The challenges of sharing a storage unit with friends

Everything is better when you do it with friends, right? Well... Maybe... Kinda. It depends on a number of things so it can be quite hard to decide one way or the other. But, what you should be aware of is that with a right plan and honest friends, anything you do will be a breeze. Including sharing a storage unit with friends. Therefore you need to make sure that you don't get stuck with the wrong people and that you have a solid plan for dealing with storage-related issues. We will go over some common challenges people find themselves in when considering storage sharing.

How to know which friend is good for storage-sharing

You shouldn't go into storage-sharing with simply anyone. Similar to looking for a Brooklyn moving and storage company, you need to find someone who is first and foremost reliable. Look, sharing a storage unit with friends is not fun. It's not going to be a fun activity that you share with your friend. It is a responsibility that requires honesty and reliableness. You need to trust your friend enough to give them access to your possessions and to depend on them to come up with their part of the rent every month (or however you end up paying for storage). What you don't want is to get stuck with a fun seeking friend that is fun to hang around with, but as reliable as quicksand. Do not tie yourself with someone that is not going to pull their own weigh.

How to filter your friends

Look, filtering your friends is pretty straightforward. Just look at their past. If they have been responsible and reliable all their life then yeah, they are going to continue to be responsible. If they haven't, well they most likely are not going to be. Now, if a friend is trying to turn their life around, and you see clear signs of them getting their act together, then it is reasonable to go into storage-sharing with them. Sure, it might be hard at the beginning if they don't have the organizational skills. But, if they are serious about turning their life around, then they will be more than happy to work on their bad habits and make themselves trustworthy and reliable.

Don't take sharing a storage unit with friends lightly.

How to approach sharing a storage unit with friends

If you have found the right people then it is time to tackle the next step of sharing a storage unit with friends, and that is finding storage. You need to have a serious sit down with your friends and discuss what kind of storage do you need. Also, you need to figure out for how long you are going to need it and how often do you plan on visiting it. All of those will impact the price of storage and the way in which you will pay for it.

The type and size of the storage unit

Before you find out what type of storage unit you are going to need, you need to figure out what do you want to put in it. An array of different things can be stored and they can drastically vary in size and fragility. It is best if both you are your friends have exactly the same reason for getting a storage unit. If you require it for different reasons, there is little chance that you will need it for the same amount of time and that you will need to visit it in the same periods. Any plan that you make with your friends can work, but you need to make sure that everyone understands it and that everyone will follow it. Which is not an easy thing to do by a long shot.

You and your roommate going backpacking is a great reason to get a storage unit for a summer.

The location

Locating will also play a big role in sharing a storage unit with friends. Again, if you are living with your friends, or are close to each other, then there will be little issue with the location. You simply find the closest storage unit you can. But, if you are far away from each other, you might need to figure out where exactly should you get a storage unit. It is halfway between you two is fair, but it can be a hassle to check up on. If it closer to one of you, that person can check on it more easily. But, that means that other people will have to suffer a long journey if they want to visit it. Make sure to talk this through before you come up with a final decision.

The more people want to share a storage unit, the harder it is to find the one.

Money

As with many things in life, when it comes to money you need to share it as best you can. If everyone is paying their share all will be well at the end of the day. The only reason when you should consider paying different percentages is when you are helping your friend out. It is not easy in our world to pick yourself up and get your life together. Therefore, you should try to help a friend out if both of you are in need of storage. Especially if they have moved because of their College, or some other important step in life. Other than that, there are little practical reasons for not splitting the storage bill fairly.

How to keep things organized inside the unit

First off, pack everything properly. Get free cardboard boxes NYC and pack everything so that it is safe form temperature changes and moisture. Label everything so that it can be clearly visible what is in the box and to whom it belongs to. The storage unit should be shared fairly as much as possible, but that is not always the optimal solution. Figure out a way to store everything that needs to be stored. If it happens that space is not evenly divided, that is ok. As long as everything that is planned is inside, you are good to go.