New Jersey Storage Topics

Putting Seasonal Lawn Equipment in Storage

Last year, I got tired of having my garage always be a crowded mess. I’m not the type of guy who keeps around equipment that I never use, but in New Jersey, there is definitely some call to have seasonal lawn equipment that gets used for just a few months out of the year. For instance, I have a snow blower that is my best friend in the winter, but I obviously don't have any use for it in the spring and summer. In the winter, I don't need to have all my gardening supplies in the garage when the garden is sitting under three feet of snow.

So last year rather than trying to make room in my garage that I just didn't have, I decided to find an alternative solution, and I checked out US Storage Centers Piscataway Self Storage to see if that would be the right option for me. I have other friends who have used this Piscataway Self Storage location for their off season lawn and garden supplies before, and this just seemed to be a great idea.

I was looking for a few different things in a self storage unit, including good prices, good customer service, and easy accessibility. I found all three of these things at US Storage Centers Piscataway Self Storage location, and I'm really glad that I found this particular location for my off season lawn equipment.

I was actually surprised at how affordable the US Storage Centers Piscataway Self Storage units were. I didn't really know what to expect, never having used self storage in the past. But the smaller units were well within my budget, and that small unit was really all I needed. It's funny how just that little bit of extra space can make all the difference in the world in your home or garage when you get the stuff that fills that space out!

Also, though, the Piscataway Self Storage location made making payments easy, which was really nice. For instance, I could set up automated payments, or I could pay ahead and get a discounted price. For that kind of convenience from a service provider, I could have paid a few more bucks a month and still have been happy! I feel like US Storage Centers Piscataway Self Storage location has really given me good value for my money, which is better than just flat-out saving money on something like a storage unit.

Also, the Piscataway Self Storage location's manager was very helpful when I went in to check out the storage units and sign the lease papers. The customer service I've gotten at this location hasn't changed since. The manager has always been helpful and courteous – it's the kind of customer service that you don't often find anymore! That in itself would also make me pay more for a Piscataway Self Storage unit!

Read more: Gardening Equipment Storage - Piscataway Self Storage

Storing Our Business Files Away from Home

Running a home business, one of the most difficult pieces is finding a way to separate but blend your business and your home life. There are lots of different ways that business owners choose to do this, from having an off-site office to keeping a separate space within the kitchen for running their business. My wife and I prefer to keep things as separate as possible, which is why we converted a garden shed in the back yard into our business office. The little shed has enough room for a desk for each of us, but not much more space than that. It allows us to have a work space completely separate from the home, but still right there.

The problem with this small work space is that there isn't room in it for us to store files and such. Obviously, a business comes with plenty of paperwork, some of which you have to hang on to for years. So when we built the shed, we set out to find a solution for storing our business files in an affordable, secure way where we would have easy access to them at need.

That's when we found US Storage Centers Piscataway Self Storage location, which is near our home and office. The Piscataway Self Storage location is a perfect option for storing our files for several reasons. Here's why we chose this location for storing our business files away from our home office:

Affordability

This was key for us when we were first getting started with our home business. As every starting entrepreneur knows, money is tight when you're starting a business. We needed a place to store our files, but we couldn't afford to pay a fortune for the privilege. When we checked out US Storage Centers Piscataway Self Storage, we were surprised at their low prices.

Part of it has to do with the fact, as well, that they offer very small self storage units, which obviously cost less than their larger counterparts. The other self storage places we'd looked at didn't have units that small. We only needed just a tad bit of extra space for a couple of filing cabinets, so the space was really the perfect size for our needs, and the prices of the US Storage Centers Piscataway Self Storage location were perfect for our business's budget.

Security

While we don't think anyone is necessarily going to bust into a bunch of storage units looking for our business files, it is nice to know that our files are relatively secure at the US Storage Centers Piscataway Self Storage location. The location itself features tightly sealed units, which means we don't have to worry about water damage.

Plus, to get into each unit, you have to have a gate code, which disables the unit's individual alarm. Once the alarm is disabled, you still have to have a key or combination to open the lock on the unit. If someone accesses a unit without first punching in the gate code (which probably means they've had to cut the lock on the unit, too), the alarm will go off, alerting the storage center manager that there is a problem with the unit.

