Self storage is a good option for you if any aspect of your life has seemed to overflow into your living space, and you just don’t know where to put it all. Self storage options in Alabama can be a good solution even for those who own homes with lots of storage space inside, and storage in outbuildings like sheds or garages. No matter how much space you have, it seems, it’s all too easy to find yourself trying to dig out from underneath a mountain of “stuff.”

Renters and those who lease might have an even harder time finding a place for everything, depending on how much space is available to them. Small apartments don’t leave much room for storage, and often even those buildings that do have a storage space for renters only has a small space available to be shared among all the tenants. Self storage is a way to get the things out of your way without giving them up, or worrying about too-small storage in your building or other people having access to the same area.

Self storage options in Alabama can help you get control of your “stuff,” get organized, and maybe even help you further by giving you some breathing room at your home or business, and figuring out what you can part with to make storing your stuff even easier.

You might want self storage for things like business paperwork archives, unused furniture that you want to keep or can’t decide what to do with, boxes of stuff you need to sort to figure out what you’ll do with each item you can use self storage for any of these items, and more. Many self storage options in Alabama can be used for a month or for years; that depends on your and your needs. And the size of your self storage space is individual, too.

Self storage options in Alabama let you rent storage space. But the difference between self storage and the traditional types of storage people used to have to use to store items away from their own property is that you control your storage. You’re responsible for bringing your own items to the storage facility, putting them in your personal storage area, and locking the storage behind you.

In fact, most self storage companies don’t even provide a lock for your unit. You purchase your own padlock. While this might seem like an added expenses or hassle, remember-if you provide your own lock, no one else has a key. It’s an added measure of security for you and your things.

Also, no one else gets in your things. You don’t have to go through anyone to retrieve items from storage or put items in. And you can go almost any time, as long as the facility itself is open. You may not be able to go at certain times because the entire property is gated, for instance. If you need to be able to access your things at hours when you think they might not be open, examine your self storage options in Alabama and find a company with more flexible hours.

Anytime they’re open, you can get into your storage unit at will. The company doesn’t need to know what you access, or whether you remove or add anything. It’s a very private way to store your things.

When you’re looking at your self storage options in Alabama, you’ll want to compare prices and hours, of course. But don’t forget to compare security. It might be worth a little longer drive to another town to store your important items in a self storage facility with better security than the cheaper, closer facility.

Even the best lock can be cut off, and that could happen even if the storage was in your own backyard. But if the self storage facility has good security, it’s probably not something you’ll ever need to worry about.

Go to several facilities and really investigate your storage options. Make sure they look secure, and ask about things like fire alarms and a smoking policy-smoking should be forbidden on the property to prevent everyone’s stored items from going up in smoke. Ask about general alarm systems and security. Look at some facilities at night to see if they’re lit well enough to discourage would-be thieves. Don’t settle for a questionable company. You probably have dozens of self storage options in Alabama, so make a careful choice to best protect your stored items.

Self storage is commonly used for short term storage. That’s because it’s the ideal solution for people who need to store something for a short period of time. The contracts are typically month-to-month with no long term commitment required, and no penalties or charges for removing items early. The convenience of self storage lends itself to short term storage, because you can go anytime the facility is open to add items or remove them.

For people in the process of moving, self storage is perfect because it can be so flexible, cost-efficient and short term. But there are many good reasons to consider self storage for your long term storage needs, too. Traditional storage might require a long term contract and therefore seem like a good long term storage solution. But if you use self storage instead, you get the flexibility of being able to come and go when you please and add and remove things when you want, while knowing your items are secure behind your own lock and can’t be accessed or moved as they can with traditional storage. Self storage can make it much more convenient to store items that you need to access regularly or just from time to time. There are a number of situations where long-term self storage might be a good idea.

