Helpful Moving Tips and Advice

Drawing from personal experience, I know there are lots of ways to help make your household move easier and more smooth. Read here for help to get your life, and your possessions, organized for a peaceful and exciting move.

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How to Move: The Basic Steps

1. Plan your move using a moving checklist.
2. Decide whether you will be moving yourself or hiring professional movers.
3. Select your moving day.
4. Reserve your moving truck or moving company.
5. Get your packing materials.
6. Start packing !
7. File your change of address.
8. Eliminate items from your move.
9. Manage your moving day.
10. Start settling in.

The key to a smooth move is organization. Based on our years of experience, we have compiled this series of moving tips. These tips on moving are helpful hints and useful suggestions to assist you in organizing and planning your next move.

Keep important papers with you. Your list of "important" papers might include: birth certificates, school records, mover estimates, new job contacts, utility company numbers, recent bank records, current bills, phone lists, closing papers, realtor info, maps, and more. Don't leave these with the mover. Keep them with you!

Use brightly colored storage tote boxes, one for each person. Let each family member fill theirs with items they'll want 'right away' in the new home -- a set of sheets, a towel, a couple of extension cords, a phone, nightlights, address book, pens and paper, keys, kleenex, and travel cosmetic case, and so on.

Moving may not be the most fun you've ever had, but planning ahead will go a long way toward making the process bearable.

Long Term Storage

When you need long term moving storage, reliable moving companies can accommodate your needs with climate controlled, alarmed and monitored warehouses to protect your belongings. Your possessions (which remain in boxes or protective padding and wrappings) will be stored safely inside a 250 cubic foot container (not mixed up with other people's things) or, certain items like sofas or appliances may be stored on specially designed racks in the warehouse.

· Moving house is not the only reason that you might require long term storage. If a flood or other disaster dictates your need for long term local storage a reliable moving company can safely store your things until your disaster recovery is complete. Delivery to your new (or repaired) home will be arranged when you are ready to receive your household items.

 

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· Maybe you are fulfilling a lifelong dream to travel for an extended period and require secure storage for household items that you won't need until your wanderlust has been sated. Reliable movers can store your goods and ship them to you wherever and whenever you are ready to settle down and stay in one place for a while.

First, container storage should be done under certain conditions. Meaning, if there is equipment that is vulnerable to high temperatures; it should be kept under proper temperature. Frequently, a lot of business owners, as well as individuals, store large quantities of juice cartons, other food products, or alternatively cosmetics and the likes, which are products that may spoil under certain temperatures, so this should be taken into serious consideration.

Second, the container itself needs constant maintenance and proper care. Keep in mind that if you neglect to maintain the container, when winter comes, you might discover holes in the roof, which could cause flooding, which can result in serious damage to your equipment.
 

 

Portable containers, however, could not be simpler. The moving container company will deliver your container right to your home and leave it where you need it - whether in your driveway or on the street. You can keep the container as long as you need while loading your belongings, and when you're done, the company will return, load up the container and either store it for you, or deliver it to your new home for unloading.

 

 

How to pack your storage container

Portable moving containers such as the ones offered by PODS Enterprises Inc. offer convenient moving solutions. The company delivers the PODS container to your home and later moves it to your destination. You may take as long as you need to pack the PODS container and unpack it at your new home. PODS also offer storage solutions; pack the unit and keep it at your home for storage or have the company tow it away for off-site storage. When packing the unit, use all available space, both floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall. Fitting items tightly together will help reduce the risk of damage from shifting.

 

Whether you are filling a suitcase, a box, a car, or a moving pod, packing effectively is always of upmost importance. Packing for a move can often be likened to playing a game of Tetris. The art of filling boxes, as well as moving containers comes naturally to very few people, the rest of us need a detailed instruction guide of how to pack efficiently. Here are some basic tips that can help you fit as much as possible into your moving boxes and moving pods.

The heaviest, bulkiest items should be loaded first in the storage container. These include the refrigerator, washer, dryer, couches, loveseats, etc. Fill in the spaces between the larger items with packed boxes. This will not only increase your packing efficiency but it will also add stability and reduce the risk of the larger items sliding around.

Pack the heaviest boxes on the bottom with the lightest boxes being saved for the top and maximize your space by packing from floor to ceiling. The tighter you pack the boxes, the less likely things will shift while in transit.

 

 

Temporary Storage

Self-storage works best for short-term storage or to store items for the long-term that you may need to access more frequently. This type of storage, also called mini-storage, is charged on a monthly basis and the storage spaces range in size. You provide your own lock, which can ensure you that your space isn't being accessed without your permission. Access to storage is usually granted at specific times, but ask the company first about access to your things.

