By now everyone has seen a portable storage unit parked outside a house down the block. Though you may immediately assume the residents are leaving the neighborhood, the moving pods companies provide can actually be used for more than just moving. Here are some great uses for moving pods that you might not have known about.

• Off-Site Storage. Perhaps the biggest secondary use for moving pods is pick-up and delivery for off-site storage. Rather use your own vehicle to haul multiple loads of boxes and furniture to a storage facility, storage and moving pods companies will deliver a pod to your home. You load the unit with your items for storage, and the company sends a driver back out to take the pod back to the secure facility, where it sits as-is, secure, safe, and accessible only by you.
• Renovation Storage. During a renovation, your options are usually limited to covering your furniture in the project room or finding a different space to store it in while the work is done. But by storing the displaced furniture in a storage pod, you can keep it safe and clean without cluttering up the other rooms of your house.
• Yard Sales. Yard sales are a great idea right before a move, so you don’t end up packing things you don’t intend to keep anyway. But if you have a storage unit delivered before you pack, you can actually hold your yard sale inside the pod, providing shelter for your guests in case of bad weather. Any items that don’t sell can be moved to the back of the pod, making them the last things left when you unload, and you can try another yard sale at the new house or simply leave it all in the pod and send it off to storage.

What’s been your most creative use of a portable storage unit? Feel free to leave your story in the comments below.