Storage Facility or Storage Shed?

Are you thinking about stowing your stuff in a storage facility? Have you taken the time to compare the cost of storage space rental to the cost of purchasing a storage shed? Depending on your needs, the difference in cost can be considerable.

If your needs are strictly short-term and you have a lot of things to store, storage space rental will likely get the nod. But the greater your time-frame and the lesser your total cubic footage needs, the better chance that a backyard storage shed will be the most cost-effective solution.

You'll need to take a look at the prices for rental space at a local storage facility. These figures will vary, depending on your geographic location. (In general terms, the higher the local cost of living, the higher you can expect to pay for space.)

Here in the midst of the megalopolis, a local storage facility charges anywhere from $59 per month for a 5x5 foot storage space, all the way up to $329 for a 10x30 space. A 5x10 space is $99, 10x7.5 is $139, 10x10 is $149, and 10x15 is $159, 10x20 is $219, and 10x25 is $289 per month. In the first year, the rental on a 10x7.5 space will cost more than $1650.

With inexpensive 8x10 storage building kits starting at well under a thousand dollars, comparing the cost of renting that 10x7.5 storage space to the cost of buying a standard sized 10x8 storage shed is a no-brainer. While a somewhat fancy pre-manufactured wood shed could easily set you back more than $1650, it's all gravy in the second year and beyond. And even more so, you won't have to throw all that junk in the car to haul it across town every time you need to clear out a closet.

Of course, it's never a dollars-only decision. There are always a number of factors to weigh and only you can determine what's most important. If there's no room in the backyard (or if there's no backyard, for that matter), it's not a question of whether or not to use a storage facility but which one to use.