Be Your Own Removalist for Storage Rental

Hiring a removalist - with their own van, and their own packing materials, and their own muscles - can seem a lot easier when starting storage rental. Strong people will come in, pack up all your stuff for you, load it into a truck, take it away, and then all the storage rental out again for you. But sadly the whole escapade can be quite a costly process. And when your just using storage rental, and not packing up your entire house, is it really worth it?

There are a couple of ways to make storage rental much easier if you decide to be your own removalist. You will have to get packing materials on your own, but they're usually available from the storage rental facility, and come fairly cheap. And there's one major advantage to avoiding the hire of removalists: you can take as much time as you need to pack it into storage rental. Divide it into sections, or pack up two boxes each night, until the whole task is done. Pack smaller boxes, keep them light, so that when you do start moving it into storage rental, they're all still easy to carry - remember you're probably not as well built as the removalists are. And if you're putting mostly books, CD's or wine into storage rental, your packing boxes will get pretty heavy, pretty quickly.

Being your own removalist doesn't have to make storage rental harder, and it can certainly make the process a lot cheaper. At Access Self Storage, we provide a free move-in truck, making removalists even less necessary. Doing it yourself is well worth considering.

Packing Boxes for Self-Storage

Speaking of packing materials earlier, it might be useful to look at the variety of packing boxes available to the self-storage user. Packing boxes are not all a standard shape, standard size and standard use. I mentioned in an earlier post that Access Self Storage has 11 varieties of packing boxes alone, and no doubt you'll be able to find many other shapes and sizes for your self-storage.

Different boxes are best for different things - mini tea chests can be used for the heaviest items in self-storage; port-a-robe's are great boxes for keeping your clothes neatly protected in the storage unit; tall boys for the tall thin items in self-storage that won't quite fit in a square shaped box; an archive box, with a hinged lid and handles either side, is perfect for storing archived papers and documents in self-storage. You can find picture cartons - the perfect size and shape to house pictures and framed paintings; specially designed 'cubes' to house electronics and computer monitors in self-storage; boxes to house wine bottles flat so the cork remains preserved; single layer boxes perfect to store books, CD's and heavy breakables.

So you can see, all self-storage boxes are not created equal. Certainly you could pack up all of your self-storage items into the commonly used, rectangular shaped tea chest - but it wouldn't be the most useful way to pack up your self-storage. A variety of boxes are available because you'll be placing a wide variety of things into self-storage.

Packing Materials and Self-Storage

Mention packing materials when talking about self-storage, and people's minds immediately jump to packing boxes. There are certainly a wide variety of boxes to choose from when it comes to packing materials. At Access Self Storage alone, we offer as many as 11 varieties of cardboard packing boxes for your self-storage needs. But "packing materials" doesn't just mean boxes.

There are a variety of packing materials available at Access that will make your self-storage much easier. For irregularly shaped items, you could go for storage bags instead of boxes, to keep your self-storage protected, and avoid boxes full of wasted space. Plastic tubs are available for a bit of added protection, for anything just a bit more breakable or valuable in self-storage. Mattress and lounge covers are also on offer, to keep away the dust and to protect them during the move into self-storage. Bubble wrap is obviously a very important packing material in self-storage, along with packing paper (or butcher's paper) and tissue paper. Vacuum space saver bags are fantastic when space saving is one of your top priorities for self-storage - they'll save you about 75% more space. Packing tape and packing knives are an essential component to both packing up your things into self-storage, and coming back to retrieve them. And never forget the marking pen, so you can carefully label all your boxes in self-storage.

Obviously you won't want to use everything listed here for your self-storage, but there are certainly some useful options available, other than just the packing boxes, which you might want to consider before using self-storage.

Unpacking Your Storage Unit Over the Long Term

When your need for a storage unit comes to an end, the obvious thing to do is empty out your storage unit in one fell swoop, and return it all to your house. Right?

In some cases, it might actually be easier to empty your storage unit much more slowly. If you've chosen to get storage rental to help make moving a lot easier, then unpacking your storage unit gradually is only going to help this process even more. Rather than getting everything out of the storage unit and filling your new house up with boxes, you could take your time, and unpack with an organised plan.

Depending on how you sort your storage unit to begin with (each box labelled by room, or ordered by most essential to least essential), taking your time to remove and unpack the boxes might help to make unpacking a little bit easier. If your storage unit is labelled room by room, you could easily take boxes related to one room from the storage unit over a couple of weekends. If by essential to least essential, you can remove the essential boxes at first, and take your time with the others.

Taking your time to empty your storage unit won't add much to your storage rental cost, and will help to make the job go much more smoothly. Why stress yourself out with unpacking when you can take your time? Making moving house easier is what storage rental is all about, so make the most of it.

