How To Organize A Storage Unit
Published by Chris Townsend
If you’ve read any of our other articles about moving, you know how much we stress organization and the role it plays in helping a move stay on task and go smoother. The same applies when you put items into storage: it’s greatly beneficial to keep things organized. In this post, we’ll explain some of the steps you can take to make sure your storage unit is well-organized and you’re able to easily access what you need, as well as know the contents of everything inside.
Label Everything
The first step in any sort of organization, at least as it pertains to moving and storage, is to make sure you label everything. You don’t need to label individual items necessarily, but if you’re storing similar items together such as silverware or electronics cords, you should label the containers. For larger items like furniture, there’s no need to label them—after all, you can probably notice the mattress or large bookshelf in your storage unit without the need to label what it is, but anything in a box or container should be labeled to indicate what’s inside, which helps immensely with the next step.
Make A List
Make a list of what’s in your storage unit! Part of the reason that labeling is such a good idea is that it allows you to make an inventory very easily of what’s kept inside. Ideally, you can catalogue the contents of your storage unit before or as you’re filling it up since it can be more difficult to navigate and figure out what’s there when everything is packed away. If you want to get really granular and maximize organization, you can even make a note of where things are in the unit, or even make a diagram.
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Heavy Items Go on Bottom & In the Back
Before you start putting things into storage, make note of the heaviest items. Those are the ones that you want to store on bottom, making sure of course that they won’t be damaged if you stack other things on top of them. Likewise, you’ll want to store the largest and heaviest items toward the back of the storage unit, unless you plan on taking them out of storage in the near future. With smaller and lighter things in front and on top of the other items in the unit, it will be much easier to navigate when you need to remove something.
Make Use of Vertical Space
Most storage units are measured in terms of square footage and much of that space is vertical. To take advantage of the full space, you should try to store things vertically when possible. If you think of things like headboards, couches, or even mattresses, you can save considerable space by storing them vertically, leaving yourself more in the front of the unit for items you can stack more easily.
Bins Over Boxes
And for our final word of advice, it’s always best to use storage bins or containers instead of boxes. Obviously, containers are more sturdy than boxes, which makes them ideally suited for storage since you will often be stacking things on top of one another. If you want to take it a step further, you can use similar storage containers that are meant to be stacked or have smaller containers within the set that lock into place on the larger ones.