There are many excellent universities in Indianapolis. The city is quite spread out, and many residential areas are downright rural. However, city streets are rarely more than a mile away, providing for a unique university experience whether you live on or off campus. The weather is mostly predictable but not what most would call ideal. Hot, humid summers and freezing winters mean air conditioning and dehumidifiers are a necessity everywhere for half of the year, and heaters and humidifiers for the other half.
This article covers your self-storage needs during your college years in the Hoosier capital.
The Need for Self-Storage
If you’re going to university right out of high school, this is probably the first time you’ve lived for an extended time away from your parents. It’s time to really start learning about the adult world! That usually includes getting your own household possessions, like kitchenware, art, and more. Even moving out to college, you may want to take more than will fit in your dorm room or in your new apartment.
Now, that might not describe you, at least not initially. You may be a minimalist, and if so, that’s great. Even if you don’t need self-storage right away, keep what you learn here in mind for later.
Your Own Storage Locker
Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis, also known simply as Purdue, is the largest in Indianapolis with about 30,300 students.
University of Indianapolis has about 5,000,
Butler University about 4,500, and
ITT-Technical Institute Indianapolis about 4,600. Add in the smaller universities, and Indianapolis has a student population of about 51,000, a good chunk of the 850,000 city residents.
Indianapolis has 151 self-storage facilities with 83,050 units, essentially, a good ratio of units to residents. Getting your own self-storage space should not be difficult. Housing is affordable in Indianapolis, and so are self-storage unit rentals. Look for5’x5’ units from about $27 to about $45 per month, or 10’x10’ units from between $75 and $110.
How do you know if you will need self-storage? Once you have been accepted to Purdue or another Indianapolis institution, make a list of everything you plan to bring. From that, make two lists: one of those things you plan to take to your dorm room or new apartment, and another of things you will put in self-storage. This can help you see if you will need storage at all, and if so, can help you decide
what size would be best.
That Shifty Weather
As mentioned, Indianapolis weather goes to extremes, from summers so hot and muggy you’ll be doing your best to get from one air conditioned building to another and sweating like crazy in between, to winters so cold and icy that you’ll have to watch every step to your car or to the next class room.
While just about every building has good climate control, imagine leaving your possessions out in the weather at any time of the year for a few days. If you get a unit without climate control, that’s more or less what you’ll be doing. Make sure that any unit you have is climate controlled, or you can expect your items to get moldy, or worse.
Storage When Studying Abroad
Despite the crazy weather, Indianapolis is a fun city with museums like the Indianapolis Museum of Art, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis (worth visiting even for adults!), and sites like Monument Circle and the Indianapolis Zoo. Still, if you get the opportunity to study abroad, you may want to take it!
While overseas, you will need to make arrangements for your self-storage and for your living situation. If you’re living in a house or an apartment with roommates, or if you’re able to hold onto your dorm room, you can’t be sure who might look through your things.
Because of this, you may want to move everything you own into self-storage for the duration. If you already have a unit and need a larger one, contact the facility. Often, you can simply move from one to the other, then move back to a smaller unit after you return from your trip. These days, most facilities now let you manage your payments online from anywhere in the world, so paying your bills while abroad is easy.
You might also want to sublet your room to save money, if your landlord allows it. Make sure that the subletting tenant will give you the place back when you return home!
