Everyone knows that adding a new bundle of joy to the family can also bring with it a bundle of new expenses. Once you’re back from the delivery room and you’re looking at the hospital bills and tallying up the money you’re going to be spending on diapers, you probably don’t even want to think too much about the fact that you’ll be buying baby clothes every few months for the foreseeable future.

Babies grow fast, after all, and anyone who has ever had one can tell you that they outgrow clothes like they’re going out of style. In fact, according to the Consumer Expenditure Survey, the average American home spends between $700 and $1,000 just on baby clothes in the first year. Keep in mind that’s just clothes—that number doesn’t even take into account car seats, strollers, cribs, and all the other accoutrements that a growing baby needs.

Running through baby clothes and supplies can seem not only pricey, but also wasteful. It’s a shame to buy something knowing that the baby is probably going to outgrow it almost before you can remove the tags. Fortunately, this is a problem that faces all new parents, so there are plenty of options that can help keep baby clothes and accessories from breaking the bank, and also help you pay it forward for other new or expecting parents down the road.

Just like the vintage thrift store where you found that coat you love, there are consignment shops in most cities that specialize in gently-used clothing and supplies for babies. There are also a variety of organizations designed to let new and expecting parents trade and swap for clothes and other necessities. Once your baby has outgrown that jumper, you can pass it on to someone who is still expecting. Local swaps are organized in most communities, and of course the Internet has gotten in on the action, with a variety of swap sites set up allowing parents all over the country to swap clothes, accessories, and advice.

When Good Morning America ran a special on how to save a little cash when outfitting your newest addition, they found that parents could make as much as $170 to $520 reselling their gently-used baby clothes and accessories. But sometimes being able to pass on something your baby has outgrown to another baby who needs it is more of a reward than getting a few bucks back.

Besides the cost associated with all those baby clothes, carriers, strollers, and other odds and ends, there’s also all the space they take up. Whether you’re planning to save your baby supplies for the next addition to your family, to pass them along to another family member, or to resell or swap them, they can certainly take up a lot of space in the meantime. It can be all-too easy to part with them just to free up some space in your house. But a better solution can be using an Oklahoma self-storage unit to store your baby clothes and supplies—either until the next little one is old enough to need them, or until they’re ready to find their way to a good home.

Whether you’re newly married and getting ready to start a family, or you’ve settled into your first job and are looking to put down roots, when you’re looking for that first home a self-storage unit can be a lifesaver. Think about it: Maybe you need to store your stuff before you close on a home, or perhaps you’re combining two households worth of stuff and you’ve got extras and you aren’t yet sure what to keep and what to get rid of. You may have to move out of your old place before your new one is ready, and while you might be able to crash somewhere until the paperwork is all signed, there probably won’t be room for all your stuff there.

Self-storage for home buyers can solve all sorts of logistical problems that tend to crop up when you’re buying a new home—most especially when you’re buying your first home. Take it from us, no matter how many things you think of, there’ll always be at least one that you missed, and knowing that your belongings are safe, secure, and easily accessible while you move takes one more worry out of what can already be a harrowing process.

Self-storage for home buyers can also be a great resource if you’re building and furnishing a home at the same time. Say you find the perfect couch for your new living room, but the architect and builders aren’t finished with that room yet. Just stick it in your handy self-storage unit until the house is ready!

Your real estate agent may even recommend looking into self-storage while you wait to find a home in your area. It doesn’t matter if you’re moving right around the corner, or you’re coming from across the country, finding the right house isn’t always as quick as we’d all like. And even once you’ve found it, getting through closing can take some time. Keeping some of your stuff in secure self-storage while you wait can take a lot of the pressure off.

Many people also use a move as an opportunity to go through their items and get rid of stuff that’s just been collecting dust, or that they no longer need. Especially when you’re buying your first home, there may be some stuff that doesn’t make the cut, or that your new spouse doesn’t particularly like, but that you may not be ready to part with just yet. Self-storage for home buyers can give you a safe, out-of-the-way place to store that life-sized Darth Vader pool-cue stand that doubles as a hat rack until you can find a home for it in your new place, or finally decide that you’re ready to let it go.

