Storage units have become essential to many homes and businesses, providing an outsourced storage space that keeps the home or business light, decluttered, and comfortable. If you choose any of the popular Portland storage units, knowing how to use it best will save you a lot of money and time.
This article covers ways to get the most out of your storage unit by organizing its content like a professional. Ready to get started? Read on.
Organizing Your Storage Unit Like A Pro
Start With A List Of Your Inventory
There’s no better way to organize your storage unit than knowing what will go into it. Having a full list of items to be stored can help you eliminate the element of surprise while giving you better planning insights.
Don’t fall for the self-deceiving trick of confidence in your recollection ability. There’s a higher chance that you’ll forget some things, which may affect how well your things are organized in the storage unit. Start by listing out everything you intend to store in the unit. Go on to sort the listed items by size and possibly by their importance.
Ensure that items you may need to take out or access frequently are kept at the forefront while less-required items are planned for the back of the storage unit. You can also take photos/videos of the items going into the storage unit for safety and reference purposes, especially in the event of a fire or other damage.
Consider Clear Storage Bags Over Storage Boxes
Keeping your valuables or possessions in storage units helps to better manage space back at home while helping with the occasional clutter. However, how you store those items matters. When planning a storage unit, it is best to consider a clear storage bag over cardboard boxes.
Please note that storage boxes are just as important for packing and storing items, however, with clear storage bags, you can easily tell what’s in the bag instead of spending extra time rummaging through the box only to find that it isn’t the correct one.
Ensure that important items like documents are kept in clear plastic bags to ensure easy access when needed.
Disassemble Furniture And Store Them In An Upright Position
Assembled furniture takes up a lot of space. To save as much space as possible, start by disassembling your furniture to reduce the space taken. Items like beds and mattresses, chairs and tables, headboards, and others should be disassembled and kept upright to save space.
Seeing as these items are less likely to be needed frequently, it may be best to keep disassembled furniture at the back of the storage unit, while more important or frequently needed documents should be kept at close range for easy access.
Store Large And Heavy Items On The Bottom, At The Back
Large, heavy items should naturally be used as the base for other items to sit on. If you’re planning to store heavy furniture and other items, keeping them towards the back and on the ground for other items to build on is best.
For example, you can place fixed tables at the back of the storage unit while other smaller items like cabinets, boxes, etc. are placed on them. doing this will help you to properly manage the storage space by stacking items in the correct order – in order of their size and weight.
Place Frequently Used Items Towards The Front
Whether you’re storing for personal or business reasons, important items like business registration documents, tax returns, educational files and documents, title deeds, and others should be kept safely in plastic bags and in easy-to-reach areas in the storage unit. Placing them at the front of the storage unit ensures that you can come in, access them when needed, and return them with ease. This can save you a lot of time and energy.
Go Vertical To Save Space
It is important to go vertical with as many items as possible when storing them in the storage unit. Doing this will help you save space while keeping the interior of your storage space organized and tidy. If there aren’t items to stay vertical, you can consider the horizontal orientation, provided it doesn’t pose a problem to other items you intend to keep in the storage unit.
Label Everything!
It’s easy to think you can remember which boxes contain cookware and which ones contain not-so-important documents. Your brain can play tricks on you in the future, and this will cost you a lot of time and energy as you go from one box to the other looking for specific items. Save yourself time and stress by labeling every box, no matter how small it is.
With the 7 tips above, you can start packing and storing your items away in a self-storage unit like a pro.