In most cases, you deliver and pack your storage unit yourself; however, if you can't move your items, the storage company may do it for you for a fee. Some companies offer free moving service with the storage agreement. Ask what is included in the rental of the space (electricity/heat, security, etc...) and in the service before you sign.

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Depending on how long you plan to store items, it may be important to provide space for ventilation and access. When storing belongings for short periods of time, it is usually okay to pack them closer together. When storing belongings for longer periods of time, however, providing extra space for ventilation and easy access is important. For belongings that you may need to access regularly, consider leaving enough space in your unit for an aisle. Then, be sure to arrange those belongings along the aisle for easy access.

 

Container storage is normally used for long-term storage or for a set period of time. This works best for people who are moving from one place to another and need a place to store all their household items until their new place is ready. Friends have used this type of storage option for when they traveled for an extended period of time and needed a place to put all their belongings.

Storage Containers for Large Scale Moves

Looking for a quick solution to clear some space in your home during a decluttering project or for an upcoming event at your dwelling? United Mayflower’s portable storage containers make for a perfect temporary storage solution. We’ll drop them off when you need them, where you need them, and take them away when your storage need is complete.

 

These days, selling a home may take longer than you expected. In order to stage your home and keeping it looking its best for potential buyers, you may need a long term storage rental solution. Our portable storage containers offer great flexibility in this scenario and for many other long term storage needs. Since we leave the container with you at your schedule, or remove it to store at one of our facilities if you prefer.

 

When you are packing up your moving pod, all flat items that are fragile and risk breakage such as mirrors, framed pictures, and glass shelves should be tied to the walls. Never put these items in the middle of the pod or mixed in with the load. You want to put as little stress upon them to prevent breakage.  When you have your pod delivered, make sure to have the door of the portable storage pod facing the nearest exit of your house, so it is a direct walk to the pod with your boxes and items and you will not have to walk around to load the storage container.

 

Moving pods can be used for more than just moving. Pods can be a simple solution to many other home needs such as home renovation, painting, collecting, storing un-used items, and more.  If you are planning on doing work on the interior of your house, condo, or apartment, call for pricing on a pod. Pod companies usually offer next day delivery and allow you to leisurely pack items, while performing home renovations.

 

The Cost of Storage Containers

If you are a retail business owner looking for additional on-site storage solutions for your seasonal inventory, have a construction site that has expensive tools and equipment that needs protection or you are a transportation & distribution company needing more storage at your docks.  Then a used shipping container might be the best business solution for your storage needs.

Storage and shipping containers are versatile and can have multiple applications, these are just a few of industries that can benefit from purchasing used shipping containers.  Sometimes for businesses it just makes more economic sense to purchase a used shipping container from a Container Alliance partner company for often half the cost of a new storage container. Buying a used intermodal container can cut thousands of dollars off your investment, and the technology and quality that are used in constructing cargo containers makes the shelf life of a used container last decades. So it is not always necessary to buy a brand new shipping or storage container.

Prices for new and used shipping containers are subject to a number of variables.  In particular, worldwide demand for new containers provides the basis for market values.  Given that demand is constantly changing, manufacturers – which are largely located in the Far East (notably China) – struggle to maintain steady prices.

You will be fortunate, therefore, to find many sites quoting prices for the purchase of new and used shipping containers anywhere online.  You can expect to find wide variations between prices depending upon your geographical location and home currency.

What Not to Store

When planning what to store in your unit, whether for business or personal purposes, consider that all storage facilities have restrictions on what they will allow you to store on their premises. This is for the protection of not just you and your belongings, but the facility staff and other customers and their goods. You will be required to sign a lease indicating that you understand and agree to adhere to the rules and restrictions for what items are allowable. As a general rule, any item or material that is considered “inherently dangerous” will not be allowed.  

In preparation for renting a storage unit, make out a preliminary inventory of the items you wish to store. Bring this with you to review with the storage facility manager to make sure you’ll be in full compliance with the list of allowable items. Full disclosure of what you will be storing is required. Or, if you’re not sure if an item is allowed, call the self-storage facility ahead of time to find out. This will prevent any related inconvenience upon arriving at the storage site.

Photographs will suffer temperature damage if not stored in a climate controlled unit.  For your personal protection and security, we recommend that the following not be stored.  Self storage can provide solutions for a number of unique situations and items. However, self storage is not appropriate for everything, and some items can pose safety concerns to the facility and tenants.