Whether you’re buying your first house or your fifth, moving is always a pain, but thankfully with self-storage for home buyers from Storage ‘R’ Us, we can help make your next move as simple and convenient as possible. We also sell moving supplies, and we’re Oklahoma’s largest PENSKE truck rental representative, so make us your one-stop moving headquarters!

At Storage ‘R’ Us, we recognize that there are a number of accommodations our facilities need to have in place in order to best serve our customers who have different accessibility needs. And as there are some who may not know what wheelchair accessible self-storage units need to have in place to be compliant with new regulations set forth by the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), we thought that we’d take a moment and go over a few details.

By the way! You can find a number of wheelchair accessible self-storage units at the Storage ‘R’ Us self-storage facility in Moore, Oklahoma, as well as our other locations in Duncan, Lawton, and Chickasha.

Self-storage unit accessibility: In newly built self-storage facilities (those built after March 15, 2012) with up to 200 units, 5% must be wheelchair accessible. In addition, the wheelchair accessible self-storage units must be dispersed among a variety of classes of self-storage units (read: outside ground level units, as well as interior or climate controlled units).

Design and construction of units: There are only a few modifications or considerations that need to be put in place to create a wheelchair accessible self-storage unit. Considering that most exterior self-storage units feature roll-up doors, the installation of a push bar at wheelchair level (not lower than 34 inches or higher than 48 inches) makes it easy for those with different accessibility needs to open the self-storage unit door with ease. To close the door, the installation of a pull rope or pull strap is essential. And for easy access to wheelchair accessible self-storage units, there needs to be a reduced concrete lip in the doorway (maximum 1/2 inch). For interior self-storage units, wheelchair accessibility concerns are focused on access ramps and wide hallways and doors. Given that the self-storage industry knows that customers are likely to be navigating with large, bulky items, most self-storage facilities are built with wide hallways and doors. Lastly, lighting is also a concern. Most self-storage facilities are well-lit throughout the common areas and hallways, but unit interior lighting must have switches or pulls that are lower and easy to reach from a seated position (again, not higher than 48 inches).

Wheelchair Accessible public areas: Self-storage facility owners should make certain that their rental office, public bathrooms, and parking areas meet new ADA standards. Wheelchair-accessible elevators, ramps, and doors are the most common considerations in public areas.

Consideration for service animals: Considering that some with different accessibility needs may employ the use of a service animal, the facility should be welcoming to service animals in public areas.

Going forward: The changes proposed by the ADA are seen as a genuine benefit to self-storage facilities, in that they help owners and management maintain places of business that are physically accessible to all self-storage customers and, in particular, allow disabled individuals unaided entry into their storage unit.

If you’re looking for a self-storage solution for your belongings, feel free to stop by one of our Storage ‘R’ Us locations in Moore, Duncan, Lawton, or Chickasha, Oklahoma today, and see what our self-storage solutions can do for you!

When we talk about “small businesses” many of us probably think about a local restaurant or a boutique shop. But the fact of the matter is, 9 out of every 10 small businesses are what’s known as a “microbusiness,” which is a business that employs fewer than 5 people. And most of those are what’re called “nonemployer” businesses, which means that they usually only have one employee, who is also the owner. These businesses include craftspeople, artists, consultants, beauticians, and so on, many of whom operate exclusively out of their own homes.

In fact, 51.6% of all businesses in the U.S. are home-based. That means that more than half of all the businesses in America don’t have an office or a storefront, they operate from someone’s living room or den or garage. Maybe it’s sewing handmade clothes or creating unique jewelry or baking artisanal bread, but whatever the business, it’s usually a one-person operation, and often one that has to be accomplished while juggling all the stuff that goes into being a stay-at-home spouse or parent.

After all, a home-based business doesn’t have the same infrastructure or facilities as a job in a big office building downtown. Everything that you do in your home-based business has to be done in the same place where you eat and sleep and watch TV and raise your kids. The mechanics of your business have to flex themselves around the requirements of your life.

