Before you even prepare a single box for moving, go around the house and make an inventory of everything. Organise what needs to go into storage, what can’t go into storage and what needs to be dumped or sold. Start preparing this inventory at least a month in advance, and whatever you don’t need anymore, get rid. Moving home is a great time for a car boot sale. You might as well make a bit of money out of your old junk because otherwise, it will take up more room in self-storage which you will be paying for.

By preparing your inventory, you can start packing things into boxes and make a good estimate on the number of boxes you will have to put into storage. Once you have your inventory and a good estimate of boxes, use our simple to use Size-Guide to decide what amount of self-storage space you require.

Make sure you number each box and write on your inventory list which box each item goes into. Should the necessity arise to retrieve a specific item from self-storage, then the task is simplified and you will find access is made easy by knowing exactly in which box the item is in.

How you pack your items into the self-storage unit is one of the most obvious, but constantly overlooked tasks. You want to load the least needed (during the rental period) and heaviest items right at the back, get these things in first such as bulky furniture, washing machines and fridges/freezers – make sure they are drained, emptied out and cleaned with the doors left slightly ajar if possible – and continue down your inventory list packing in the things less likely to be needed in the near future.

Towards the front of the self-storage units, place items that may be needed, such as important documents and policies, seasonal clothing and sports equipment.

It’s important that you stick rigidly to your inventory list and the order in which things are packed, and remember, load the removal van in the reverse order so that you don’t have to double up the work or cause an obstruction when arriving at the storage yard.

Let me repeat that: “Load the removal van in the REVERSE ORDER“

When planning in which order to store your items within the self-storage unit, most people just focus on the floor space rather than the entire space within. When it comes to organising your self-storage unit we need to think 3-dimensionally in terms of length, width and height.

You need to ask yourself if larger items will fit into the space, if not, can they be dismantled or stored vertically? will you require a larger space to lease? Heavy items should be stowed as low as possible to prevent objects from becoming crushed, warped or damaged. Lighter items and breakables should be stored higher up.

For our personal and commercial customers who choose to use our larger storage containers and internal storage units, it may be practical to leave a small aisle down the centre to allow easy access.

At Storage-Storage Ltd we allow shelving and racking to be constructed within the units, provided that they are removed and cause no permanent physical damage to the units at the end of your lease period. Ideal for commercial customers using self-storage for files and records.

We have more answers to your questions in the FAQ section, if you have any further questions regarding how to organise your self-storage unit please get in touch and one of our staff will be able to answer your questions.