Dallas Self Storage Topics

Getting the Family Tax Documents Out of the Way

As the family designated financial guru, I end up giving advice to many of my family members on financial matters. I also do the taxes for my mother and sister, for a small fee – like a dinner out – and I take care of all their tax documentation and paperwork. Some people find this strange, as they would rather hire a tax professional to do their taxes than have a family member be so closely involved in their financial life. But that's just how it works in my family!

The problem, though, is that since I deal with all the tax paperwork in the long run, it often ends up taking up space in my home office. After this paperwork situation just got completely out of hand – I mean, three families' worth of financial documentation is a little much! – I decided that we were going to have to find a solution for the problem that did not involve me just finding a home with a bigger home office.

So my sister and I went looking for a Dallas self storage unit that would work well for our particular needs. That's when we came across US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage. The location was great – really close to my home – and they had a lot of other things going for them, as well, including good prices and smaller unit sizes that were just perfect for what we needed.

The smaller unit sizes were a little unexpected, but were perfect. I mean, we're talking about paperwork here, not boxes of clothing and knickknacks. All we really needed was enough space for a couple of filing cabinets. I could put filing cabinets in our Dallas Self Storage unit, label them for each family, and keep our financial documents organized there. A walk in closet sized unit was going to be just perfect, and that's just what the US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage location offered.

Plus, they had very competitive prices. We priced out a few area self storage locations, and we found that the US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage location gave us plenty of value for our money. They offered special deals for new renters as well as for individuals who decided to pay for a long-term lease rather than a month to month contract. Plus, the facility itself was in great shape, and the manager was pleasant, helpful, and friendly. That is definitely more than I can say about other area self storage locations that had lower prices! These other places often had run-down facilities, leaky units, and unfriendly managers, so we felt like we found a gem in US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage.

Dallas – Storing My Furniture for a Craigslist Sale

When my wife decided we needed new living room furniture last year, she meant that we needed it, like, right away. We headed to a President's Day weekend furniture sale, picked out the new pieces, and arranged to have them delivered three days later. The problem, of course, was that our old furniture was still in our living room, and we definitely didn't have space for two living room sets!

So to appease my wife's wishes, I found the closest Dallas self storage unit, US Storage Centers, and I rented a small storage unit where we could keep the old furniture for a month until we sold it on Craigslist. The US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage location was not only the closest location to our house, but it was also very affordable and had good customer service.

I talked with the manager about our situation, and he was quite understanding. Apparently people rent units for very short term storage there quite frequently. We only wanted the storage unit for a month. If the furniture hadn't sold by ten, we were just going to take it to donate it. Luckily, the Dallas Self Storage center offered a month to month contract, so we could terminate the lease at any time.

The Dallas Self Storage manager was great and gave me some good tips for making sure that I got the most out of our storage and protected the furniture we had stored as best we were able. Here are some of the tips we used to make sure that our furniture was in excellent shape when we got it out of storage to sell it.

Here are some of the tips that we followed to keep our furniture in excellent shape:

First, we stopped by our local grocery store and picked up a few wooden shipping pallets. We laid those down on the floor of the storage unit before we put the furniture in. They left some breathing room for the furniture so that it wouldn't get moldy if the floor became damp because of the humid weather here in Dallas.

Next, we dug a couple of sets of old sheets out of our closets. The sheets would cover up the furniture to keep dust of as much as possible, but they, unlike plastic sheets, would breathe, allowing the furniture to air out in humid conditions so that mold and mildew didn't form on the furniture.

Finally, as we were packing up the furniture, we made sure to protect the most fragile pieces with bubble wrap. For instance, we took the glass out of the glass topped coffee table and wrapped it in bubble wrap before propping it against a wall for safe storage. We also protected the corners of the coffee table and end table with cardboard corner protectors that would keep the corners from chipping and would keep them from dinging up other pieces of furniture during the moving process.

