Whether you’re packing things up after some spring cleaning or you’re in transition to a new home, it helps to have a head start. The following are some packing tips that Storage Choice has prepared to help you make the most out of your storage unit in Pearland so you can pack things away efficiently—or decide that a larger unit might be the better option for your needs.
Packing Tips
A few practical tips that everyone should lean on when storing things include creating an inventory checklist, using the right box sizes, repurposing household items for storage, and planning things in advance.
Inventory Checklist
You don’t need to make it fancy, but a checklist goes a long way to making sure that you don’t forget anything that needs to be crammed in at the last second. An inventory checklist can be as simple as a handful of bullet points, depending on how much you need to store. Make individual bullets for each piece of furniture, each type of appliance, and adjust accordingly. The goal is to give you a good idea of what all you’ll need space for before you even start moving it into storage. With this, you can imagine the amount of space you need and determine the size of the storage unit.
Use the Right Box Sizes
A lot of space is wasted by placing items in boxes that don’t suit them. A half-full box of kitchenware will take up more space than necessary and make your storage unit harder to organize when it starts to get full. However, you don’t want to take this to the opposite extreme and overstuff boxes in an attempt to save space, because then you risk the boxes eventually breaking and compromising what’s inside.
Repurpose Household Items
Dresser shelves, desk drawers, storage bins, and other hollow spaces that are normally used for storage in your home can still act as storage within a storage unit to save some space. As long as you’re mindful of weight, it’s not a stretch to try and use some of these things to hold spare books, clothes, or bed sheets, removing the need to put those things in boxes.
Plan in Advance
Once you know everything you need to move and about how much space it will take, you can plan not only how to organize your storage unit, but how big it will need to be. Of course, if there’s a miscalculation, it’s better to bump up the size by a notch rather than stuff a too-small storage unit full of stuff, as doing so can make it hard to navigate and possibly difficult to take items out without damaging them.
How to Organize Your Storage Unit
Generally speaking, larger stuff goes on the bottom, and as much as possible, make things stack. A filing cabinet and a bookshelf are great first things to put in a storage unit because they have predictable shapes that slide neatly into corners and against walls. Most couches, for example, are not as simple.
Big boxes should be placed lowest not only so they can support more boxes on top of them, but also because they are often heavier and can function as an anchor. Placing heavier boxes higher in a stack of boxes can upset the balance (depending on how tall the stack of boxes goes). If possible, place things inside of other things to minimize the space taken up by your belongings. If you expect you’ll be coming back for something important, try keeping that close to the entrance so you don’t need to rearrange everything inside to get it out.
Reliable Storage in Pearland, TX
Storage Choice wants to empower you with our storage possibilities. Always safe and clean, our options come available in multiple sizes. Check out our Pearland storage units today, and if you have any questions or comments about our packing tips or how to organize your storage unit,let us know!