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While many materials are inherently dangerous to keep in a storage unit, others, even some everyday items, can be unsafe. Before you start filling and organizing your unit, complete an audit of your items to determine what can be stored onsite, and what should be stored elsewhere to help keep you and other tenants safe.

Self Storage Auctions

By law, when a storage facility customer stops paying for a unit, the facility must auction the contents of the unit to pay (or help pay) for the amount owed. By requiring an auction, these state laws help ensure that a fair price is retrieved for the contents. If the amount paid at auction is higher than the amount the tenant owes, the storage facility must write a check to the tenant for the difference.

Facilities are only entitled to the amount that the past-due tenant owes. Storage auction buyers attend auctions to bid on the units and attempt to win the contents. The majority of bidders at an auction intend on profiting from the resale of a unit’s contents, although some may simply be collectors or interested consumers. It is definitely to your advantage to be able to see inside all the units before the auction starts so you can decide which units you want to bid on, and how much you might be willing to pay for them. Ask the facility owner/manager which method they use, and be sure to arrive extra early if all the units are opened before the auction starts.

When you win a self-storage unit auction, you are buying the entire contents of the unit. You must pay for any units you have won immediately after the auction is over, before you are allowed to clean out the contents. The self-storage facility will expect you to remove everything contained in the unit, haul away the trash (not to the facility's dumpster-you have to find somewhere else to take it), and sweep the floor clean when you are done.

You may be required to pay a refundable "cleaning deposit" in addition to your winning bid to assure the facility that you keep your part of the bargain. Your deposit will be returned to you when the facility is satisfied that you have cleaned out the unit. Some may not reimburse you immediately, but may send the refund as a check in the mail.

Avoiding Self Storage Problems

You may decide to place certain things in a storage facility, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you are casting these items away. People use storage for different reasons – it may serve as a temporary hold while you transition to a new place to live, or you may have inherited some furniture and goods from a relative and you need time to sort through everything. However you end up renting a storage unit, you want to be certain to avoid issues that make your experience unnerving.

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Avoid headaches in dealing with a storage facility by doing your research ahead of time. If you know you plan to rent space in the near future, talk to people who have rented units and ask for their opinions.

 

If possible, ask to accompany a friend when they visit their unit so you can get a good lay of the land. This way, you can view the surroundings without feeling compelled to sit through a sales pitch. Later on, if you’re impressed, you can go back and consult with the manager.

A seasonal beach renter put all of his stuff into storage for the winter months. However, he forgot to insure it. The storage facility wasn’t well-ventilated and before long, black mold destroyed his possessions, which included antique furniture and unique works of art. Eventually, the renter had to pay specialists to haul his possessions away and couldn’t even get his stuff restored.

Finding Self Storage

With extra stuff comes extra clutter. Overstuffed bookshelves. Bureau drawers bursting with clothes. Cupboards chaotic with spice jars.

It’s no wonder that some of the best storage is the kind you don’t see. There are all sorts of inventive ways to declutter using hidden compartments and drawers.

While storing your expensive articles at a storage facility, it is very important that the facility is secured and offers services to protect stored items. Most of the customers don’t ask the important questions about security and insurance before choosing a self storage facility. All of the Secure Self Storage facilities in USA and Canada are tightly secured with the 24 hour surveillance cameras and computerized gate access.

 

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Several facilities that showcase great looking pictures online are often not very clean and could mislead you. If a storage facility is only at a short drive from your place, make a trip to it to have a walk-through of the facility. That will help you understand how secure, accessible, and clean that facility is. At Secure Self Storage, we keep our storage facilities clean and well-maintained. Call your local Secure Self Storage operator to schedule a visit to our facility and select a storage unit that may be right fit for your storage needs.

Other Uses for Storage Containers

Due to the nature and characteristics of shipping containers, many have found alternative uses for them which usually require some conversion, additional fittings or adaptation.

 

 

They often become, therefore, static units with a new purpose or function that in the long-term provides cost benefits and savings when considered against traditional construction techniques.

 

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All containers, of course, can be quickly and easily moved and relocated offering considerable advantages for those with portable requirements.

 

 

Additionally, insulated shipping containers make ideal temporary accommodation on building or construction sites for site offices and weather-proof staff rest rooms.

 

 

The following list is not exhaustive, however.

