When you think about it, a storage unit from our Harbor City Self Storage facility is just a big box. Mind you it isn’t portable and you can’t lift it but it does have a cool roll up door that you can lock and it is totally secure, night and day. From an organizational sense, it only makes sense to fill your big box with smaller boxes. You probably know we sell boxes here; so of course we will reference some of the boxes we have. Regardless, here are some ideas. Start Big Your first big box, as we mentioned above is your storage unit. The next sized boxes won’t be near that big, but will still be large. Nobody is going to pick up your storage unit and move it, but your next size down big boxes should be portable. That means everything you put in a very large box had better be light. Clothing such as suits, dresses or other formal attire should stay on a hanger. There are special boxes that allow you to hang your clothes in the box and then seal it to protect the clothes from the elements. Other large boxes are useful to store fluffy blankets and pillows or other light items. If you have light and fragile odd-shaped items that you don’t want broken you may want to secure them in a large box and then fill the box full of Styrofoam packing peanuts. Large boxes should never hold books, important papers, dishes, your son’s rock collection, or anything too heavy. One reason for the weight requirement is that these boxes, large and light, are good items to stack on top of smaller heavier boxes, if you are looking to maximize space. Big and Sturdy The next size box should not be made out of cardboard because no matter what you store inside, the box eventually collapses and falls apart. There should be a law against that size but everybody wants a box that is about 2 feet by 3 feet and 18 inches deep for some reason and then no matter what they put in it, it is too heavy or unwieldy. It ends up falling apart and its contents get strewn all over your storage unit. Instead, your big box should be heavy plastic with a sturdy snap-on lid. As long as you aren’t loading with it with your precious metals collection or reams of paper they are easy to handle and make a good second-level box in your storage unit. Some people throw their unsorted photographs and sentimental items these boxes, while others fill them with holiday decorations that can be easily transported home and unloaded with inside and outside decorations. Heavy Reading All heavy boxes should be uniformly filled and be the foundation for your box stack. These boxes should be smaller than an orange box. If you have ever filled a fruit box with books and tried to carry it anywhere you will know what I mean. A good criteria for your smaller boxes would be that they are packed in such a way that you could actually stand on them if you needed to. It’s all Backwards You might have noticed that we presented your boxes in backwards order. When you are packing stuff you want to store, you will naturally start with items that fit in the big boxes. However, when you go to store your items in your unit, make sure you start with your carefully packed book boxes and your smaller boxes that can hold a lot of weight. Then build up from there. Items that don’t fit in a box shouldn’t be forced into one. But once your boxes are carefully stacked in your unit, you will find that the odd-shaped items will have plenty of room.
