So you’ve rented a storage unit and feel confident that the experts at Lockaway Storage have found you the perfect size based on your needs. Now what? Once you arrive at our storage facility, you may be wondering how you’re supposed to get it all in. While it may seem like a challenging game of Tetris, it’s really about how often you will need to access your things.

Frequent Access

If you plan on assessing your storage unit regularly, it’s important to create a pathway to the back of the unit. Then you will want to start placing items you won’t be needing towards the back while items you plan on accessing frequently towards the front. Shelving also helps to organize your storage unit by making items more accessible.

Infrequent Access

If you don’t plan on assessing your storage unit regularly, then you have the choice to rent a smaller amount of space and pack it full. If you pack the unit high, it will also hold more. Keep in mind, however, that it’s important to place heavy items on the bottom with more fragile items on the top.

General Storage Tips

Below are some general storage tips that can help you organize your items based on how often they will need to be accessed:

• Never place sharp or heavy items on top of upholstered furniture. Also, make sure to cover your furniture with a sheet or blanket to reduce its exposure to dust.

• When stacking your belongings, it’s important to place heavy items on the bottom with light or odd-shaped items towards to the top. To make this process easier, you can mark your boxes ahead of time as light, medium, or heavy while packing. Keep in mind that you’ll need to be careful not to stack too many items on heavy boxes full of fragile items.

• To help save space and take advantage of the height of your storage unit, stand sofas and larger items on end. Later you can remove the cushions and place them on top before using the space where the cushions once were to place additional boxes.
• When storing tables, remove the legs if possible and lean the tabletop sideways on a blanket to reduce scratching. To keep important items together, you can always tape a ziplock bag full of mounts and screws to the inside of the table.

• Never place wood on wood without a cloth or cardboard layer in between the pieces.

• When storing dressers, utilize the space of the drawers to store smaller items. However, the drawers should always be empty during transit.

• To make things easier to access, make a list of box contents and a diagram of where you placed them in storage. Taking a video or a series of pictures can also help you record the contents.

Lockaway Storage

At Lockaway Storage, we strive to help make the self-storage process as stress-free as possible. By following the tips we provided above, we hope to save you the time and hassle of accessing your items to easily find what you need. For additional packing tips or information about our storage facility, contact us at (208) 322-4487. Our on-site managers would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have while providing you with advice to help ease the self-storage process.