If you don’t have a basement or an attic, finding space to store all of those things that don’t fit in your main living areas but you’d really rather not part with can be tricky. Maybe you’ve kept all of your sports trophies from your younger years but they don’t exactly fit in with the decor in your current living room.
Perhaps you are moving house and need a place to temporarily store your furniture. Hell, maybe you just have a bunch of stuff you haven’t quite decided what to do with yet! Whatever it is that you need to store, you have several options.
You could, of course, consider moving to a property with more storage space so that you can fit everything into your home. However, this is not usually financially viable, so storing it elsewhere in a self-storage warehouse or a lock-up garage is probably your best bet.
So what’s the difference? We thought we’d run you through everything you need to know so that you can decide which is best for you.
Lock-up Garages
As the name suggests, a lock-up garage is traditionally a place where you would store your vehicle while you’re not using it, but it can also be a great place for personal storage.
One of the most obvious advantages to using a lock-up garage for storage is that if you already own one it won’t cost you anything to store your belongings. Even if you don’t actually have a garage of your own, you can rent one fairly cheaply from sites like lockupgarages.co.uk.
It’s also convenient when it comes to access, as they are typically either at your home or just around the corner. If you happen to have rented one instead, you’ve probably chosen a convenient location close to your home or work.
On the other hand, if you’re using your own garage, you are using valuable space, and if you do own a car then you may be missing out on savings on your insurance by storing it on your driveway or street instead.
Garages also get damp and cold, so there is a limit to the things that you can store in them. Of course, you can have work done to make your garage more weatherproof, and this may be worth doing if you really do need that extra storage space. But be wary of the slippery slope of just chucking things in the garage! It’s far too easy to use it as an excuse for not doing any real de-cluttering.
Self-storage
Self storage spaces tend to be a bit of a drive from your home, which can be a little bit of a pain. Some also have access hours that mirror office hours during the week, which can make access a little bit of a pain if you have to wait until the weekend to get to your things!
On the other hand, your belongings do tend to be in very safe hands, with security systems and CCTV as well as key coded entry preventing thieves from getting to your valuables.
Self storage is also obviously more expensive than a garage, but it does have the benefit of forcing you to make conscious decisions about what you box up to store there. This is a bonus if you are moving home and need to declutter!