There are innumerable good reasons to rent a self-storage unit from our Tucson self storage facility; however, renting space you don’t need is never a good idea. You might be wondering why we would bring this up, since our business appears to be all about renting storage space. It’s true, that here at Tucson Self-Storage, we do rent quality self-storage units, but our business is all about giving our customers a quality self-storage experience. Renting empty space is money we don’t want you to spend if we can help it. Determining the space you need If you have never rented a storage unit before, renting the right size can be difficult. Typically, people will guess too high at first. They move in everything that they had planned and end up with space to spare. However, after a few months or even weeks they end up using all of the extra space and end up happy with the bigger unit. But what filled up that extra space; things they actually want to keep or just stuff they haven’t decided to throw away yet? When you look at their storage unit, it is completely full. It appears they are getting their money’s worth. However, if the unit is 20% - 25% full of things that will eventually end up in the landfill or at Good Will, they are paying a high price for items they don’t intend to keep. If this is you, then here is what you can do. Perform an Inventory Some of the items in your storage unit are just free loading; it is time to move these items out following an inventory checkup. Every item in your storage unit will fall under one of five categories. Your storage unit checkup could be accomplished in just a few hours on a Saturday when you use these criteria. 1. Nobody would ever want this—toss it. When performing your first inventory checkup after you have had your storage unit for a few months, you will stare with disbelief at many items and wonder where you got it, why you still have it, or maybe even what it is. This sounds like a good candidate for the trash. Other items that you might consider tossing are old beat up magazines, worn out clothing, or that mattress that has been officially pronounced dead. The basic criteria to justify throwing something away would be, if you would be embarrassed to sell it, keep it, or even give it away, then recycle it or throw it out. 2. It is still nice but you don’t want it—sell it. If you are into yard sales, these items qualify for a yard sale. You might as well get some money out of them rather than have them take up space. 3. It still has use for someone—donate it. You probably have many items that you don’t plan on using ever again. If it is an inexpensive piece of furniture that you think your kids might want, think again. They probably won’t want it and by the time you find that out, that inexpensive end table has cost you more that it is worth. 4. You have been looking all over for that—take it home. As you go through your items you will invariably come across something you have needed but didn’t remember that you had put it in storage. This item should probably go home with you where it is needed. 5. We want to keep this, but not at the house—keep it in storage. The rest of the items should fit in this category. This is why you rented your storage unit in the first place. As you look at your unit now, you notice it is more space that you need. Come to the office and let’s get you the right size unit and save you some money.