• Site offices
• Portable workshops
• Ablution or toilet units
• Accommodation units (known as shipping container homes)
• Lunch, rest rooms or staff canteens
• Training containers

Shipping containers come in two sizes; 8’x20’ and 8’ by 40’. You can buy them new or used. Many of the used containers have been on ships sailing the ocean and are exposed to salt water, which means they may have rust. The US has an abundance of these. In the CNN video below, the reporter says we received 7 million containers into America, carrying goods, but only 2.5 million left, exporting goods. This means there is a huge amount of these things available. Most are near shipping ports, but many make their way inland via trains. Some businesses have sprung up due to the popularity of them. They can be used for everything from a shed, essentially placed on property and left alone, to offices or emergency shelters during a hurricane or other natural disaster. They have also been used to make multi-level homes and even fallout shelters.

 

Why You Should Consider Self Storage

Storage can be used for many different reasons. If you're trying to sell your home you may want to free closets and rooms of extra clutter so that the place shows better. Maybe you have too much furniture for your new home; the kids have moved out but you can't part with all their childhood memorabilia; you want to store items for different seasons; you have stacks of documents that you need to keep but don't want them to take up living space.

No matter what the reason, finding storage units is made easy here with our direct link to self-storage companies located in your area. Within a few minutes you'll know what size storage is available, how much it will cost and determine which is best for you.

Despite their popularity, self-storage facilities have always had a bit of an image problem. Often a speculative real-estate play for yet-to-be gentrified areas (several of the biggest self-storage outfits are quite profitable Real Estate Investment Trusts), they bring—comparative to their size and infrastructural requirements—few jobs or sales-tax benefits to towns. They tend not to be particularly aesthetically pleasing, and their marginal location, as well as the transitory nature of their "product," has long seemed to attract people doing something they don't want to be caught doing at home.

 

Types of Self Storage

For an industry that emerged from nowhere with no inherent allure, no collective marketing savvy, and no tangible product to take home, the rental self-storage industry has piled up impressive numbers.

Fifty-thousand storage facilities now dot the American landscape, most of them austere, nearly windowless buildings wedged into commercial strips and industrial zones. That means the industry boasts more domestic locations than McDonald's, Subway and Jack in the Box combined.

Indoor self storage offers you a storage unit inside a building that might contain several floors of storage. These are the most likely to be climate control storage, but be sure to ask because not all indoor storage is heated and cooled. Most mini storage units are found in indoor storage facilities, too. The doors can be roll-up doors like a garage or ordinary doors. These have better security than drive-up and outdoor storage, and are good for people who need climate control storage or just prefer to house their items in an indoor setting, rather than a warehouse or garage-type storage unit.

Outdoor storage usually costs less than both indoor storage (which is the most expensive in almost all cases) and drive-up storage. You can rent storage units big enough for huge RV storage or small enough for a one-person recreational vehicle, like a motorcycle or four-wheeler. The might be covered with a carport, featuring cement or gravel floors. Security of the entire storage area is of utmost importance when you choose outdoor self storage.

What is Self Storage?

Self-storage (sometimes called mini-storage or self-service storage) is an economical alternative to the traditional moving and storage warehouse option. In the traditional moving and storage experience, a moving company will come out to your residence or office, pack up your belongings and then take them to their warehouse to store them in a wooden crate(sometimes 3 to 4 high). Access to your goods is very limited and the cost to have someone pack and move your belongings can be very expensive.

Tenants store many different type of items in self-storage facilities. This may include furniture, clothes, books, office equipment, office files, or retail goods. Some tenants may come to the facility everyday to pick up or deliver something to their unit. Other tenants may need to store their property and then be gone from the area for some extended time-maybe a year or more depending on their job or circumstances. If a problem develops during the tenants absence, the operator of the self-storage facility may only learn or know about it if the tenant calls it to the operators attention. The problem may include a leak in the roof, rodents (if another tenant stored food in a unit), a break-in or theft, or a door not working properly. The Owner/Operator will typically take care of any problem that arises as soon as possible upon being aware of a it since their reputation, and therefore livelihood, depends on the customer's good experience. But, as stated before, the operator is not legally responsible for any personal property stored in a self-storage facility. That is why a typical rental agreement will not recommend storing highly valuable or sentimental items in a self-storage unit. In these cases, a self-storage facility may not be right for you. In all cases, if you rent a self-storage unit from any company-large or small, it is highly recommended that you insure you personal property.

Storing excessive items that you don’t really need is the best possible solution you can apply. Storage companies offer ideal ways of storing and keeping your belongings in good condition.

They usually have a computerized gate system in a well lit and fenced facility with security cameras, so even your most valuable properties and investments can be kept in our self-storage facility. Some provide 24-hour access you can have regular access to anytime you need something from your stored items.