6 Tips to Protect Your Belongings in Self-Storage
After you’ve chosen a self-storage location and determined the items you’ll be storing, it’s time to move your stuff. Your items will be safe and secure at 810 Storage with a full-perimeter fence and controlled access gate, but it’s up to you to keep your belongings protected within the walls of your dedicated self-storage unit.
1. Choose the Right Size Storage Unit
You don’t want your belongings to be crammed in a too-small storage unit. To ensure that your stuff doesn’t get damaged by overfilling the space, make a list of all the items you plan to store.
If you have only boxes, filling your space won’t be difficult. But what if you have awkward items (like a snow blower or large holiday decorations) or several large pieces of furniture? Can they stack? Does each piece need its own floor space? Determine the answers to these questions before you start moving and before you discover you have the wrong size space. You don’t want to try to store a couch on its end because you misjudged its size.
2. Cover Things Up
Whether you’ll be using your storage unit long-term or short-term, all items should have covers so they don’t get dusty. Lids will be your best friend. Plastic totes are handy because they are easy to grab and pick up, plus you can’t overfill these containers if you still want to fit the lid on. Close your boxes completely – tape them, if necessary. Any items that don’t have covers should be shielded with plastic or tarp.
3. Don’t Squish
It’s understandable that you want to be economical about your storage and get the most for your investment. However, renting a unit that is way too small for all your things because you don’t want to waste money could ultimately damage your goods.
Think about it – 10 boxes packed full of books are not only heavy individually and nearly impossible to lift, they are heavy when put on top of each other or on other items. Heavy items can damage things or leave indentations if left in one place for too long. Distribute weight evenly and put the
heavy stuff on the bottom.
4. Avoid Underfilling
On the flip side, if you don’t fill boxes to capacity, the sides can collapse if there is nothing to support them, especially if you put a heavy item on top of a light item. Foam peanuts or even balled-up newspaper can fill the space in partially filled boxes so the things inside don’t get damaged from weight or jostled when moved around.
If you have fragile items, wrap them separately, but take an extra step to protect them by using reinforced boxes.
5. Label Your Items
Wouldn’t it be nice to open your space and be able to immediately locate the item you want? Labeling makes life easy. You don’t have to get fancy with a label maker – a permanent marker will get the job done.
While marking everything in storage may seem tedious at the time, or even unnecessary because you just “know” you’ll remember where you put stuff, take a few minutes to be diligent about this step. The last thing you want to do is face a packed storage space and struggle to identify the contents of every box.
6. Think Ahead
If you know you’re going to need certain items more often than others or that the storage of some things will be temporary, do your best to place these belongings at the front of your unit for easy retrieval later and minimal disturbance to nearby items.
Reserve Your Self-Storage Space Today
At 810 Storage, we make storage as easy as possible for all our customers. Move in, move out, or access your belongings 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We are always open. There is no deposit or move-in fee – all you do is pay rent through our convenient online bill pay system.
Contact 810 Storage today to reserve your self-storage space in
Flint, Michigan.
