Ever hear the old saying “One size fits all?” Well, that does NOT apply to self-storage. Our customers have different situations and different needs, which is why we offer different size units. So if you are in the market to rent a storage unit, spend some time deciding which of our sizes might suit you best. You certainly don’t want to rent something so small that you quickly grow out of it, but you also don’t want to overcompensate and pay for space you’ll never use. Read on, and we’ll pass along a few tips for choosing the size unit that will best meet your needs.
First, try to get a sense of what your immediate storage needs are. How large are the items? Are we talking a small sports car or just a few boxes? You also need to consider your long-term situation. You may not have a lot to store now, but what about the future? Is the unit for business inventory that may expand over time? Is this a short-term rental to accommodate a move, or are you using it longer term? Will some items be stored indefinitely, or will you be rotating things in and out on a regular basis?
We recommend that you next create a preliminary inventory of what you’ll be storing and write it all down. Take note of how many boxes you’ll be storing as well as descriptions of things like furniture and appliances. Measure the larger pieces and note those as well. It will come in handy when you’re estimating the size unit you need.
Next, make a practice run. Use your garage or driveway to collect all the things you plan to store into one compact location. See how efficiently you can pack everything in together. Then use painter’s tape to mark off the area around your collection to create imaginary storage unit walls. From there, you can measure the lengths of tape to calculate the total square footage, which will give you a rough estimate of how much space you’ll need. And don’t forget about your vertical storage capacity. How many of your items can be stacked to take advantage of floor-to-ceiling space? Finally compare your square footage to the sizes we offer at Volunteer Mini Storage. We have four different sizes, ranging from 10 X 10 X 8.5 to 15 X 20 X 12.
One final tip: When in doubt, go a size bigger. It’s always better to have room to grow into than max out your storage unit and realize you still have stuff that needs to go inside.