The Tetris Effect with Packing Materials

Stuffing a truck full of reasonably heavy boxes into a relatively small storage unit might sometimes seem a little daunting. You have to get all of the boxes to fit, and keep them accessible. Irritation sets in pretty quickly when you’re trying to match up oddly shaped appliances in a small, potentially hot storage space.

That’s why buying packing materials from your storage facility is the best idea. Tetris is a fun game, sure, but when you’re trying to make shapes stack on other shapes by physically lifting them around, it becomes tiresome. Proper packing materials – book boxes, tea chests – are designed to stack neatly together. It’s like playing a game of Tetris with just squares. Less fun, maybe, but certainly much easier. The storage boxes will stack one on top the other with ease, fitting perfectly together, and saving a lot of space. Best of all, you won’t get teetering towers of boxes in the storage unit – instead a sturdy base that can also support the other items in your storage unit.

The Tetris effect in your storage unit will help you pack efficiently, safely, and quickly. It won’t look nearly as cool as a perfectly designed Tetris game might –but really, it’s so much easier. With packing materials of similar size and shape, your storage unit will be able to fit as much as it possibly can, while still being easy to navigate to retrieve items during your storage rental. The Tetris effect – it’s the only way to go.

Access Self Storage's Top Storage Tips

Keeping Your Storage Items Safe

The whole point of using a storage facility is to keep possessions that you don’t have space to keep at home. With this in mind, it’s ideal to keep these in good condition inside the storage unit. There are a couple of ways to ensure your things stay well looked after during your storage rental.

Packing Materials

Recommended packing materials are the way to go. Making sure your items (especially breakables) are wrapped carefully with packing paper will help to prevent breakages. Packing boxes should have a layer of packing paper on the top and bottom, to give it that extra protection. Silver should be wrapped in non-acid tissue, or in plastic bags, which should prevent any tarnishing.

Preparing Furniture Before Storage

It’s also best if fridges, washing machines or dishwashers are completely drained of water or frost before being packed in the storage unit. Leakages in the unit can cause some pretty major problems. Make sure any items placed in these larger items won’t rock around inside and cause any damage. Taping the doors of things like wardrobes is a good idea, but leave the doors to fridges and freezers open, or you’ll be left with a seriously bad smell. Crumbs and food stains should be vacuumed and cleaned thoroughly from furniture, so vermin aren’t attracted to the storage unit.

Pretty easy steps, but they might just help keep your things safe during your storage rental, and while they aren’t being kept under your watchful eye.

Packing Efficiently for Self Storage Units

When you’re looking at hiring storage units, one thing you want is to keep costs low. Hiring a smaller storage unit, rather than a large one, is one way to do this. The simple solution is to pack your storage unit efficiently.

Although using plastic bags may seem cheaper, packing into boxes is the best way to go. Not only will it stop your items getting dusty while they remain in the storage unit, it will also make it much easier to save space (and will therefore save you money in the long run). Fill them to capacity, and remember to get boxes of similar shape and size, to easily stack inside the storage unit. Use the inside of wardrobes, furniture drawers, stoves – anywhere with space inside, to fit more boxes.

When it comes to packing the storage unit, make sure you plan ahead. Put all the larger items in first, so you can fit the smaller boxes in and around them. Remove the legs from furniture where possible, and lamps from lampshades, so there are fewer odd shaped items in the storage unit. Fill the hollow spaces as much as you can, but remember, if you’re planning to keep the storage unit for a long period of time, it’s a good idea to keep some space to move around inside.

With careful thought, and by planning ahead, storage units can be packed efficiently, which will help keep costs low in the long run.

Accessing Items in Your Storage Unit

Whether you're using self storage for personal or commercial needs, it's inevitable that you're going to access your storage unit at least once after your items have been stored. If your items aren't labeled properly, or aren't easily accessible in your storage unit, this could be tricky.

The first step is to make sure every box is clearly labeled in the storage unit. To make this process easier, it's best to pack similar items in the same box. labels like "kitchen items" might seem clear when you're writing them, but when it comes down to searching your storage unit for a salad bowl in amongst five boxes labeled "kitchen items", it might not be so helpful. Packing clothes in clothes boxes – so they can hang inside – is also a good idea. This way you don't have to go through boxes of folded up clothes in the storage unit, trying to find the cardigan you just realised you needed.

The other important step is organising the storage unit. It's best to keep aisle space, so you can easily move around inside. This will not only make it easier to access your items in the storage unit, it will also help prevent odors and mildew. Planning ahead is an important step – make sure items you might need are stored at the front, and things like furniture should be at the back of the storage unit.

As long as the items in the storage unit are labeled carefully and clearly, and are easily accessible, you can have a relatively stress-free storage experience.