now that you have less clutter to worry about.
Choose Your Insurance Policy
Most storage facilities include insurance to protect your assets, but the prices may be far from the best on the market. Before you accept this extra charge from them, check with your insurance company about the coverage they offer for “Off-premises” property. You may discover a better deal this way. Not to mention you already have an established relationship with the insurance company and you know what to expect from them.
A storage unit can be a helpful way to get some extra space. However, renting one shouldn’t burn a hole through your wallet. Keep these tips in mind to reduce your costs.
