A strange phenomenon happens each year, round about the time that the air starts to turn crisp, the leaves begin to fall and coffee shops start serving pumpkin flavored lattes. People begin thinking about cleaning house, clearing out things they no longer need, making way for holiday decorations and guests, thinking about putting away summer items and taking out everything they will need to hunker down for the winter months. Whether you think about it as “fall cleaning” or have another name for this annual ritual, chances are good that you have been bitten by this bug once or twice yourself.
When you rent space at Affordable Storage in Fall River to store your off-season tools, equipment, sports items, clothing, decorations and other things that you do not use year-round, it is important to stay organized and get the most out of your self storage experience. It is the people who just toss boxes into their storage space that lose things, forget what they put in there or let their rental lapse and see their valuable items sold off at auction.
Whenever you store things, whether you use a self storage facility or if you store things in a garage, attic or crawl space, it is important to take stock of what you have put away and keep a list of where those things are located so you can find them if you need to one day. There’s nothing like moving to a new location and realizing you left grandma’s dishes in the attic or moving out of the South Coast area and suddenly remembering you left all your baby furniture at a Fall River storage facility to wake you up to the importance of staying organized and on top of your stuff. This article will provide you with tips to help you maximize the potential of your self storage unit or Penske truck rental to help achieve your goals.
Organize by Size
One way to know where everything is and get the most seasonal flexibility in your storage unit at Affordable Storage in Fall River is to organize things by size. Put all of your larger items along the walls of the unit, just as you would if you were loading items into a Penske truck rental for a move. Furniture, such as bed frames, sofas, dressers and other large items, should be placed around the perimeter of the storage unit. You can even use shelving units inside of the self storage facility and place them around the edges of the space to stack smaller boxes, store smaller items and keep track of things that you will want to fetch throughout the year. Stack medium sized boxes in the middle of the unit, placing heavy items on the bottom and lighter items on top.
Take Advantage of Storage
Did you know that there are storage opportunities inside of your Fall River storage facility that you can use to your advantage? Dressers, shelves, bookcases and more can all be used to store other things inside of them. Music collections, collectable ceramics and other fragile items can be placed inside of these furniture items in your self storage facility. You can even wrap clothes in a plastic bag to keep them free from dust and pests, then store them inside of dressers, wardrobes and other items that have drawers or cupboards built right in them. Make sure to keep a list of where things are so you can retrieve your winter coats in the fall and find summer beach wear in the spring.
Create a Path
If you have a lot of items in storage, make sure you can get to things – even the items that are stored in the back. While you might have to move a lot of smaller things out to get to larger items in your Affordable Storage in Fall River, you should make sure that you create a path that will allow you to reach all of the items in your storage quickly and easily to look through boxes or remove a specific item when you need it. This is especially true if you are using the furniture around the perimeter of the storage unit to store other things, such as seasonal items that you only need for part of the year and wish to store for the remaining months. Having a path will prevent you from having to take everything out every time you visit the Fall River storage facility.
Strategically Stack Your Things
As mentioned earlier, heavy items should be stacked on the bottom and lighter items should be stacked on top. This will prevent things from falling over and crushing other fragile items while in storage. If you stack your boxes properly in a storage unit, as you would in a Penske truck rental for a cross country move, you shouldn’t have to worry about things falling, but it is important to take steps to stack things strategically just in case. Consider creating a stack or section of items that will permanently be in storage, such as collectibles that you don’t wish to display or things that your children have outgrown and will no longer need. Create another stack closer to the front of the self storage facility unit that you will take out frequently, such as seasonal clothing, gear and tools.
Label It All
One trick to keeping everything organized is to become a good label-maker. Many self storage experts use various methods to keep track of their things, such as marking boxes clearly with the items that are inside, like “Christmas Ornaments”, “Summer Beach Toys” or “Aunt Edna’s Tea Set.” Another method is to mark the boxes with letters and numbers, while keeping a list on a clipboard of the items that are stored inside. So when you look at the list and see that Box B3 has “small kitchen appliances” in it, you will be able to quickly locate that old mixer or blender that you thought you would never use again. Stacking your boxes in order or grouping them according to the type of items inside, such as kitchen, toys, tools, personal items, etc. can also help you to find things quickly and keep your storage organized.
If you are interested in renting space at Affordable Storage in Fall River, give us a call at 508-675-1177. From storage units to Penske truck rental reservations, RV storage and much more, our Fall River storage facility can help you with all of your storage and moving needs.