Related Posts
Find out more about self storage units and how to make the most of having one as a home worker.
As of March 2023, around 37% of British workers said they worked from home at least once within the last week. Many more people now work from home exclusively, spending much of the time growing their business or career from a home office, or another workspace in the house.
When you work from home, lots of things are awesome tools to have, including a coffee machine, an ergonomic chair, a lock on the door and a good set of blinds. There is one affordable, vastly helpful tool for homeworkers that is commonly ignored, and many people don’t even know about it yet, and that tool is self storage. Self storage is incredibly helpful for people who work from home, in many different ways. It’s affordable, flexible, functional and easily accessible – the perfect pairing for an at-home business that needs room to manoeuvre.
If you’re not convinced, checkout these 10 ways to utilise a self storage unit when you work from home:
1. A Place To Work
Some self storage facilities allow you to work in the unit and use it as an office. Not every facility will do this, but the ones that do are incredibly helpful because it gives you the benefits of a dedicated workspace, without the cost of an actual office rental. You could usually expect electricity and climate control in these kinds of units. There could be WIFI you can pay for, but if not, you’ll need to have your own connection you can use. It’s also helpful as a space to craft and create, if that is part of your business.
2. A Place For Paperwork Storage
Lots of businesses are trying to go paper free, but we aren’t quite there yet as a business community because there is still a need for paper. Maybe it is sensitive documents that cannot be destroyed, or you’re not round to digitising some paperwork yet. Either way – a home office is not the place to be storing lots and lots of paperwork – you need the space for running the business. Self storage is ideal for paperwork storage as it can be the size you need and the security is as high as you need for sensitive paperwork that needs to go into deep self storage.
3. Spare Room/ Garage Clearout
Sometimes the space needs to be made to create a dedicated workspace. Working on the sofa or kitchen table is all well and good, but soon enough the interruptions from the family, and terrible posture take their toll, and it’s time to create a home office. Self storage is handy for this reason because you can simply move everything from a spare room or garage into the self storage unit and get going with your new home office design. When you have time to sort through your self storage unit you can tend to your things, and until then it will all be safe and secure and most importantly not taking up extra room in your home any more.
4. Office Renovation Furniture Storage
If you decide to renovate your home office a self storage unit will be really helpful as a place to store your furniture whilst you get the room painted and looking great. It’s especially handy if your house is compact and you have no real place to store your expensive office furniture whilst you do the home office area up.
5. Stock Storage
Stock can be at risk of environmental damage, human damage and theft in your home. It can also just get in the way, especially when larger orders start coming in. Storing it in self storage means it is properly protected as self storage facilities use all the latest security technology to ensure customers belongings are kept safe. Additionally, climate controlled self storage will further protect stock that is sensitive to extreme temperatures, which it would be exposed to store somewhere like a garage, or even next to a radiator.
6. Fulfillment
Fulfilling orders requires a lot of space that you may not have in your home office. Being able to do this in a self storage unit means you can organise everything as you need to. Additionally, some facilities may send the orders out for you as an extra service, which can be really useful and save time.
7. Deliveries
Working from home doesn’t mean being able to take deliveries all the time. You might be focusing, on a conference call, or out working in a coffee shop or hot desking somewhere. When you have a self storage unit there are often ways to have your orders taken for you by the reception, sometimes 24/7. This is incredibly helpful and gives you extra logistical flexibility as a remote worker.
8. Socialising
Working from home can be lonely, and although you might not see anybody at the self storage unit, there can often be a community feel, and you’ll likely get to know the staff. In some facilities where a lot of people use the units as workspaces, you’ll likely meet plenty of other people who work remotely like you. It’s not the biggest benefit to self storage for people who work from home, but it is a nice extra.
9. Additional Side Projects
These days we all have side hustles to increase the amount of money that we make. If you have a main job working from home, but also have side hustles like buying and selling clothes, a self storage unit can be really handy. It allows you the space to work on, and grow your side projects without having to sacrifice working space at home.
10. Equipment
Does your working from home business require equipment like speakers, furniture, presentation stands and similarly large bulky items? If so, it can be helpful to have a self storage unit for the bulky items, and then a clear home office and garage to use for work, and for general daily family life at home.
Why not get in touch with your local self storage facility today? They can help you get an idea of prices, availability and contract rules so that you can further understand how this handy business tool can benefit your working from home schedule and functionality.