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Sometimes, you are stuck in a difficult situation when you don’t want to sell a furniture item, but you also don’t have enough space at home to store it.
This is where people start thinking about the storage facilities and ask us, is it worth storing furniture?
This article will tell you about the pros and cons of storing furniture and a complete guide on things to consider when storing furniture.
Pros and cons of storing furniture
If you are planning to store furniture, here are the pros and cons of doing so:
Pros of storing furniture
1. Free space at home
When you put your furniture at a storage facility, you free up plenty of space at home that can be used for other useful items.
2. More time to think
You probably sent the furniture to a storage unit because you are confused about whether to sell it or keep it.
By sending furniture to a storage unit, you can free up space at home and not sell that furniture at the same time.
This will give you some extra time to think about the furniture at a storage unit. You can either decide to sell it or create some free space at home for it.
3. Secure the furniture
If you are worried about your furniture getting stolen, you can send it to a secure storage unit and get rid of your anxiety. You can get it back whenever you want, but until then, your mind will be peaceful.
4. Less stress while moving
When you are moving to a new house, the most stressful thing is taking all furniture items to the new location.
There are so many things going on in your mind like which furniture should I take and which should I sell.
You can move your furniture to a storage unit and then take some time to process your mind and think about what to do with all that furniture.
This way you will experience less stress while moving to a new residence.
5. Temporarily store seasonal furniture items
Storage units allow you to temporarily get rid of the seasonal furniture items that you only need during a particular time of the year.
If you have money, you can send all such furniture items to a storage unit and get them back only when you need them.
Cons of storing furniture
1. Increase in expenses
When you hire a storage unit for storing furniture, you have an additional expense to deal with.
Every month, you will have to pay the rent of the storage unit you are using. If you are very rich, this might not be a problem for you.
But if you are already struggling financially, you will find it difficult to cope with another monthly expense.
2. You might be paying for furniture that’s losing its value
Unless you have stored some antique furniture that becomes more valuable over time, the other furniture items you have placed in the storage unit might be losing their value.
For instance, let’s suppose you have stored a bed worth $2000. After a year, its value will drop to $1600. If you are paying $100 for the storage unit, you will pay $1200 annually for a bed that is losing $400 value every year.
This number game does not go in your favor at all. It’s a major disadvantage.
3. You end up paying for longer
When you rent a storage unit, your initial plan is to keep it for a month only. But in reality, you end up using it for several months or even a year.
This way you pay them much more than you had planned.
4. You may start buying more stuff
If you have free space in the storage unit, you will always be tempted to buy more items to fill the space you are paying for.
This is a great disadvantage observed by many people out there.
5. Damaged furniture
Some storage units don’t take care of your furniture.
You can hear stories on the internet or from close friends about how their furniture was damaged at the storage facility.
It does not happen frequently at every storage unit, but the risk is always there.
Things you must know before storing furniture
If you are going to store furniture, you must do the following things:
1. Clean the furniture
First of all, you should thoroughly clean all of your furniture items before storing them. It will prevent the furniture from spoiling and degrading over time.
2. Disassemble the big items
It is always a good idea to disassemble the big furniture items like bed and dining table, etc.
It will help you store more furniture items in the storage unit.
Make sure to put a tiny label on everything that would later help you identify the use and purpose of every item.
3. Choose a climate-controlled storage unit
You should prefer to store your furniture in a climate-controlled storage unit.
The reason is that it will prevent the furniture from deteriorating due to weather changes.
There have been many incidents when heat, humidity, and moisture resulted in damage to the furniture stored at the storage facilities.
4. Check the security
Your furniture storage unit must be secure to ensure that no one steals your items from there.
That’s why you must check all the security measures in place.
What are the alternatives to storing furniture?
If you don’t want to store furniture in a storage unit, here are some alternatives for you:
1. Sell and make money
If you don’t want to rent a storage unit and also don’t have free space for storing the furniture, the best option is to sell it and earn money.
2. Seek help from friends
Call some of your close friends and relatives and ask if they have free space at home and whether they can allow you to store furniture for some time.
If they say yes, you can temporarily store multiple furniture items at the house of friends and relatives.
This is a free and effective solution!
Final verdict: Should I store furniture or not?
After analyzing the pros and cons of storing furniture, we can conclude that is not a good idea to store furniture in storage units.
The reason is that it costs you a lot of money and there are high chances you will never use that furniture again.
So, it is useless to keep paying for something you will not use. Unless you are 100% sure you will need this furniture in the future, you should sell or donate it and get out of this hustle.
