When you rent a self-storage unit, you want to make the most of your investment. But how? In this article, we’re going to take a look at some tips for keeping your self-storage neat and organised. Read on to find out more
Ensure You Can Access All Your Possessions Easily
You could, if you wanted, stuff all of your possessions into your self-storage unit just as you would a removal truck, but doing so might not be a good idea. For starters, the concept isn’t quite the same. When you load your possessions onto a truck, you do so in full knowledge that you are going to unload all of them at your destination. By contrast, when you put items into storage, you may want to access different possessions at different times. Ramming your storage unit full of stuff makes retrieval much more involved.
Self-storage experts recommend that you store your possessions in a way that avoids you having to rummage for stuff you need. A standard solution is to fill the edge of the storage area and then if you have space, create aisles in the middle. This combination of using the exterior walls and then aisles means that you can walk in, pick up whatever it is that you need, and then leave without wasting time digging.
Label Your Boxes
The next step, once you’ve got the layout sorted, is to label your boxes. Labelling is vital. It’s highly unlikely that you’ll be able to remember what’s in your boxes when you go to retrieve them, say, after a temporary move.
When it comes to labelling, don’t be afraid of detail. Nothing is stopping you from writing all over the surface of the box if you have to if it’s a bit “miscellaneous.”
Use Cabinets, Shelves And Drawers
Not everything you want to store will fit neatly on a shelf or in a drawer, but most of it will. What’s more, you can be smart when it comes to how you use your furniture to store items. A chest of drawers in storage, for instance, doubles up nicely as a receptacle for all manner of possessions including, of course, clothing.
Free-standing shelving is handy too. It helps you make full use of all the vertical space available to you, especially around the edge of your unit. The more vertical space that you can use, the less you’ll spend overall on storage costs.
Create A List Of Your Inventory
You’d be surprised just how easy it is to lose track of all of the possessions in your storage unit. Over time, you may forget what you have in storage and end up buying things you don’t actually need.
Creating a list is a solution to this age-old problem. The best inventories run in alphabetical order and show the general location or “zone” of the item in the storage facility, making retrieval easy.
Disassemble Furniture
Lastly, disassembling furniture helps you to cut down the space that it takes up tremendously. Lean tabletops up against the wall and put legs on racks alongside other items to free up room.
