MONEY OBEDIENCE

Bulldoze storage units outside of Manhattan

You have seen storage units and ads for storage units, haven’t you? You might even rent one of these units. Between the foreclosure crisis in housing, and rampant unemployment, surely more and more people have to move out of their homes and need a place where they can store their furniture and other things. So, these storage units have got to be big business even though there are so many around. And until the economy is healed, they’ll likely be good business going forward.

I can see that you might need to rent a storage unit when you are in transition like that or like moving, getting a divorce, etc., but I do not see that you need to rent one permanently. (I get it if you live in Manhattan – paying high prices to rent space for your stuff isn’t worth it, and it makes sense to pay a lower rental rate for some of that floor space.) As far as I can tell, there is one major purpose for a storage unit; that is to store stuff you don’t really need. This begs the question, “Why do you keep that stuff?”

A 5×5ft storage unit costs $44/month where I live. That comes out to $528 per year. What is the stuff worth that I could put into such a small unit? A few suitcases maybe? I can buy a pretty good set of suitcases for $200-$300 dollars which is about half the annual storage fee. Storing suitcases would not make any sense at all to me. I could buy two new sets each year and still come out ahead. (No, I am not advocating that you should look for “disposable” suitcases or that you found a business that sells disposable suitcases. I am way too eco-green t0 suggest something like that!)

Let me cut to the chase. If you rent a storage unit, the way I see it, you simply have too much stuff for this time of your life. Wouldn’t it be easier (in the long run anyway) to just get rid of the stuff that does not fit into your place? Sell it on ebay, craigslist, give it away, or donate it to charity. Others can probably use your stuff that is just gathering dust in a storage unit. Instead of paying money for having the stuff, you might even get paid for getting rid of it and then you would save on storage expenses, too!

Our post “Bubbles, bubbles, everywhere” was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance hosted by Financial Highway.

And our post “Save money in your family budget for your summer vacation now” was included in the Carnival of Money Stories hosted by PTMoney.com.

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Posted in setting up a budget