Have You Done the Self-Storage Math?

Updated May 2021
Renting a self-storage unit is certainly an option for keeping your stuff, and according to the U.S. Census Bureau an option rapidly becoming more popular (see chart). In recent years, self-storage has mushroomed into a $39.5 billion industry in the U.S.A., renting 1.9 billion square feet of space. More than 10.6 percent of U.S. households rent a self-storage unit. Have you noticed how giant self-storage facilities keep sprouting in every neighborhood? We propose an alternative to self-storage rental.

Nationally, the average cost to rent a self-storage unit is $89.12 per month, $1,069.44 per year, according to SpareFoot data (2021) comparing costs in more than 200 U.S. cities and towns. You can expect those rental fees to increase year, after year, after year (see chart).

We have an alternative to self-storage rental.

Frankly, those of us who work at SpaceLift Products are baffled.

A one-time investment in a SpaceLift™ attic lift offers easy storage access virtually forever. Plus it raises the resale value of your home. We think it makes more sense to invest in your own storage and your own home, instead of paying rent for someone else’s profit and equity.

Our attic lifts cost $1,895 for the smaller size unit and $1,995 for the larger one, with free shipping and a two-year warranty. At the average cost to rent a self-storage unit, you can have a permanent solution for less than two-years of rental fees. That includes some room for installation costs, although many of our units are installed by do-it-yourselfers. You may pay for your lift even sooner, depending upon the size of unit you rent and where in the country you call home.

If you have an attic or basement that’s not full, why are you schlepping your stuff to a storage-unit and paying month after month, year after year? We can only figure it’s because you haven’t heard about our elegant storage access solution.

We are big fans of keeping your stuff. It’s yours, you bought it and clearly you see a future use and value for it. That’s what storage is all about. We believe easy access to storage spaces is the key to successful management and seasonal rotation of your valued items. Your storage items are safe and secure in your own home. You can reduce clutter and claim more living space.

Here’s how to deal with that attic ladder.

Listen, we get the inconvenience of those pull-down attic ladder contraptions. That’s why we invented the SpaceLift attic lift. Install one of our computer-controlled units and enjoy instant, convenient, easy access to storage space right in your own home. No need to load up the car or SUV and drive to a self-storage facility where you then have to unload. Then when you want something from your rental unit, it’s back over to the storage unit to load up again. We change all that to the simple push of a button with our storage lift.

It’s like having your own mini freight elevator or dumbwaiter for your stuff, right in your own home. Customers tell us that once they install a SpaceLift attic lift, they find more uses for it. Some report using it several times per week.

References: SpareFoot self-store industry statistics.