On the move? What to do when your new place just isn’t big enough.
The typical Australian individual moves on average once every 5-6 years. Whether it be downsizers (parents whose kids have moved out), upgraders (families with expanding kids), sharers (separated relationships) or investors (fuelled by a booming property market), people are more transient today than ever before. At the same time, we continue to accumulate more and more possessions, which take up valuable and expensive living space.
Here are our top 3 tips for movers looking for short or long term storage space, when you haven’t found a new place to live or the new place just isn’t big enough to store all your personal items.
1. Compare options and rates between traditional facilities and local solutions
Self storage is dominated by the well-known brand names like National Storage, Kennards and Storage King but these brands only make up 35% of the traditional storage market. The remainder of the organised storage market consists of smaller ‘mum and pop’ operators, running small storage warehouses locally.
Big storage houses have obvious advantages over smaller operators; being 24/7 access, security, and more modern infrastructure, however this is often offset by cost and location.
A third option has emerged recently, being peer to peer (p2p) storage, in which locals in your neighbourhood list and rent out their spare garages / space to you on a flexible basis. It’s like Airbnb but for storage space. The big advantage of p2p storage is cost, flexibility and convenience, with savings of up to 50% on storage, and no-lock in contracts.
Spacer (www.spacer.com.au) aggregates all the storage options in your local area so you can compare costs and options that best suit your needs.
2. Find a local storage solution with good access, flexibility and convenience
Moving items back and forth is a pain in the rear end and removalists will charge you per stop, taking into account accessibility and distance travelled. It is very important to find a storage solution with good access nearby. This is one advantage peer to peer options may have over multi-level storage facilities requiring lift access in hard to locate units.
When we move, storage is often the last thing we think about, sometimes to our peril. We don’t know if we need storage for 2 weeks, 1 month or 2 years and nobody wants to be locked into long term contracts. Peer to peer options are month by month rentals, providing the flexibility you may need, however this may be offset by limited access to your items being stored.
3. De-clutter and re-gift your pre-loved unnecessary items
We know it’s hard to give away pre-loved possessions with so much history and meaning attached to them. However if you can bear to give away some of your prized possessions, there are a few great websites that can help you find a new home for your stuff at no cost to you:
