Renting a Storage Unit – Is it Really Worth the Cost?

Renting a storage unit is a great way to store items you don’t have room for at home, but are rental units really worth the monthly fee? The answer depends on a number of factors. The price to rent a storage unit varies greatly according to size and available options, but depending on what you’re storing and how long you’re storing it, renting a space may or may not be worth the cost. The following information will help you decide if it’s worth the money to rent a storage unit on a long-term basis.

People rent storage units for a variety of reasons. Some don’t have room for extra belongings when moving to a smaller home, and others store items in order to keep them until they can be retrieved at a later date. Whatever the reason you’re considering renting a place for storage, it’s important to consider whether it’s financially wise to do so the first place.

Consider This

For example, if you plan on storing items such as furniture of average quality, seasonal decorations, yard tools, and other miscellaneous household items, for a basic 10 foot by 20 foot storage unit you’ll pay approximately $60 a month, depending on the rates in your particular area. This doesn’t seem like much, but it works out to $720 a year, and if you rent a space at this rate for 3 years, you’ll spend a grand total of $2,160. Most people don’t think about the total cost of long-term storage, and when they really stop to consider what they’ve spent after renting a storage unit, they realize they could have purchased new items with the money wasted on storing the old ones.

Can Your Items Be Replaced?

When trying to decide if renting a storage unit is wise, consider the value of the items you intend to store as well as the length of time you plan to store them. It might be wiser to sell the times or give them to charity rather than pay monthly storage rental fees. Depending on the items you plan to store, you might be better off spending the money for new items once you have room for them rather than throwing the money away each and every month. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather put $2,160 toward new furniture rather than store old furniture for three years. Unless you’re storing high-cost items or belongings that are irreplaceable, renting a storage unit probably isn’t worth the cost.