That’s where self-storage in Oklahoma for home-based businesses comes in. Self-storage can be a lifesaving proposition when your home-based business is starting to take over your life. Maybe you’ve got an inventory overflow that’s cluttering up your house, or maybe you need to store a lot of extra materials in order to be sure that you have plenty on hand for a seasonal rush. If you’ve got a business knitting sweaters and scarves, and your supplier has a big sale on yarn, you don’t want to be stuck unable to stock up because you don’t have the room to store it.

These days the majority of home-based businesses do the lion’s share of their business online, and that also means a lot of packing and shipping. Packing and shipping usually means a lot of product sitting around, either waiting to be packed up or waiting to be shipped out. It can also mean a lot of packing and shipping materials like boxes, bubble wrap, or what-have-you, and that can take up a lot of space very quickly. Self-storage for home-based businesses can be a great solution for storing and staging shipments prior to sending them out.

So whether your small business is experiencing a growth spurt and your garage or closet can no longer keep up, or if you just need more space or a better way to organize your inventory and materials, Oklahoma self-storage for home-based businesses from Storage ‘R’ Us may be the answer that you’re looking for.

Sure, you can hire a professional moving company to come in and pack up all your belongings for you before that big move, but most people would rather do it themselves. After all, who wants a bunch of strangers going through their personal things, and besides, you know how to put things into a box, and for free, right?

Doing it yourself is a great option for a move, but at the same time, it might surprise you to learn that there are at least 5 things that most people do wrong when packing boxes. So here are a few packing and moving tips to make your next move easier!

1. Not labeling boxes. This is probably the biggest mistake that people make when packing, and it’s the one that can have the biggest impact on how much of a hassle your move becomes. After all, once everything is packed up, the boxes all look the same, so having them labeled will make the job of unpacking a whole lot easier, not to mention letting whoever is actually doing the heavy lifting know what room the box goes into.
2. Mixing rooms. So you’re packing up the stuff from your daughter’s bedroom, and you end up with a partial box, and you figure it won’t hurt to put some stuff from the kitchen in there. Or you’re cleaning toiletries out of the bathroom and right at that moment you remember that you forgot to get the shoes from the top of the closet. However it happens, things from more than one room have a tendency to all end up jumbled together. When you’re packing, keep the things that go into each room separate, and label the boxes that they’re in accordingly. If you absolutely must mix things from more than one room into the same box, label the box with the names of both rooms and, if possible, a breakdown of what goes with which.
3. Putting the heavy stuff on the top. This is one that just seems like common sense, but in the hustle and bustle of packing it can be all too easy to just “toss something in” on the top of a box, when it probably should have been packed near the bottom. The best bet is to plan your packing in advance. Begin packing up boxes a few at a time well in advance of your move, and have a pretty good idea of what’s going to go into each box before you begin packing it. Then put the biggest and heaviest stuff at the bottom of the box, and lighter stuff up near the top. Also remember to pack breakable items with care, and that you can always use things like socks or towels to pad out boxes.
4. Not keeping it all together. This could easily be a corollary of “mixing rooms,” above, but it goes way beyond that. When you’re packing up something that’s got multiple small parts—say, the bolts that hold a curtain rod to the wall—make sure that everything stays together. Put small parts in Ziploc bags and tape them to the items they go with. Wind cords and tie them together using bread ties or hair bands. Do whatever you have to do to make sure that when you get where you’re going you have not just the big stuff, but all the little stuff that goes along with it.
5. Using the wrong supplies. We all know how it goes: You get ready to move, and so you head down to the grocery store or the liquor store and ask the manager for extra cardboard boxes to pack everything into. That’s certainly a cheap solution, but it isn’t always the best one. Boxes that you get from stores may be dirty or warped from moisture, and they may not be strong enough to hold up to the rigors of a move. Your best bet is to buy some moving supplies—like the kind you can get at your local Storage ‘R’ Us location. It may cost you a few dollars more, but you’ll be happy when the bottom doesn’t fall out of the box that you have all your grandmother’s china in. 

