“Up to 4 months free” is the sort of thing you think is too good to be true. In a crowded city, you think you’ve been scammed if you get a lot of free space.

But the mini storage promotions are genuine. The catch is that they are, but not really. Get the facts about this topic!

These offers usually come with a longer lease. For example, you are looking at 6, 8 or 12 months of storage, with the free months peppered throughout. So you get the free months, but you also get more time.

But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. We all tend to store things longer than we expect. You need a “stop-gap” More storage is addictive.

But that does require a different approach to price.

And rather than focus on the price, it’s the average monthly cost over the fixed term that’s important. This will tell you if it’s good, or just very good.

Then there’s location. You’re more likely to find a lower average cost at a gym in places like Lai Chi Kok and Kwun Tong than in the city centre. Not that they’re not good, just that location isn’t so important, so prices are lower.

Then there is the timing. You typically see these promotions in periods of low demand or during the opening of new facilities. You get great deals to begin, then prices stabilise. So if you can catch the right time, you can get a deal.

What no one talks about is the psychology. If you know you have paid for a chunk of time in advance, you are more considerate of your unit. You organize it better. You think about what goes in there. It becomes more intentional.

The other thing to be careful of is getting trigger-happy too early. If it’s too far away and the storage is not as nice as you expected it to be, you’re looking at a few months. So check it out, even if the deal is expiring.

Four months free is nice, but doesn’t help if you don’t use the storage well. If it helps you with storage issues – clears out your home or apartment, gets you organised – then you find that the deal was great.

If it doesn’t, then four months free is no deal.