Business documents. Businesses that need to keep boxes and boxes of paperwork for legal and tax reasons can benefit from long term self storage. As the number of boxes decreases or increases, it’s easy and hassle free to rent a smaller or larger storage unit. And when access to the paperwork is needed, it’s convenient to go anytime the facility is open. The amount of document (and now even disk and digital) storage businesses are required to keep can be astounding. These boxes can take up valuable office space or storage space within a company. With long term self storage, they can be conveniently stored off site where they’re still accessible.

Boat storage. If you live in an area where you can only use your boat from spring to fall, you’ll have to store your boat for the winter. This might be in your backyard or your garage, but self storage is great for long term boat storage, too. Some areas might require that boats not be visible from the street or be present in a yard, so if you don’t have a garage or a storage building, you’ll have to rent storage for your boat. And you may opt to store your boat off-site even if you have a garage or storage shed. Why use up all that space with something that can only sit there for at least a few months? Self storage is the perfect solution.

RV storage. Most people use their recreational vehicles only on certain occasions throughout the year. It doesn’t have to take up valuable garage space when you’re not traveling across the country in it. Self storage will let you store your RV safely and securely when you’re not in a traveling frame of mind.

Vehicle storage. You might have many reasons to store a vehicle. Some people prefer not to drive in the wintertime and take other transportation. And some cars and other vehicles like classics and show cars are best stored during the winter season for their own protection. Vehicle storage is an ideal use for long term self storage.

Seasonal wardrobes. Closet space is almost always at a premium in today’s homes. We might all dream of huge walk in closets, but few of us have that luxury. When the seasons change, we either leave last season’s clothes and heavy coats in the closet with this season’s clothes, which take up tons of space and make it harder to get to what we need. Or we pack those clothes away in boxes, bags and bins and try to cram them in the backs of closets, under beds, in our backyard storage shed or in the attic, and these places are usually already full of other stored items.

Mini storage would be a good choice for a person’s seasonal wardrobe. A closet-sized storage unit can hold winter clothes to make room in your closet for the clothes you need during the current weather, and because self storage is so convenient, when you want to change you simply trade the clothes in your storage unit with those in your closet. Long term storage for clothes is ideal for those with large wardrobes, with a minimum of closet space, or both.

Using a self storage unit may be a completely foreign concept to you. After all, for years, you’ve been busily shoving all of your stored items into closets, attics and garages. Why make a change now? Consider these 10 reasons to try self storage and begin reaping the benefits today!

Reason # 1: Your Attic
Have you ever heard of the concept of maximum capacity? Chances are that your attic reached this phase eons ago. And yet you continue to happily shove more items into this limited space. Do you even know what is in your attic these days? Using a self storage unit can help you to unload this space, take stock of what you actually own, and bring more organization into your life. How much of your stuff could you easily throw or give away? What is hiding in the attic that you need to use? Find out today!

Reason #2: Your Closets
Closets are for clothes…not for storage. And yet so many families use the various closets in their homes to store away unnecessary items. After awhile, the articles that should go in closets start not to fit, because so much else has accumulated. Uh-oh! Time to clean out your closets, and start storing items in your self storage unit.

Reason #3: Your Garage
Can you even fit your car into your garage any longer? Too many families give up their precious parking spaces for the millions of boxes that overtake garage space in their home. If you have piles and piles of boxes, you may not even know what all your garage is holding. End the mystery today and use a self storage unit to organize your gear while reclaiming your parking space.

Reason #4: Know What You Own
Self storage units are a great way to take stock of what you actually own. If something has been stored away in your house, you may have completely forgotten that you owned it. That forgetfulness may cause you to own doubles or even triples of some items.

Reason #5: Get Organized
When you store all of your boxes together in one space, and continuously add new boxes at random times, you can quickly forget what is where. In a storage space, you can arranged all of your items so that you know exactly what is where and can access it any time you need to.

Reason #6: Run a Home Business
If you run a home business where you sell items through online portals or home parties, you may not have enough storage space in your own home to stay organized and keep the inventory you need. Instead of trying to invent space where there is none, use a self storage unit to keep all of your items in order and readily accessible any time you need them.

