Store or Sell: How to Decide

Too much stuff?

It happens to almost all of us at some point. You face a time where you have to decide what to do with your excess belongings. Maybe you’re moving to a smaller place, buying new furniture for your home, or remodeling your office. Or maybe a relative recently passed away and left you in charge of their estate. As much as you’d like, it’s just not possible to keep everything where it is.

Decisions, Decisions…

Also known as decluttering or anti-hoarding, there’s a process involved with deciding what to do with your belongings. When faced with too many items than you know what to do with, you’ll want to decide to sell, donate, or throw away your items—or store them in a warehouse. We’ve put together a guide to help you decide what to do before renting out space in a warehouse or storage unit. This guide is useful for individuals or families who need personal storage or businesses that need to explore commercial storage options.

Questions to Ask Yourself Before Getting Rid of Belongings

These questions may be useful whenever you are moving, downsizing, or clearing out an estate. It is also helpful for businesses undergoing construction, remodeling, redecorating, or moving from one location to another. Before you decide whether to sell your items or store them in a warehouse, ask yourself the following questions about each item. It may be useful to make a list, to physically sort things into piles, to take photos and organize them digitally, or to use sticky notes.

When asking these questions, you’ll want to decide whether to sell, store, donate, or throw away.

When did you use it last? A good rule of thumb is: If you haven’t used the item in the past year, you probably won’t miss it when it’s gone.
Does it serve more than one purpose? Multifunctional items tend to hold up their value over time. If you can think of many uses for an item, it’s probably worth hanging onto.
Do you actually like it? This may sound like a silly question, but it’s so important. If you’ve outgrown an item or never really liked it to begin with, you won’t miss it.
Does it hold any sentimental value? Is the item a family heirloom? Is it something you’ll want to pass down to your children at some point? Don’t get rid of it.
Is it in good condition? If your item has seen better days and is beyond repair, it’s probably best to just throw it out. Donated items should be in good condition, and you’d likely be wasting your time trying to sell.

When in doubt, store it. If you really love it, frequently decorate, have kids that may need it in the future, don’t get rid of it. It may be worth it to pay a small price for warehouse storage than to end up regretting the mistake of getting rid of it in the future.

Need to store some items?

If you’ve decided that storage is the right option for you, why deal with two different companies for moving and storage? We are a full-service moving and storage company, and we can move and store your belongings with ease. We’ll store your items in our secure warehouse in-between moves or when you just don’t have enough space. To learn more about our warehouse and storage services, click below. We’ll provide you with a fair and accurate quote before anything else. You’ll pay only for the space you need in our warehouse, rather than an entire unit.