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QUESTION:Storage Unit Size
Here's another question for the helpful people here. I may have to move
out of my apartment, and the most frugal thing to do might be to put
everything in storage, and live with a roommate with a year or two until
I can afford to buy a house. Hopefully I can survive for that long
without killing my roommates or getting an ulcer. But that would mean
putting a lot of stuff in storage - I inherited quite a lot of nice
things from my mom when she died, and I want to keep those things to use
when I have a real house. So I have half of an attic full of boxes, a
few pieces of furniture, and a one bedroom apartment filled to capacity
with "stuff", things that I want to keep. Of course, I'd take some of
it with me, but most would have to be stored. The last time I was in a
similar situation, I gave most everything away, and it was "penny wise
and pound foolish", I ended up paying more to replace it later on.
Anyway, does anyone have experience with self-storage units, and know
how much space you need? I've tried to call around, but it's hard to
know how much space you will need when everything is compacted into
boxes. I asked at various storage facilities, but didn't get very
useful answers, and any suggestions would be appreciated.
ANSWER: Did you have everything when you moved into this apartment? If so, did
you rent a truck to move it? If so, again, how full was the truck?
Extrapolate from there.
Basically, you need to figure out how much cubic feet all your stuff
occupies, divide that by about 5 or 6 (depending on how stackable it
is), and find a storage place with square footage equal to or a bit
larger than the resulting number; more if you need to leave room for
access, less if you can safely stack most of it 8' high.
It may be advantageous to build some rough shelving that you can set in
the storage place and set some of the odd-shaped or more fragile stuff
on, as it'll reduce square footage requirements and protect all those
items much better.
Plan things when you start packing stuff into the storage place; if you
may need access to it, it has to go close to the front. Pack as tightly
as you can at the back, with things you won't need access to; use boards
to keep boxes off the floor to prevent them absorbing moisture from the
floor (happens with concrete).
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