When you’re getting ready to pack up for your next move, come on down to Storage ‘R’ Us. We’re not only your moving supply headquarters and Oklahoma’s largest Penske truck rental representative—you can also get packing and moving tips from our friendly and knowledgeable staff, and our secure self-storage facilities can act as a staging area for items that won’t fit in your new place, or that you just aren’t quite ready to move yet.

When you or one of your family members are in the U.S. military, you know that moving is something you’ll have to deal with sooner or later, and often more than once. Whether it’s a change of duty station or a permanent change of station (PCS), moving is a part of life in the military. The good news is that means you’re not the first person who’s had to deal with a military move, and moving with the military doesn’t have to be too much of a chore.

There is a lot of good advice out there that can help make moving with the military as painless as possible. Much of it is the same advice that applies to any other move. Try to keep your move as organized as possible by clearly labeling all boxes and other items, and keep a property inventory of what you have and where it’s at. This will be especially important if your move takes more than a few days. Sometimes you’ll end up with some of your belongings at the new location, while others are still back at the old place. Keeping a property inventory that tells you what you’ve got and where to find it can be a lifesaver.

If you or your family member receives an order to move, it should be accompanied by a transportation briefing that’ll go over some of what you can expect from the move, and help you to sort out any questions you might have. Planning ahead can help make a move a lot less painless, and if you look online you can find detailed checklists for planning your move starting three months in advance and going up to the day of. But don’t forget that in the military, as in every other part of life, plans sometimes change—so it’s also important to stay flexible.

Whether you’re moving with the military or just relocating on your own, self-storage can take a lot of the worry and frustration out of the game. It doesn’t matter whether you’re moving to a smaller place, don’t know how long you’ll be at your new digs, or simply don’t want to haul your boat, your yard gnomes, or all your old Christmas decorations halfway across the country, self-storage can take care of your belongings until you come back to pick them up. Military self-storage can keep your items safe and secure, whether it’s your grandma’s old knick-knacks or your brand new motorcycle.

Military self-storage from Storage ‘R’ Us is always secure, with 24-hour digital video, fenced and walled perimeters, and computer controlled gate access. But as with anything else, it’s always a good idea to pick up some additional insurance to cover your valuables if the worst should ever happen. So whether you’re moving with the military or just making a change, call Storage ‘R’ Us today and let us help make your move as smooth as it can be.

Looking for self-storage, moving supplies, Penske truck rental, or any other moving or self-storage amenities in Lawton, Oklahoma? There’s no need to go uptown, or across town, or anyplace but Storage ‘R’ Us! With three locations in Lawton alone—as well as locations in Duncan, Moore, Chickasha, and new locations opening soon in Newcastle—Storage ‘R’ Us has got all your self-storage needs covered, no matter where you live!

We got our start right here in Lawton, and though we’ve grown over the years to provide self-storage and moving solutions to neighboring communities, Lawton is still the place we call home. Whether you’re closer to our NW Rogers Lane location, our E Gore location, or the Storage ‘R’ Us on NW Cache Road, we’re available to provide self-storage and moving solutions for businesses, apartments, homes, and anyone else all across Lawton. And all of our Storage ‘R’ Us locations boast all the security, amenities, and conveniences you’ve come to expect, including:

• Computer controlled property access for your safety and the safety of your belongings.
• 24-hour digitally-recorded video cameras and security lighting to monitor the facility.
• Gate access and after-hours access available to all our customers.
• Moving boxes and other moving supplies—including our exclusive new box cutter/marker combo tool!
• Free use of on-site moving equipment.
• Monthly move-in specials—just ask one of our knowledgeable and friendly storage consultants!
• American flags and military flags for sale.
• College team baseball hats for sale.
• A full-service USPS post office and a brand-new K9000 Self Service Dog Wash at our East Gore location!
• And we’re Oklahoma’s largest Penske Truck Rental representative! 

