Storage 101: What Are Your Options?

Whether you’re downsizing to a smaller apartment, clearing clutter or storing antiques for safe keeping, there are a variety of storage rental options when your parents’ basement isn’t available.

Renting storage can be a great idea if you your living space is limited and your rooms and closets are are overflowing with stuff.  Seasonal clothes, furniture, keepsakes and old toys, which you may not need right away but want to keep, are just the items to put into storage.

When choosing a storage facility, before considering climate control, security access and moving, you’ll have to decide what type of facility you want, how big you want it and where.

Across the Country
Although many storage facilities are mom and pop shops, there are several companies that offer reliable storage spaces nationwide with all the space, temperature and humidity controls, security and monitoring you could want when storing your favorite antique furniture.

Depending on your location and the size of your storage space, prices at Public Storage can be anywhere from about $37 per month to more than $100 per month.  Storage spaces range from five feet by five feet to 10 feet by 30 feet.  Public Storage has locations all over the United States and in Belgium, France, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and the U.K. 

At ExtraSpace Storage, spaces are between 25 to 300 square feet and go for $20 to $275 per month. They even have space to park your RV, depending on your location and the size of your rig. 

And if you’re a wine collector or restaurateur, you can find storage space for your wine collection at The Lock Up in eight states in the U.S. They even have motion-sensitive lighting and 24-hour camera monitoring.  Prices range from about $50 to $294 per month, and you may qualify for a discount or free truck rental.

Small Spaces
Some storage facilities specialize in providing small storage spaces or mini-storage, but since many of these facilities are located in big cities, they may be relatively expensive. 

If you’re intent on keeping your things in a small space in the big city, Manhattan Mini Storage, for example, has facilities all up and down the island with spaces ranging in size from four feet by four feet to 25 feet by 40 feet. Prices start at $29 per month, though larger spaces (the largest room being 8,000 square feet) are $1.25 per square foot per month.  The biggest rooms cost about $10,000 per month,  and rent includes phone and Internet access, electrical outlets, lighting and air conditioning.  You may also be able to get a free roundtrip taxi ride for you and your belongings.

Tuck-It-Away, which is also in the New York area, offers storage spaces from three-foot by three-foot cubes to 10-foot by 20-foot spaces for between $35 and $660 per month depending on size and location.

To find the closest storage facility in your area, check with the Self Storage Association.