Reason #7: Organize a Collection
Do you have a valuable collection that is just sitting around in a dark corner of your home? Perhaps you collect massive quantities of baseball cards, or you are an antiques fanatic and have quite a few more than you can display in your home. Use a self-storage unit to safely and securely organize your collection.

Reason #8: Protect Against the Weather
If you own a motorcycle or another warm weather only vehicle such as a jet ski, you may need a place to store for the winter. If your own garage is not large enough to accommodate, you can use a self storage unit to protect your items from the cold of winter and the weather that may be damaging.

Reason #9: Saving for Later
Many parents save special items for their children to use later in their lives when they’re living on their own. Whether it is pieces of furniture, boxes of dishes or pots and pans, or even baby clothes and necessities, it can take up a lot of room to keep these in your own home. Instead, use a self storage unit to organize and store these items so that they can be enjoyed years in the future.

Reason #10: Occasional Use Only
Do you have items in your home that you might need to use only once or twice per year? They may be large and bulky and hard to store in your attic or garage. Perhaps you organize an annual parade or large event and have items related to that. Your self storage unit is the perfect solution for safely and securely storing those items that you only need access to once or twice a year.

Garage storage is something every home owner must come to terms with at some point. Our lives are just smack full of stuff. Stuff that has to go somewhere. Even though it’s stuff that we hardly ever use or really even need, we just seem to keep hanging on to it year after year. Of course, there are lots of things we do need to access and use on a regular, albeit infrequent, basis. For example, Christmas does come around every year, so those boxes and boxes of decorations have to be accessible and ready to rock ‘n roll when it’s time to deck the halls. And all that sports and fishing equipment can’t be buried somewhere when you need it. Lucky for home owners, effective do-it-yourself garage storage solutions are available from companies like Garagemaid. Consider the following:

Garagemaid has innovative garage storage systems that utilize interlocking connectors that are designed into each part. This means that there is no need to fuss with little fasteners that often just make assembly frustrating. The interlocking connectors add a lot of stability to the units, while at the same time making installation and assembly a snap. Once the unit is put together it’s just a matter of attaching it to the studs of the wall for a great garage storage system.

One of the nice things about Garagemaid products is that they are made out of a high density polyethylene so it is virtually impervious to problems that often arise from wood products when they get wet. With high density polyethylene, things like rot, rust, or cracking are avoided all together. It is an easily cleanable product that doesn’t have to be painted to look good.

Finally, the modular aspect of this system allows a variety of combinations that allow a more custom fit for your garage storage needs. You might start out with their basic storage cabinet that measures 84″ tall x 22″ wide. This has four adjustable shelves and a door on the upper part of the cabinet. The bottom part allows you to use up to four optional drawers. If you need additional garage storage you can just purchase additional shelves or even other cabinets with which it can be combined. This ability to customize really lets you get your storage just the way you want it in your garage space.

If you just need hooks for tools or other items you want to store on a wall, they also make a slat wall “workstation” kit with hooks. This unit is 42″ wide x 39″ tall. The kit includes 14 storage hooks that just snap securely into the slat wall where you want them. There is also a 4″ x 24″ storage basket that is designed to be used with the slat wall. These baskets are perfect for storing small items. The baskets have clear fronts so it’s easy to see what is inside. These don’t require any assembly. Just snap it in place and that’s it!

By combining the different styles of cabinets, slat wall kit, hooks, and baskets together anyone can design and implement their own customized garage storage solution in minutes. Then you will be able to find anything you need at any time.

Consumerism is the name of the game in the US, and people who have been participants for any length of time usually end up with more things than they can comfortably fit into their living spaces. So the items which are no longer in regular use but are too valuable to toss or give to the Good Will often head for garage storage.

This system, however, has one major drawback; if enough things make their way to the garage, the garage stops being a garage and turns into a garage storage unit. It may become so overloaded that it cannot even be closed, or have pathways between boxes and furniture by which people can access what they are looking for.

