While my work isn’t actually digital, my lifestyle is fully nomadic. When I decided to give up my apartment and begin traveling full time it was my first experience renting a storage unit. Unfortunately there’s not very good information online so I had to learn the hard way.
There’s a lot to consider when you’re about to leave your old life behind and start living out of a bag. In this post I want to share some key considerations when you’re looking to store your stuff for an indefinite period.
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To Store or Not to Store?
The primary question you need to answer is whether you wouldn’t be better off getting rid of everything. If you’re fresh out of college and living on hand-me-down furniture it’s probably best to just get rid of as much as possible. Sell, gift, donate. A couple boxes of personal items can always be kept with the parents. Waiting until after the nomadic part of life to start amassing household items is ideal.
You also need to consider how long you’re likely to be traveling. The costs of renting storage can add up quickly. If your unit is $100 a month you might have 2-3 years before you’re in the red on storage payments vs. replacement costs. Also: whatever your initial storage rent is, plan on an increase. That’s just how these bastards do business. They wait until you’re all moved in and settled before jacking up the rent 30 or 35%. They know that renting trucks is expensive and moving is a pain in the ass.
You’ve also got to consider that if you can’t keep or use a large item in your next permanent place it could be expensive to haul it away.
Never Put a Sofa in Storage
I recently paid to have a sofa hauled away and really wish I had just dumped it myself before moving out. After less than a year it was already starting to show signs of deterioration in the fabric from sitting in climate controlled storage.
Sofas are a strange shape by nature and take up a lot of room in a storage locker even if you stand them on end and fill the seating space. They’re also a pain in the ass to move, and each move carries the potential for damaging furniture.
My sofa was pretty nice, and fairly expensive brand new. But it was already 12 years old. At some point you want a new apartment to feel fresh and the same old couch with the same old ass grooves and a musty storage stink is not the way.
Storage Security
What prompted me to 86 the sofa was that I had to reconsider my whole storage setup. The facility I rented from was burglarized with many units ransacked. They took a number of my furniture pieces as well as other items.
When you rent a storage locker they force you to insure the items inside. It’s up to you to choose the amount of protection you buy so don’t skimp out at this step. If it’s going to cost you $5000 to replace your things, then pay whatever the premium is for $5000 in coverage.
I’d also recommend not storing anything that would be better suited to a bank’s safe deposit box. I had a watch worth a few hundred dollars lost in that burglary. I thought it would be safe in a locked, access controlled facility with cameras. In a box. In another box. Behind a pile of other boxes. But it wasn’t.
Anything that has a serial number should be recorded somewhere in the Cloud before you store it. Having photos of your items will help immensely in the insurance claim process so snap a few while you’re packing the unit. If you’ve got items like watches, jewelry, or truly important documents, consider a safe deposit box.
Choosing a Storage Facility
If it’s your first time you might think there’s not a lot of difference and the cheapest rent wins. Well, the rent’s going up anyway so don’t think about it too much.
What you should be thinking about is whether the facility has vehicle storage if you need that. Keeping your car near your stuff can be very convenient. You should also consider the type of building it is. A warehouse is the gold standard. Climate control is crucial for household items. Some facilities claim climate control but keep the AC set at 80.
Warehouses have elevators and carts to help you get items in and out. The facility I had that was ransacked was a climate controlled building in a yard of outdoor garage type units. I think the warehouse is more secure.
You also want to consider location. Especially if you don’t know where you might live permanently after traveling. It can be worth storing things near a friend or family member who can look in on them for you if there’s a problem. But if you’ve got ties to an area or a home base you also want to consider the facility’s location within the city. It’s worth making sure it’s somewhat convenient and has a good parking and loading situation.
Storage Unit Sizes
It’s hard to judge how much space you need. But it’s worth investigating because every additional square foot of unit space costs more money. The rule of thumb is that a 10′ x 10′ storage unit will fit a one bedroom apartment. That’s true but it might be a bit too big as well.
Can you stand to part with that fake plant? The IKEA Lamp? The vacuum cleaner and laundry baskets? If the answer is yes and you don’t store a couch you can probably get down to a 10′ x 8′ or 10′ x 7′ unit.
Chairs can be stacked and bedrooms store pretty flat when disassembled. Once you Tetris everything into place it becomes a pretty small cube. One key to this is buying brand new moving boxes for storage. Don’t cheap out on this. Brand new moving boxes from Lowe’s or Home Depot will stack and fit together much better than random leftover boxes. They’re also far easier to label. Fill each one as much as possible even if the contents are incongruent.
The Closet Storage Solution
After I started spending more time in South Florida it occurred to me that returning to Jacksonville to store my car and retrieve my sea bag was inconvenient. I should start parking in South Florida instead. Also it would be neat if I had a second, smaller storage unit where I could keep my bag. I can also throw some extra clothes in there. Winter clothes. Bicycle. And more.
Rather than just plunk it all on the floor, I decided to take a cabinet and stool from my main unit and pair them with some Mackapar shelving from IKEA. I set the unit up like a walk-in closet and was very pleased with the result.
Having my own walk-in closet in Fort Lauderdale has been a game changer. It lets me do big things, like keep the bike, spare luggage and coolers. I’ve also got everything for bike maintenance. But it also allows me to do small things like keep stamps and an envelope handy. I can read a book and have somewhere to keep it afterward. It’s also great having a place to keep spare charging cables and power adapters that might be needed in the future. Even just occasional junk drawer items like a pair of scissors has a place.
After the burglary in my first unit, I moved the remaining contents to Lauderdale and consolidated everything into one 10′ x 8′ unit. I built a wall out of wrapping paper and cardboard to section off the household storage from the practical closet. Added in a few more cheap posters from IKEA et voilà… a perfect home base for a nomadic hotel dweller. You can see the final results below.
