Landlord sold my place out from under me this week. One of the few basement apartments in the city that comes with a garage you can actually use (storage only, seriously?). Anyway the bright side is that me and my girlfriend have found a much nicer place that's closer to downtown. Closer to the river too, which might come in handy some day. Downside? No garage and slightly less interior storage. Bottom line is that I need more space for some extraneous preps (And stuff).
Hence the choice between a garage that I rent off some guy in the classifieds, or a professionally run storage facility. Here are my pros and cons:
Storage Unit:
Pro
-Normally very secure.
-Facility I'm looking at is within walking distance on flat terrain.
-In a real emergency I could just hop the fence if the guards have abandoned it.
-Facility I'm looking at is relatively off the beaten path (lived here 10 years and didn't know it was there) so probably won't get raided immediately in a disaster.
Cons
-Potentially farther away than a rental garage.
-Some limitations on what I can store.
-Probably can't use it as a workshop
Rented Garage:
Pro
-Can probably get one closer to me.
-Possibility of limited workshop capability.
-May or may not be inconspicuous to raiders.
Con
-Not terribly secure, especially since I won't be there every day to monitor it.
-No guarantees about the moral fiber of the owner, he might poke through my stuff every chance he gets and actually shoot me on sight if I show up during a disaster.
I dunno. Leaning a little toward the storage unit.
I think you may have forgotten an important criteria : cost. Are the 2 options comparable?
I think you may have forgotten an important criteria : cost. Are the 2 options comparable?
Yes. Almost everyone with a garage for rent in my target area wants $250 or more plus deposit. A garage-sized storage unit is also about $250.
If you can't do everything in the rented storage unit, then perhaps you could get a smaller unit . I had one once that was alot
smaller than a garage unit and I put shelves in it and was able to pack it very full. It was less than $ 100.00 Then you could save money
and put the extra savings towards a better apartment with more storage there ?
What are you storing there ? Food ? Tools ?
The biggest thing is my quad, followed by various tools and fitness equipment (I'll get a membership lol). As far as preps, it's gonna be things like toilet paper, spare clothing, backup stuff like spare stoves and fuels, lanterns, batteries. Food is a possibility if I find something temperature stable.
I have to say that having fitness equipment in storage is very costly . You can't use fitness equipment
while it is stored away, and you are paying each month
to store them outside of home, might as well sell them and save storage money and buy new ones when you have bigger home.
is not a problem to go get the matériel in storage place?