Renting a storage space at your nearby self-storage facilities can offer you extra space at home. Moreover, with flexible storage sizes and storage duration, it’s usually a win-win!
However, you might not want to spend on renting an entire storage unit that you can’t maximise. Or you only require a fraction of the space in the smallest locker unit. Fortunately, this is when sharing your storage unit with your friends or family becomes an appealing option!
While there are some upsides to sharing your storage unit, there are also some expected downsides to sharing your storage space. We’ve taken the liberty in this article to list some key pros and cons of sharing a storage unit.
PRO: Shared Cost
The cost of living has been going up in Singapore over the years. The EIU’s Worldwide Cost of Living recently ranked Singapore as the world’s most expensive city.
While renting a large storage unit can be an expensive proposition to some, it’s no surprise that some people pool their resources together so that they rent a shared storage space instead. Depending on the size of the unit, there might even be several people sharing it!
On top of this, by sharing your storage space, you can also split the storage rental cost between everyone involved.
This option can prove to be an excellent choice when navigating a tight budget, as you’ll have more disposable income at hand for the next important purchase.
CON: Risk of Defaulting Storage Rental Payment
One of the worrying cons of sharing your storage unit is that everyone bears equal responsibility to pay for the shared storage space. Due to varying financial capabilities, some might not have money for the rent in certain months, making other co-renters pay the rent from their own pockets.
What’s more, if the co-renters had forgotten to pay the additional amount owed, the storage rental bill might lapse, resulting in additional late fee charges.
To avoid this, ensure you’re only sharing your storage space with your closely trusted friends or family members.
PRO: Easier to Tidy Storage
Having a shared storage space also meant that the responsibility to tidy the place is shared. With more people, it’s a lot easier and faster to maintain order in the storage unit.
CON: Sharing Storage Space Can Strain Friendships
With the shared space and responsibilities, co-renters will not have the freedom to use the space however they want. In the event problems arise, people may have different ideas and opinions about how the storage space and cost should be divided.
Without a set of strict rules on how you and other storers can use the storage space, your friendship can begin to deteriorate. Disagreements will always occur, but with proper communication and clearly set boundaries with a set of strict rules, you should be able to overcome this potential issue.
PRO: Sharing of Space
Sometimes, even the smallest-sized storage unit can be too big. In this case, getting someone to come in to share the storage space with you is the perfect solution for you, as you get to use only the space you need and share the cost with another person.
With this list, you might be asking yourself now: is it a good decision to share my storage space?
Well, it’ll ultimately boil down to weighing the potential savings against how much you trust your co-renters as well as your relationship with them.
If you require more information about the types of storage spaces available, cost, and size before you make your decision, feel free to call us at 6771 3100.
