Need advice for a roommate situation
I (35f) live with friends and their kid. I have known them for 9+ years and we consider each other family. August will mark our 1 year of living together and so far we have gotten along. And haven't had any major issues until recently. One of them is a teacher and the other works from home (this is important to the story). Also sorry if it's rambly this is a lot.
So I am a flight attendant and was working for regional for a little over a year. I got lucky and was based where I live and never had to commute or get a crash pad. This year I went back to training for mainline and got based in another state. Me and a few girls decided to find a place together. My plan, find a place where I would get my own room and I would spend the majority of my time there until my transfer got approved and I could come home. Things didn't end up going that way, we found a place but it's a crash pad situation, 3 bedrooms, 6 people, 2 people per room. So I will now be sharing it with one other person. It's not ideal but at the end of the day the most important thing is having a bed.
Now the issue: When I learned I would be based in another state my roommate and I started talking about my options. My plan was to continue to pay for rent here and pay for my crash pad. I would essentially do a "soft move", where I would take my essentials but leave the rest here. I figured I'd rather stay in base on my days off then try to commute but I would also still have my bed and be able to come home when I was able.
My roommate (who works from home) suggested instead that I pack up all my things and move it all into a large shared storage unit. Then if I wanted to come home, they would just put me up in their kids room or blow up an air mattress and I could crash. Instead of paying rent I would pay my half of the storage unit. They started talking about breaking down my desk, my bed, and putting all my books in storage. My bookshelves would go downstairs. They basically started making plans before I even agreed to it. I really wasn't sold on this. I don't want my mattress and valuables sitting in a storage unit for however long. And now that I know I won't have my own room in my crash pad I don't want to lose the one space that is mine.
I also don't have the funds to open a storage unit (I've been out of work since the beginning of April). Nor do I have time to move 3 bookshelves, 600+ books, a dresser, a shelving unit, my bed, or tv. When I suggested leaving my tv here, my roommate got weird about it, asking if I could take it to my crash pad. Which is way to much work just to lug it back home when I'm done. Saying that they could store it somewhere but they wouldn't want the cats trying to climb on it and that it will be safe in a storage unit. It's mounted on the wall and not in the way. Again I don't have the funds to rent a truck to move all these things. We had originally talked about this when I first got based there and I hadn't really decided anything, but I think my roommate thought that was the final plan. When I brought it back up and said I would rather just pay rent and keep my things here instead of taking time to move all of it out, they got a bit pushy. Trying to kind of sell me on the idea. Saying "They can't have a room sit empty for so long." "They want their partner to do metal work up here." Their partner works with a soldering iron, which I said is probably not the smartest since there's carpet in here. Small metal wire, and high heat. Also my mom is the one who paid our security deposit, so if we lose that it's not their money they're losing., "that this will be the best move because I can put away the money from rent into savings (I pay 350 in rent, which is very low but we agreed because of what I was making at regional), then telling me "they wouldn't be in this apartment in 6 months (which is the first I'm hearing because they just got laid off, and we all agreed to do another year lease here), and finally telling me "With everyone home during the summer it'd be really hard to get any work done, being able to shut the door would be ideal" (which then made me feel guilty for not giving up my room). And when I kept saying I would rather keep my things here and pay rent they told me "you just got home, take some time to think about this (which is honestly all I've been doing)" then they spent the rest of the night trying to sell me on their idea. And when I didn't seem sold they said "if you paid rent I would just take that and rent an office space".
I did suggest that if we move my things into a storage unit that when our lease is up in august I'll just pull myself off, since I wouldn't technically live here, but they told me that without me on the lease their combined income would not get them approved. And that it will be good for me to stay on so I have renters history. But if I'm being softly pushed to move out I wouldn't want to keep myself on the lease.
How would I tell them that I don't want to move my things out? It seems like they're dead set on me giving up my room so they can turn it into a craft/office space and I feel guilty because I won't be here for a good amount of time so shouldn't they be able to use the room. I don't plan on staying in the other state for long, I'm just there until I get my transfer. Which could come at any time. So reddit any advice? Despite the fact that I really don't feel comfortable storing my things and giving up the only space that is mine. Is it the smarter move for me? I just don't know what to do. So any advice will be helpful. Again I don't want to move out, but is that the best option?