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The late, great comedian George Carlin once said that “A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff.”
While we’d like to think that there’s a lot more to home ownership than just collecting stuff, it’s true that as you live, you tend to collect things. Many of these items are important and precious to us, but ultimately start to clutter our homes. When this happens, it’s natural to consider getting a storage container.
Four Tips For Packing A Storage Container
If you’ve done this, then you’re faced with the next task: packing that container. This is not as easy as it sounds. A well-packed container must keep your valuables safe, but they should also be easy to find should you want to retrieve something later on. In addition, you want to pack that container with as much stuff as possible, right? So, how you can do this? Here are some tips to help you when you’re packing a storage container.
1) Label and Secure
The first step in how to pack a storage unit is to protect everything going into the container. This means that large items – such as mattresses or furniture – should be protected by using bubble wrap, blankets, and other items to provide padding. Breakable items such as glass or dishes should also be wrapped in newspaper or bubble wrap.
Once wrapped, smaller items should be consolidated into boxes. This actually helps in several ways. First, it provides an extra layer of protection for what are generally some of the more valuable items being stored. Second, it’s simply easier to pack boxes due to their shape. Boxes are easy to stack so you can fit many more boxes into a container together. Try stacking lamps, toys and other random household items – it just won’t work!
A third advantage with boxes is that using them makes it easier to find things later. By labeling boxes accurately, it’s easier to know what items can be found in each box so you don’t have to randomly search everywhere. You can make this even easier by creating a list. For example, you can assign each box a number, and then record what items go in each box. This searchable spreadsheet makes it easy to find things later when you need them.
2) Use the Right Box
Most people have a tendency to just dump things into a box without paying attention to things like weight. Then, when they go to pick up a box, it’s too heavy. This can result in injuries. Instead, be smarter: smaller boxes are great for heavier items because when the box gets full it’s still a manageable weight. Save the bigger boxes for lightweight items, so the box doesn’t become too cumbersome when filled.
3) When Filled, “Finalize the Box”
Many people make the mistake of filling a box with as much as it can carry, and then just closing it and moving on to the next one. The problem with this is that the contents inside the box are still able to get damaged in any number of ways as the boxes are moved into the packing containers. Contents can shift, boxes can break.
To avoid these, you need to prepare the box for transport. First, look inside the box. It might be full of your items, but chances are it still has some space inside. The space may be too small to fit anything else in it, but that doesn’t mean the items won’t move. Eliminate this problem with filler – wadded up newspapers or bubble wrap do the trick – to help keep the items in place. If you didn’t fill the box completely before running out of items, you definitely want to fill the extra space with material to prevent the top of the box from caving in should anything be set on top of it!
Second, take packing tape and reinforce the bottom of the box. This will help prevent the damage that can occur when the box breaks, spilling its items onto the hard ground.
4) Store Your Items Correctly
Now that everything is packed and protected, it’s time to move it into the storage container. Move the biggest and heaviest items first. If you are storing a couch, turn it on end to use the space better. Then, fill in the remaining space with the smaller, lighter items and boxes.
If You Need Additional Help
Storing a few items isn’t bad, but when you are looking at storing a lot of things, it’s sometimes better to get help from professionals. We at On The Go Moving have years of experience in packing and storing all types of materials, and we are ready to put our knowledge to work for you. If you’d like to know more about how to pack a storage unit, or you need assistance packing a storage container, please don’t hesitate to contact us today.
