tips for your short-distance move

Tips To Help You Prepare For And Use Your Storage Unit More Effectively

15 December 2017 by Otto Moilanen

Moving your household may require you to hire professional movers and even rent a storage unit to help the move to go more smoothly. With the right preparation, you can store items in your storage unit neat and organized and without a problem or persistent pests. Here are some tips and recommendations to help you prepare for and place items into a storage unit.

Choose the Right-Sized Boxes

When you pack up for your move or for moving into a storage unit, it can be helpful to pack up all your possessions into boxes of the same size. This helps when you pack the boxes into the moving truck and into the storage unit, as they will fit together neat and tight and take up less space. This will also help you pack as much as possible into the storage unit. When you get boxes from several different sources, the boxes can be of all different sizes. This makes the packing and storage of your boxes more difficult as they are different shapes and sizes and won't fit together as easily.

If you are buying or getting boxes from a moving company, they should provide you with standard-sized moving boxes. And if you want to recycle and reuse boxes from a local business, you can still help the environment and make your moving and storage experience an easy one: just make sure the boxes are all the same type. For example, if you get boxes from a local grocery store, get fruit boxes that originally held the same fruits so the boxes are all the same size and shape.

Label and Organize

If professional movers are handling your move and storage, they will likely make up a numbered and detailed list of all the boxes and items they move and store for you. If you are doing the packing and placing of items into the storage unit yourself, you can make up a similar list yourself.

With a large black marker, number each box you are storing and keep a numbered list of the contents of each box in a notebook. Next to each box number, write up a general description of the contents for each box. Then, if you need to retrieve a specific item from a box in your storage unit, consult your list and locate the number of the box within the storage unit you will need to open up.

Prevent Pests

Pests can be a problem in many storage spaces, so you should do all you can to prevent them from creating issues with your stored possessions. Pests can damage your items in storage, chewing holes into and making nests where they leave droppings and urine. This can not only destroy books, papers, and linens, but can damage upholstered furniture. For this reason, it is not recommended to store any type of food or scented items in your storage space, including potpourri, natural scented oils and candles, as they can attract pests. And, wrap up your upholstered furniture and mattresses with plastic so if you do have pests in your unit they do not leave droppings on your furniture

Mice are a common type of pests that can live in a storage unit. Place mouse traps around the edges of your storage space to help control the population. Most storage spaces recommend you place traps and mice bait inside your unit, which helps cut down on a storage company's mouse population and lowers the chance other spaces will have a problem. Mice can reproduce and multiply quickly, as a female mouse is able to give birth to five to ten litters each year with an average of six to eight babies in each litter. 

For more tips and information about storing your furniture and other items in a unit, check out sites like http://www.allenstransfer.com.

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