Needing Extra Garage Space

Who doesn't need a bigger garage? There might be some people who actually have enough space in their garages, but if so, I'm certainly not one of them. With a big family and two large vehicles, a two car garage doesn't begin to cut it. Sure, we can get the van and truck in and out easily enough, but there's not much room for all the other stuff we would like to keep in the garage. Plus, we don't even have an attic or a basement, so we essentially have no spare storage space!

Luckily for us, there's the US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage location close to our home, and we can use it to get the extra garage space we need. I started thinking about using a Dallas Self Storage location shortly after we moved into our home.

For a while, I had thought about adding on to the garage in our new house, but it was just going to be too expensive for the time being. However, we obviously needed more space. We were constantly opening overflowing closets to try to stuff just one more thing into them, and we were always tripping over the extra things that somehow made their way into our already crowded garage.

I was expressing frustration over this lack of storage to one of our new neighbors one day, and he suggested checking out a Dallas Self Storage location called US Storage Centers. At first, I was skeptical. Wouldn’t storage cost too much and be too inconvenient? Wouldn't our things be safer and more secure in our own garage? What happened if I needed to stop using the storage and was locked into a contract?

Luckily, my neighbor had been using US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage for extra garage space for years, and he was able to answer all my questions. His house had a similar layout to mine, so he didn't have a lot of extra storage space, either. That's what had gotten him started on looking for solutions like US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage. He'd found the perfect storage solution, and he never looked back.

He said that actually, the Dallas Self Storage location had very reasonable and affordable rates. Plus, I would probably be floored at how much stuff I could fit into a small storage unit. I would probably end up with a much smaller unit than I'd originally thought I would need, so I wouldn't have to pay nearly as much per month as I was thinking.

My neighbor also said that having a Dallas Self Storage unit is much more convenient than constantly stuffing our closets or tripping over boxes in and around the garage! The US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage location wasn't far at all from our sub division. If I rented a unit there, I'd be able to access it almost any time during the day or night, too. My neighbor has even taken to storing some of his lawn care things there instead of in his own garage. He needs those things about once a week, so he just leaves them at the front of his storage unit, and runs over to get them whenever he needs them on the weekends. He said it was super easy!

Why Use Storage in Dallas, TX

Dallas, the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States, boasts a booming population and the largest economic center of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area. Dallas is home to people from many backgrounds, ethnicities, and classes, and there are tons of different reasons that people choose to use Dallas Self Storage at places like US Storage Centers. Here are just a few of the reasons that people in Dallas choose to use self storage.

Sports Storage

Dallas is home to plenty of professional sports teams, including the Dallas Mavericks from the NBA, the Dallas Stars from the NHL, and the Dallas Cowboys, America's football team! Many people who own tons of paraphernalia and collectibles from their favorite Dallas teams choose to put them in Dallas Self Storage to keep them safe and out of the way for a time.

Also, Dallas is home to many people and families who participate in all sorts of sports – from school sports like soccer and football to family sports like hiking and camping. Dallas residents who don't have room to store their sporting goods equipment in their homes can easily store it in their Dallas Self Storage unit through US Storage Centers.

College Storage

Dallas hosts thousands of college students at several universities in and around the city every school year. Within the city limits, you'll find the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Texas Woman's University, Paul Quinn College, the University of North Texas at Dallas, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas Baptist University, Criswell College, and the Dallas Community College. Outside of the city limits but close to the city are Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas at Dallas, and the University of Dallas, which is located in Irving.

Many college students use facilities like US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage during the summers or semesters abroad. With students flying in from all around the country to attend college in Dallas, they can't always afford the time or money necessary to ship all their college stuff home every summer break. Instead of that, they decide to store their things in a Dallas Self Storage location like US Storage Centers. Lots of frugal, broke college students also share self storage units so that they can save even more money on affordable self storage over the summer or through the course of a semester abroad when they need to store their things.

