Making the most of your Self-Storage Space
When using our secure storage units many people’s first thought is ‘How can I put as many items in here as possible?’ This seems like a simple question, with a simple answer, but it is more complicated than one might first believe, especially for those going in blind. So, to help alleviate the troubles this question may cause and help those new to self-storage spaces, we have created a short step-by-step guide, making it quick and easy to answer this question. From the planning phase to the actual storing of the products, every step of the process can be utilised to give you value out of your space and not waste time and money on a self-storage space larger than what you need.
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Labelling and Inventory Lists
One of the first calls to action is labelling the possessions you want to store and logging them in an inventory list whilst labelling. This helps you in two ways. Firstly, it gives you a clear picture of how much you want to store, helping you choose the correct size self-storage unit you want to use. Secondly, it helps with putting your possessions into categories, these categories being possessions that can be easily stacked, dismantled, or are fragile possessions, to ensure they are handled appropriately. As a bonus, this will help with the decluttering of the space in your self-storage unit later down the road.
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Dismantling
When it comes to larger items like sofas, tables and other bits of furniture, it can be tempting to just put them in self-storage still fully assembled, as dismantling can be a time-consuming and tiresome task. However, if you want to fully maximise your self-storage space dismantling your larger items helps drastically with reducing the amount of space they take up. This can range from taking the legs off sofas or tables to reduce the amount of vertical space they take up, to dismantling larger dining tables or chests of drawers saving the horizontal space available. Those smaller pieces being able to be stored in the items discussed in the next tip.
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Space Saving Containers and Shelving
After sorting your possessions via labelling, an inventory list and dismantling any relevant items, the next best step is to take the possessions that can be placed into boxes and ones that can be shelved and start sorting them. For example, any stationary, smaller dismantled items or electronic equipment can be easily placed into space-saving containers instead of just being placed in the self-storage spaces, whilst books, figures or plants would be best put on a simple shelf. This helps primarily reduce the amount of space that your possessions could take up, alongside keeping them safe from potential damage. These space-saving containers and shelving in particular make the next technique even more effective.
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Maximising Vertical Space
This is a simple yet effective technique that most overlook when organising their space. The vertical space available is often far greater than the horizontal space given, making it crucial to utilise if you want to get the most out of your self-storage space. The key to this is to choose the best possessions for stacking, as mentioned before space-saving containers and shelves are ideal for this. These containers are usually designed specifically with stacking in mind, while the shelves can be bought specifically with the height of the container in mind, with some shelves being designed to be stacked on top of other shelves. Helping reduce the amount of space taken up and organising your possessions by stacking similar possessions with each other.
Recap
There are a lot of ways to fully maximise your self-storage space and we hope that the tips and techniques laid out in this article help you in making self-storage simple. For a quick recap: first, start with the organising phase, label your items and create an inventory list to categorise your possessions. Secondly, dismantle everything that can be, like sofas and dining tables, to save space both vertically and horizontally. Thirdly, store your possessions in space-saving containers or on shelves to reduce the amount of space they take up. Lastly, maximise your vertical space via stacking, whether that be stacking tables or stacking your containers.
Contact Us!
If you would like some more advice/help please do get in touch with our team who will be able to help you pick out the correct self-storage space.
Also to help you in your first steps to maximising your self-storage space download our free storage organisation checklist, to make the planning phase that much easier!