Thursday, July 19, 2012

Making the Most out of Your Storage Space

If you’ve seen one of those storage auction shows that are all the rage these days, you know that the majority of the time when the auctioneer pops open the unit’s door a scene of chaos greets the camera: the unit’s contents are scattered everywhere, with no discernible order or organization. Such units rarely go for a very high price. On the other hand, the few units that are properly packed and arranged in an orderly fashion always ignite a flurry of bidding. Why?

Because those bidding on such units know that their owners were smart and economical and made the most of their storage space, and so were able to fit far more of their belongings inside. Making the most of the space inside your storage unit can mean the difference between paying $60 a month on a 5x10 unit and $90 a month on a 10x10 unit—but the question is, can you pull it off and pack it in? With the internet on our side, finding cheap self-storage is easier than ever, but packing your unit the right way is just as difficult—unless you know how to do it.

And it just happens to be that we do:

Write it out. Whatever you do before you move into your storage unit, the first and most essential step is to write out an inventory. This is important for several reasons: so that you don’t misplace your things, in case something goes wrong at the facility, and particularly for packing reasons. Keeping track of everything before boxing it up or stacking it together will save you from forgetting something and having to change plans later.

Box it up. Boxes are your best friend—not only are they good for protecting items and grouping like things together, but because storage units are essentially big boxes themselves their shapes are complementary, thus maximizing your use of the space. It’s important to use a single, uniform sized box—this makes sure that they all fit together and there are not gaps. The heaviest items should go at the bottom of the box, with the heaviest boxes at the bottom of the stack. If you can’t fill your box to the top use packing peanuts or else it may collapse under the weight of other boxes. Of course you should always label your boxes and seal them tightly with tape.

But what about furniture? Furniture is one of the most common—and difficult—things to pack inside a unit. Not only is furniture typically larger than everything else you store, it’s also usually a strange shape that’s hard to match with other items. Some pieces of furniture can be made wieldier: remove the legs from tables, chairs, and stools when possible and then turn tabletops on their edges so that they stand horizontally or lay them on top of boxes. Smaller chairs should be stacked atop each other. Larger chairs and couches can be turned on their sides so that they stand tall in the unit, thus taking advantage of vertical space (many unit ceilings are as high as 8-12 feet) thus saving precious floor space. Refrigerators, cabinets, and drawers can be filled with smaller items. Remember that all furniture should be wrapped, covered, and/or padded to keep it safe.

Map it out. Your goal should be to group uniformly-shaped items together, like snapping them into place as if you were playing Tetris. Once you’ve got your list, sketch out a rough map of what fits together. Remember to place square-shaped objects like boxes into corners to maximize space. If you’ve really got the time—or are particularly focused on making sure you don’t need to move up a unit size—you can even build a model of your unit against the wall of your home (preferably by the door, because you are moving things out, right?). This will allow you to see what fits together before you even head out to the facility. Take a picture of your model when you’re done so that you don’t forget how you had things arranged.

One thing to keep in mind is what items you might want to access in your unit. Packing everything in as tightly as possible can be great, but not if you need to continually dig everything out again. Items you’ll want to access should be packed as close to the door as possible. If you need to access a lot of things, leaving a corridor clear to the back of the unit might be a good idea. So is stacking things to a lower height. Either way, more access usually requires more space—this is why you need to plan ahead and sketch that map.
With the right thought and preparation you can pack your unit for the most efficient use of space. It might even save you $30—or more—a month.


Brian Shreckengast is a writer at SelfStorageDeals.com, the price-focused search engine for finding cheap self-storage units. Learn more about storing and how to do it for cheap at the Self Storage Blog.

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