Sometimes, people would need to put their belongings into self-storage for a variety of reasons.
No matter what your reason is for putting your things into self-storage, it can be said that not everyone knows how to do it right the first time. After all, putting your things in self-storage is not a very common thing to do.
On that note, there are some mistakes people make when they put their items into self-storage. In this article, you’ll find out what these are so hopefully, you can avoid committing these mistakes yourself.
1. Not insuring your belongings
One of the things you need to ensure before you leave your personal belongings in a storage facility is that your items are insured. That way, you don’t suffer in case all the items inside the storage facility are lost or stolen.
Check your options when it comes to putting insurance for your belongings. Most storage facilities will store your items on the contingency that they hold no responsibility for any lost, damaged, or stolen items that you’ve put inside their storage.
You can ask your insurance company for their other insurance policies for these types of instances. You should also ask the moving company that’s transferring your items if they know of any storage insurance provider.
2. Choosing the wrong storage unit
When choosing which storage unit to get for your items, a lot of people don’t take the time to measure things out so that everything fits perfectly in the unit.
What usually ends up happening is that the storage unit is too big, which means that they’re spending more money on the storage unit than they should be.
On the flip side, they can also choose a unit that’s too small for the items. What ends up happening is everything is too cramped and items might be haphazardly stacked against one another or they have to go through the whole process of moving everything.
Before you store your things, try and measure everything first so that you know what size of a storage unit to get.
3. Packing your belongings without caution
Speaking of packing things haphazardly, you should make sure that your items are packed properly before you store them in the storage unit.
Aside from that, make sure that you organize how you’ve packed them so that when you need to take them out again, you know which ones are in which.
Also, this reduces the chance of your items breaking if you pack your belongings with caution. They won’t fall into one another after time passes. Thus, you’ll come back to your items just as you had left them in there.
4. Not checking the security
You should also check the security measures inside a storage facility that you choose.
According to National Mini Storage, ideally, you should have a facility that has cameras so that your items are safe. Aside from that, the units should also have the right security measures so not just anyone can gain access to them.
Another important security measure is the presence of security guards themselves. Ask how they check up on the items in the facility. That way, you know just how secure the facility is.
It’s also worth noting the entrances and exits of the area. It’s best that there is only one place to enter and exit just in case.
5. Storing food
When you’re storing anything for a long time, especially furniture or anything you don’t want to be damaged, you should make sure that you don’t have any food in there.
The scent of the food will attract all sorts of pests that might make a home out of your belongings. At the same time, the food can rot and then the whole storage unit will smell atrocious once you come back to it.
Thus, avoid storing any food if you can.
6. Wrapping items with newspaper
When people pack their items up for storage, what they often do is wrap them in newspaper. What happens is that the newspaper ink might bleed to your stuff eventually which may stain or damage your items instead of protecting them.
Instead, consider purchasing some bubble wrap or even any paper that doesn’t have any ink in them. That way, you don’t end up coming back to ink all over your belongings.
7. Not labeling the boxes
If you want to come back to your items or only some of them, it will be a challenge for you to find the items you need if the boxes aren’t properly labeled.
Before you store any of your items in a storage facility, make sure that there is a sense of organization in it.
Hopefully, this clarified a lot of things for you when it comes to storing your belongings for a while in a storage facility. Make sure that you avoid these common self-storage mistakes so that you don’t suffer the consequences that other poor souls have.
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