If your first reaction when you walk into your apartment, condo, or house is, “I need a bigger place,” you may want to rethink it in this housing market. Perhaps you need to determine what things you need and what things you don’t. If you’ve done that and you still need room, consider a self-storage space.

What do you really need?
Human beings are collectors by nature, whether you are collecting music or old magazines. However, some human beings need some “collector editing.” For instance, if you find yourself collecting TV dinner boxes, you probably need “collector editing.”

Here are two easy categories to get you determining what you really need:

• What do you need: day-to-day implements (appliances), sentimental pieces from loved ones (pictures, gifts), items that reflect your hobbies and interests (musical instruments).

• What don’t you need: clothes in the closet you haven’t worn in years, items in disrepair (broken toaster), items you just don’t use (old holiday gifts that you never really liked)

Self-storage spaces are a great option
Once you complete your “collector editing,” you should have a pretty clear idea if a storage space is for you. Your first step should then be determining how much space you need for storage. The great thing about self-storage spaces is that there are size options to fit your needs.

• Small-to-large closet size (5’x 5’ or 5’ x 10’): This much room gives you enough room to store a few smaller pieces of bedroom furniture, boxes of important papers, the contents of your walk-in closet, and with the larger size option a few extra items similar to the ones just mentioned.

• Very small room to small room size (5’ x 15’ or 10’ x 10’) With these options, store rooms of furniture, maintenance items including lawn mowers, and even household appliances like refrigerators if you consider the larger size.

• Average garage to very large room size (10’ x 20’ or 10 x 30’) These are the largest set of self-storage spaces. The average garage size is the equivalent of a typical one-car garage where you can fit almost everything from a two-room apartment plus an average-size vehicle. The larger option can contain the contents of most three-to-four bedroom apartments including indoor and outdoor furniture, appliances, and much more.

Other self-storage considerations
There are a number of companies that offer the convenience of self-storage. Like any other thing you buy or in this case lease, it’s a good idea to consider hours you have access to your storage unit, how long the lease is, and of course, the cost. And like any other thing you value, insurance for your self-storage unit is a final step to secure protection for the things in your life that you value.