Finding the perfect storage unit to meet your budget can be difficult. Whether you are moving or simply storing items that you no longer have room for at home, there are several ways you can minimize your self-storage bill. Here are a few tips that can help you pay less for a storage unit.
Purge Items Before Storing
Logic dictates that storing fewer items will require less space. Renting a smaller storage unit is the easiest way to reduce the amount you pay. Packing items for storage is a great time to purge belongings that you no longer need so you aren't paying extra to store items that do nothing but take up space.
A good rule of thumb for narrowing down your belongings is to pack items in order of importance. First, pack everything that is essential and place these items in a designated area in your home. For the rest of your belongings, try to remember how long it has been since you last used them. If it has been months or even years, it is likely that these items will continue to see disuse and you should consider donating or disposing of them.
Learn Efficient Packing Techniques
First-time users of self-storage often overestimate the amount of storage space they need for their belongings. Depending on how efficiently you use the space you have, you may be able to store the contents of a 10-by-10-foot room in a five-by-five-foot storage unit. The key is utilizing vertical space correctly and remembering that you only need a small walkway in the center of the unit for easy access to everything in it.
There are a few simple tricks you can use for efficient packing your storage unit. For example, stacks of cardboard boxes tend to become unstable if they are more than four or five boxes high. Placing a sheet of plywood between each box in the stack will create larger, more stable surfaces for them to balance on, allowing you to stack from floor to ceiling in all but the tallest storage units.
If you are storing furniture, it is a good idea to put the largest, heaviest pieces around the edges of the storage unit. Disassembling furniture such as kitchen tables and some computer desks will greatly reduce the amount of space they take up. Empty drawers can also be used as free storage space for clothing or small boxes in the unit.
By storing only the essentials and using space as efficiently as possible, you will never have to worry about overpaying when using self-storage.
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