Eventually, however, most homeowners with overstuffed garages surrender to the reality that they need to do a garage storage cleanup. And those who do will help themselves a great deal by realizing that if they haven’t used some of the things in the garage since they were tucked away months or even years ago, they are not likely to use them in the future. It definitely makes the throwing-out process much less painful.

Getting Started

If your day of reckoning with your garage storage problem has finally come, arm yourself with the biggest, strongest trash bags you can find, and prepare to be merciless. If you have a van or truck into which you can place each bag as it is filled, even better.

If you have someone who can drive the truck or van to the nearest Good Will as soon as it is filled, even better still. The more distance you can put between yourself and the things which constituted you garage storage problem, the easier it will be.

Re-Organizing

When you have eliminated all the things you can no longer use from the garage storage equation, it’s time to re-organize the rest. If you find things that really belong elsewhere in your house, put them in cartons marked with the names of their final destination, and get them out of the way.

Break down the remaining garages storage items according to their uses; place like near like. Paints, thinners, brushes and roller pans can go together; grass seed, lawn feeder, and other gardening necessities can go together. Just keep going you have a place for everything, and everything is in its place.

When you’ve reached that point, you’ll be in a much better position to determine if its time to upgrade your garage with new garage storage cabinets and wall shelves. More importantly, you’ll have the room to do it!

For the remainder of the items in the garage storage, reorganize them by placing like products near each other. For example, all cleaning supplies should be in the same place while all the gardening supplies should be grouped together. Continue until all products have been grouped together.

When you first approach the job of cleaning out the garage storage, it will seem nearly impossible. Rest assured that by doing a little at a time, you can certainly return your garage as close as possible to its clutter-free state.

I am looking to put a small ‘mezzanine’ area in my garage which currently has a lot of wasted space overhead. This will literally be used only to store seasonal boxes and accumulated clutter. The garage is a cavity building block construction on a concrete base with a steep pitch to the roof.

The span of the garage is 20 feet and I would like the storage area to be the full width and about 4 feet deep – just a big shelf I guess!

Is this something that can be spanned with timber joists just using hangers? Does this kind of project require planning permission and qualified engineers to carry out?

Thanks in advance

I’ll need to store my belongings at a self-storage place for several months. I’ve never done this before. Can you rent one large space for your car plus all your things, or is this not safe (in terms of fire hazard)? Is it more typical to rent a separate room/garage (indoors) for your car and a separate room for your belongings?
yes, I agree. Many storage places simply don’t look big enough (from the outside) for vehicles and furniture/boxes to be in the same space. That’s why I wondered maybe you have to rent two rooms or go to a completely different kind of facility for your storing your car. I would preferably like to store my car inside and not outside in parking space.

I have three GIANT piles of stuff. It literally takes up a 2 1/2 car garage leaving just walking room from the door leading into the house to the side door and the big garage door to that walkway (in the middle).

The back pile consists of LOTS of toolboxes, giant toolbox-type storage bins (3), old bikes, big box-carrying pusher things (like the restockers in a hospital would use), and some empty storage bins.

The left section of my garage is mostly boxes from when I moved into my house (six years ago). The boxes used to be neatly stacked, but have been fallen over. There is also an old microwave, a record player (don’t know if it works), old speakers, and a baby crib.

The right pile is a HUGE MESS!!! There is a ladder, a childrens swimming pool, boxes, Literally buckets and buckets of little brass plumbing parts (my grandpa was a plumber – he died when I was one, now I’m sixteen). We got my grandma’s house when I was 9. We also have JUNK. Theres Buried stuff I don’t know abt.

We (3 adults & 4 small children) will be living in our 1800 sq ft home while we try to sell it. I plan to remove a ton of stuff for "staging" to make the home show better and look larger etc. If the attached garage is used as storage for all the boxes and extra furniture will buyers be scared away or turned off? Do we need to bite the bullet and rent a storage unit? The laundry area is also in the garage so they will definitely see it in a walk through with their agent.

Storage area contains items from largfe furniture items, tools, boxes, even things we inherited that we have NO IDEA what’s in the box, we just took it and threw it in "there".