Most home businesses require the storage and management of “stuff”—whether it is product or materials or equipment—having a home-based business usually means that we need to make room for some additional things we wouldn’t ordinarily need. However, if your home business generates a lot of “stuff”—including records, files or other materials—finding a place to store all that stuff can be a problem.
I’ve mentioned before that it is necessary to store most business records (this includes receipts, financial records, sales records, etc.) for seven years. Depending on your type of home business, this may be as easy as putting everything in one file or file drawer—or may involve boxes and filing cabinets full of financial records. It may be that all you need to do is dedicate a closet in your home to your business. If you don’t have an extra room or space in your house to dedicate to storing these records (and even if you do) you might need to consider renting or leasing some storage space.
If it is just documents that you need to store, there are companies who specialize in storing, picking up, and shredding financial business documents. They can pick up your boxed records and store them for you for a monthly or quarterly fee and then shred them after seven years (or another specified time limit). However, if you have additional supplies, equipment, or products you need to store—you will likely need to find a more accessible storage solution.
The considerations will likely be cost, proximity to your home business, and whether or not the storage is the correct temperature, safe for what is being stored, etc. While your first thought may be a storage unit, it might not be the best and most accessible place for what you need to store. You might consider seeing if there is a storage room available in another business, or even consider making renovations or adjustments to your home in order to keep your business “stuff” close to home where it will be needed.
See Also: How To Make More Space in Your Closet