Families and Individuals

Dallas has a population of over one million people, and there are as many reasons to use a Dallas Self Storage unit as there are people in the city limits. About a third of the households in Dallas have children under the age of eighteen living with them, and, as you probably know, households with kids inevitably come with lots of extra stuff. Families who don't have a lot of storage space in their homes might store old toys that they are saving for future siblings, off season clothes, and even kids' school sports equipment in a Dallas Self Storage unit instead of in their already crowded homes.

Storage During Our Move

Moving is never easy, but it's particularly frustrating and difficult when there's a lapse between moving out of one place and moving into another – especially when you have a family! Of course, you always try to make sure this doesn't happen, so that you can move straight from one home into another, but it doesn’t always work out that way. That's what happened to my family and I when we moved across town in Dallas to get our kids into a better school district.

In a market like this, you've got to sell your home on the buyer's terms just so you can get out of it! When we found out that our home was ready to sell but that the buyer wanted to be in within a month, we were a little nervous. We had our eye on a couple of homes across town, but we weren't anywhere near closing on one for at least a couple more months. That meant there would definitely be a gap in time where we were essentially homeless!

My wife and I discussed the pros and cons of our situation, and we finally decided that we needed to just go ahead and go with the sale. We weren't likely to find another potential buyer any time soon, and we didn't want to risk losing this one by saying that we couldn't be out of the house when they needed us to be. We decided we would just ramp up our efforts to close on a new home and would live in a hotel in the new school district in the meantime.

The problem, of course, was what we would do with all of our stuff. Luckily, we found US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage location near where we wanted to move. The US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage location was perfect for our needs, and it really helped us make our strange and somewhat inconvenient moving process a little bit better and more convenient.

I checked out a couple of different storage locations near where we were moving in Dallas, but none of the other Dallas Self Storage locations came close to US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage. There are a few reasons we decided to go with it over other potential storage locations for our things. Here are just a couple of them:

1. Price: The US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage location had great prices to begin with, and then they were also running specials. Since we were going to be paying to stay in a hotel – not cheap! – and paying for storage, we needed to save as much money as possible on the storage. The special helped us save some significant cash, and it was particularly helpful since we were really only looking for short term storage during our moving process.

Storing Our Camping Gear

In my family, camping has always been the family thing to do. Sure, as kids we played some sports through school, but the real family "sport" was always camping on the weekends. In the summer, we were gone on a different camping trip almost every weekend. So when I got married and had kids, I wanted to give them the same types of camping memories I had built as a child.

My husband, kids, and I don't go camping every weekend like I used to do with my own family, but we do got at least once a month. When we go camping, we often go fishing, take hikes, or even take our bikes for the bike trails. It's so much fun, and we really cherish the time we get to spend together.

The problem, of course, is that for a family of five, it takes a lot of stuff to go camping. We have three tents, five sleeping bags, two giant coolers, our fishing gear, four bikes and a special bike seat for our toddler, hiking backpacks, and more. Since we try to live simply in a rather small home, we really just don't have room to keep all our camping gear at home. That's why we have a storage unit through US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage location.

My mom was actually the one who suggested we use US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage one day. We were on the phone, and I was venting to her about how ridiculous it was to try to keep all of our camping gear in the house. When I was growing up, my parents' home had had and attic where most of the camping gear could stay, but our attic was already full, and there just wasn't any more room for the camping gear. At that time, it all lived in the garage in a few storage totes. This was fine, but it did mean that I couldn't park my van in the garage, which was really frustrating – especially on rainy days when I needed to carry three kids and a bunch of groceries into the house!

Mom said she and Dad had rented a unit at US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage location a few years ago when they were moving. They downsized, but there were still some things they wanted to keep. Instead of cramming those extra boxes in their new, smaller home, they decided to rent a self storage unit. Since my parents lived close to us, the US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage location was nearby our home, too.