Read more: Records Storage - Piscataway Self Storage

Piscataway – Using Self Storage While Backpacking in Europe

When a friend suggested we go backpacking in Europe as a gap year adventure between college and the "real world" I jumped at the opportunity. Why not live it up before we started real jobs and families that would make our dream of backpacking Europe impossible? It took a few months to get the money saved up, as I worked a high-paying job in the summers. But we were planning to do Europe on the cheap.

Once I had the money saved up and had my plane tickets and passport ready to go, the last issue was figuring out where to put my furniture that I obviously wouldn't be taking to Europe with me. The furniture that I had couldn't be stored at my parents' home because they just didn't have the space for it. Instead, I decided to find a self storage center in my hometown of Piscataway where I could store the furniture for a short period of time without paying a fortune.

The Piscataway Self Storage location I decided on was called US Storage Centers. The center was close to my parents' home, which was convenient for me since I would be moving in with them for just a few months between graduation and our backpacking trip.

Besides just a great location, though the Piscataway Self Storage location offered great prices, including a discount for new renters on the first few months' worth of rent. The manager of the Piscataway Self Storage location was also very helpful when I needed to figure out what size of storage unit to get. He talked with me about what options the storage location offered and what I had to put into storage, so I was able to pick a unit that wasn't too small for my stuff or unnecessarily large and expensive.

The customer service of the US Storage Centers Piscataway Self Storage location was great, and the manager even gave me some tips for making sure my furniture was in top condition when I got back from my trip to Europe. Here are some of the tips he gave me that I put into good use in my US Storage Centers Piscataway Storage unit:

• Use packing pallets; The manager suggested stopping by a grocery store to see if they would give me wooden packing pallets for the bottom of my self storage unit. They're great for keeping furniture from getting directly on the floor, and they can protect from potential water damage.
• Cover it up right: Covering furniture that's in storage is a good way to keep it from getting dusty, especially upholstered furniture that will be more damaged by dust exposure. However, it's important to cover the furniture in cotton rather than plastic. Plastic can cause moisture to stay against the furniture, which will cause mold. Cotton is a breathable covering that doesn't have this problem.
• Protect metal and wood: Metal and wood stand up better to moisture in the air if they're protected from it by a thin layer of oil before being put into storage.

  Read more: Storing Furniture at Piscataway Self Storage

Getting the Nursery Ready

Getting pregnant was one of the best things that has ever happened to me, but it was also pretty stressful at first. In our three bedroom home, things are still pretty crowded. My husband uses one of the bedrooms as an office, and he works from home. And the third bedroom is just a catch-all room for random stuff we need to keep but don't really have a place to put. When we found out about the baby, we knew we'd have to get that third bedroom ready as a nursery as soon as possible. So, we rented a Piscataway Self Storage unit through US Storage Centers to help us out.

We knew a Piscataway Self Storage unit would make the whole process of getting the nursery ready much easier and simpler. We'd just be able to move everything in the room into storage, and be done with it. Since the room was pretty much for storage in the first place, it would just be like having that bedroom storage off site. The US Storage Centers Piscataway Self Storage unit was a no brainer because it's so close to home. Plus, they have great prices and good security.

One of the things we were concerned about when we started looking at Piscataway Self Storage was price. With my husband working on starting up his own business and a baby on the way, money is a little tight. We knew we needed storage, but we didn't want to spend a fortune on it.

When we first looked into US Storage Centers Piscataway Self Storage, we were a little apprehensive. The problem was that we thought we would need a 10x10 unit. After all, that was about the size of the bedroom we were essentially moving into the unit, and it was literally packed with stuff. The price of that unit was a little out of our budget, but we decided to go ahead and talk with the facility manager, anyway.

Luckily, the manager of the Piscataway Self Storage location let us in on a secret – you don't pack a storage unit like you pack a room in a house. You pack it tightly, with broken down furniture, and you pack it from floor to ceiling. Even the twin bed we had in that third bedroom for the occasional guest would take up way less floor space in the storage unit because we could break down the frame and store the mattress on end, giving it the smallest possible footprint.

Read more: Storing Baby Stuff in Piscataway