There’s no doubt that Americans have a lot of possessions. Whether it’s a doll collection, a crafting hobby or sentimental heirlooms you can’t bring yourself to throw away, people like bringing home new stuff and holding onto the old stuff. The Los Angeles Times reported that there are roughly 300,000 things in the average U.S. household. That’s a lot! Here are some tips for saving space in your storage unit.
All of these things can quickly fill up a home. As remaining free space becomes more sparse, turning to a storage unit is a great solution for opening up your house or garage and eliminating all this clutter.
In 2015, almost 10 percent of the nearly 125 million U.S. households rented a self-storage unit, according to SpareFoot, a self-storage industry news site. That’s close to 12.5 million families taking advantage of these extra spaces. However, even with the spare room afforded with a storage unit, unless you’re making the most out of this space, it can just create another mess.
Space-Saving Tips for Your Storage Unit
Fortunately, with some easy planning and a solid strategy, anyone can optimize their storage space.
“By stacking boxes, you’re able to better utilize the vertical aspect of the storage unit.”
Go square
Trying to optimize space in a storage unit can be a lot like a game of Tetris, where you have to stack odd-shaped blocks on top of each other in the most efficient way possible. There’s a reason the game uses arrangements of squares: they’re a great way to pack a lot of things into a single space. Using boxes, totes or crates is a great way to keep all the odds and ends organized in a unit. Since they’re squares, they are ideal for stacking, especially ones that are all the same size. By stacking everything up, you’re able to better utilize the vertical aspect of the storage unit, providing much more storage space than if everything was just on the ground.
Labels are time-savers
Once you have your items in boxes or totes, it allows you to take advantage of the next tip: labels. Whether you’re using a magic marker on a strip of masking tape or a printed tag from a label maker, it’s important to keep tabs on what’s located where in the storage unit. Simply relying on your memory is not necessarily the most effective route, as people often forget things, especially when it’s been out of sight and out of mind for a while. Having to open every box or crate to sift through everything can consume a lot of time, causing you to overlook items or even not realize something is in the unit.
Being able to quickly scan over a stack of boxes or a clutter of crates and see precisely what’s in them saves you the time and frustration involved in combing through an entire storage unit filled with your old belongings.
Labeling boxes before putting them in a storage unit reduces the time it takes to look for something you need.Organization is key
Some individuals are naturally inclined to sort out everything in their life and put each object in a specific spot, and other people are more likely to just pile things on top of each other and sort it out later. In a home, that’s not such a problem, since there’s typically more space. Even the biggest storage units are still limited in space, which means a messy unit.
It’s crucial that your storage space is well-organized to ensure you can easily access anything you need. With a smart layout plan, you can fit more stuff into a single unit and really maximize the limited space.
Place the larger and heavier items in the back of the unit and leave room open in the front to store smaller objects that are easier to move around if need be. This provides some extra flexibility if you need to swap out stuff or get to something in a hurry.
Similarly, if you’re putting stuff into storage that you’re going to be using frequently, be sure to store these in a strategic spot. Put the objects and things you don’t need that much access to in the back of the storage unit while keeping the things you’ll need close to the front. This eliminates having to move around hefty furniture or unwieldy boxes to get closer to something you need.
If you currently aren’t taking advantage of the many benefits afforded with a self-storage unit, now’s the time to make the move. Contact SecurCare Self Storage today and find out more about how a storage unit can reduce clutter and make your home more comfortable.