Between Kids Storage

I've never understood why people who plan on having more than one kid decide that it will be a good idea to get rid of all the major baby stuff in between kids. I mean, even if you're going to wait a few years before you have another one, isn't it wise to just save things from one kid to the next so you don’t have to spend all that money on them again? At any rate, that's what I've always thought, and that's what my husband and I decided to do with our family!

When we had our first baby, we were very careful to spend our money on high-quality items. We spend thousands of dollars on baby gear, but we knew we had bought gear that would last through multiple children. In fact, we plan to save our baby's nursery set as an heirloom because it's so high quality. At any rate, once we had all that stuff, we intended to keep it until we were truly done having children.

The problem was that we didn't have a ton of extra storage space. Between Christmas decorations and off-season clothes, our attic was stuffed, and our garage was full to the brim with all our lawn care supplies and my husband's wood working supplies. So we decided that we would need to rent a Dallas Self Storage unit to help us storage the baby stuff in between kids.

Renting a Dallas Self Storage unit probably wouldn't make sense for everyone in our situation. I mean, if you're going to wait five years between kids, you're probably better off financially selling your baby gear and rebuying it than you are renting a storage unit for five years just for that purpose. However, if you're only planning to wait a year before getting pregnant again, renting a self storage unit for your baby gear definitely makes sense!

Once we decided that renting a self storage unit made sense for our baby stuff, I checked out several different places in the Dallas area. You wouldn't believe how many storage places there are in a big city like this one until you start looking for self storage! Luckily, I quickly came across US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage, the location we decided to go with for a few reasons, including security and cost.

The security of our self storage unit was really important for us. I mean, we had thousands of dollars' worth of baby stuff to store, and we wanted to make sure nothing happened to it. I really liked the US Storage Centers security system, which included individual alarms on all the unit doors. The system made me feel really comfortable leaving our stuff there.

Another thing I checked out along with the security of the Dallas Self Storage location was the cleanliness. I mean, you know how well a business is run by how clean and neat its property looks. The US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage location was very clean and well-kept. Plus, the units all looked completely water-tight. We didn't want to have to deal with water damage when it came to the baby gear we would be storing!

Storing My Things During a Semester Abroad

Taking a semester to go abroad and learn in another culture was a huge part of my college dream, but I never thought it would be possible just because of the logistics. When I got a chance to go abroad through the University of North Texas at Dallas, I jumped at it. The problem was that I needed to figure out logistics – like what to do with all my dorm room stuff for that semester.

See, I usually went home for the summers and was able to take my things home with me. During that semester, though, I wouldn't have a chance to cart everything halfway across the country, and I would be coming straight back to school for a couple of weeks after my time abroad. I needed a place to keep my things that was close to the University of North Texas at Dallas. Luckily for me, I came across the US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage location.

A friend of mint at Texas Woman's University had used this Dallas Self Storage place before because it was easy to access and was pretty affordable. I'd thought about using storage during my semester abroad, but whenever I looked at Dallas Self Storage, there always seemed to be some problem holding me back from choosing a particular storage location. One was too far from my school. Another was too expensive, and one had almost no security whatsoever!

The US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage location was close enough to school, had great prices, and had good security. As soon as I checked it out, I knew I'd be comfortable leaving my things there for the duration of my semester abroad.

The US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage location had some great specials going on when I needed to rent  my unit, so I was able to save money over the semester of rental. Plus, I could pay my bill online. I couldn't afford to pay for the entire semester's worth of storage when I first rented the unit, but I obviously wouldn't be able to drop by on the first of every month to pay my bill, either. So being able to make payments online from overseas was hugely important for me! With the money I would save on the first two months of rent, I could definitely afford a small storage unit for my dorm room stuff.

When I told a friend about my storage idea at the Dallas Self Storage location, she was intrigued. She was going abroad, too, through the same program as me but to a different country. She wondered if she could check out the US Storage Centers Dallas Self Storage location, too. She decided, also, that it was perfect for what she needed.