Tips For Safely Storing Your Items

By Allie Mitchell on June 11, 2016

We can all admit moving is one of the worst and best things to happen in someone’s life. The good part is that you are starting a new adventure in your life, but the bad part of moving is that you have to pack all your stuff, making sure all fragile items are set up properly, find a day to move, and find people to help you move, or hire people to help you move.

Moving can be an incredibly stressful time for people, which is why people tend to procrastinate the whole process of moving and then get stressed out even more when they realize that half of their stuff isn’t packed. Not to mention that a place filled with boxes is such an eyesore in general, but there is also a sense of finality about it.

Let’s say you are moving with a lot of boxes, but you don’t need all the boxes right away. Placing your items in a storage unit is your best bet. Now you are thinking about the idea of a storage unit, but you need to figure out how to pack your stuff, how to place your stuff in the storage unit and all the things that come with placing your items in an extra space unit.

The first major things to do are to figure out what storage company you are going to use and what size storage unit you will need. Storage companies range from small to large storage spaces, so it is really all up to you what you think you need.

www.savingadvice.com

Here are some tips on making sure you are storing your items carefully and smartly:

Wrap it: Wrap your boxes, or at least the box openings with industrial plastic wrap. This will help you avoid dust and creepy crawlies from coming into your items. You don’t want to open your boxes and find a family of spiders living in there. Uline is a place where you can order large rolls of this plastic wrap.

Lock it: Make sure to lock your storage unit. But don’t just use a simple locker lock. Those are one of the easiest to break and get into. Invest in a sturdier lock, such as a lock with a shorter arm. Look into a snail lock.

Label it: LABEL YOUR BOXES! If you have too many boxes, I guarantee you won’t remember what’s in each box. You will spend much of your day searching through boxes for something you could have found in five minutes if you had labeled. Make sure to label them legibly and in large letters so you can read your writing. Also, make sure to label on all sides of the box so you won’t have to turn boxes around and just create a mess, just to read a simple label.

Bubble wrap it: If you have any fragile items, make sure to bubble wrap them just in case anything happens. If you move a box too quickly you could cause items to accidentally break, so make sure to bubble wrap your glass and other fragile items just as a safety precaution.

Plan for it: Plan for temperature changes, if you have an outside storage unit especially. Anything can happen! Certain items that you pack may not like certain temperatures, so be aware of what you are packing. Make sure that certain items are double wrapped if need be to protect them from the changing weather. For example: electronics and old photos don’t really like humidity and hot weather, so be aware of this factor when placing them in storage.

Tetris it: Whether you get a small or big storage unit, either unit can hold a lot of boxes if you know what you are doing. Make sure to plan your storage wisely. If that means packing things so high that they hit the ceiling, so be it. A good idea, to make sure your items are stable and well placed, is to lay plywood across boxes. It makes for a great leveler when adding more boxes on top; it will take the pressure off the tops of your boxes, so that you don’t have your boxes collapsing on each other.

EXTRA HINT: Make sure to place the items that you want to get out sooner near the front or in an easy reach area. Don’t make the mistake of putting something you plan to get out in the next couple of days all the way in the bottom back corner and you’ve already stacked your storage unit. Having to climb through and move all those boxes is time consuming and quite unnecessary. AVOID IT at all costs!

www.nicolosimovers.com

Storing your items doesn’t have to be so hard and making sure you are doing it right and in a smart manner is a no brainer, once you get the hang of it!

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