All of that, plus covered and uncovered RV, boat, and specialty auto storage, and all your other self-storage and moving needs are available at any of our three convenient locations in Lawton, Oklahoma, or our other locations across the state in Duncan, Chickasha, Moore, and coming soon in Newcastle!

Whether you’re planning a move, relocating your office, sending a son or daughter off to college or to the military, or just need an overflow place for some of your excess stuff, Storage ‘R’ Us has got the resources that you need. You can give one of our friendly staff a call, or stop by any of our convenient locations today. Or, if you’re not sure how much storage space you might need, you can take a look at our handy online storage calculator, or check out of storage blog for tips, tricks, and information about monthly specials!

So whatever your needs for self-storage or moving supplies, there’s no need to go uptown for self-storage. Just take a short trip down the street to one of our three convenient Storage ‘R’ Us locations in Lawton, at E Gore, NW Rogers Lane, or NW Cache Road.

The holidays are the busiest time of the year for a lot of businesses, and that goes double for the shipping industry, whether it’s the United States Postal Service (USPS), FedEx, UPS, or any other shipper. A lot of that can be chalked up to people doing their holiday shopping online—we’ve got to get those Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, after all!—but the holidays are also a time when we ship a lot of things to friends and family who maybe live too far away for us to see them in person, or to family members in the military who are stationed overseas. Whether it’s Christmas cards, presents, or care packages, chances are you’re going to be mailing something this holiday season. Here are a few tips from your neighbors at Storage ‘R’ Us to help you avoid some of the most common mistakes people make when shipping for the holidays:

1. Get it insured. If all you’re sending out is a Christmas card, then maybe you don’t need any insurance to see to it that it gets where it’s going. But if you’re shipping something valuable, put down the few extra bucks that it takes to insure it. Not only does it make sure that your package gets to its intended recipient, but it also buys you peace of mind. The USPS offers a variety of options when it comes to insurance and special handling instructions for fragile or perishable items, and most other major shippers have insurance options as well.
2. Ship it right. Maybe most things can just be boxed up and dropped in the mail, but some things require special handling, or special types of postage, and a few things—such as fireworks and ammunition—can’t be sent through the mail at all. The holidays are a particularly popular time for shipping food. So if in doubt, take it to your local USPS or other shipping outlet and make sure that you can ship it, and that you’re doing it right.
3. Use correct postage. Sure, it’s tempting to try to use up all those old, out-of-date stamps to send that sweater to grandma, but you won’t be so merry if that box comes back to you in a few weeks because you didn’t put enough postage on it. Most USPS offices have automated scales that can tell you how much postage you’ll need to ship out your package, so make sure that you’ve got it covered before you put it in the mail.
4. Verify their address. These days, we tend to stay in touch with people more through emails, Facebook, and phone calls, so even if it’s a family member you’re sending something to this holiday season, it’s possible that they’ve moved since the last time you actually mailed them something. Make sure that the address you have is current, and if you’re unsure about address formatting, a quick search on Google Maps can often set your mind at ease.
5. Send it in time! Probably the number one mistake that people make when shipping out packages for the holidays is not sending them in time. With the holiday season being the busiest time of the year for shipping, if you want your packages to get where they’re going in a timely fashion, make sure you ship them early! (This is especially important when shipping packages to military personnel stationed overseas, where deadlines for shipping to APOs is December 10th for First Class and December 17th for Priority.) For shipping within the United States, the cutoffs for a package to reach its destination by Christmas are December 20th for both First Class and Priority, and December 2nd for Priority Express. Be warned, though, the usual Priority Express money-back guarantee is suspended for packages shipped after the 22nd! 

Whatever your shipping needs are this holiday season, you don’t have to go down to the post office and fight the long lines in order to get them taken care of. We can help you right here at Storage ‘R’ Us, while also handling all your holiday storage and military self-storage needs! All of our convenient locations offer boxes and supplies that you can use for packing, and our East Gore location in Lawton, OK even has a full-service USPS station that can handle all of your holiday mailing and shipping needs!

These days, just about every business has a Facebook page or a Twitter account. It only makes sense. After all, almost everyone is on one kind of social media or another, and Facebook alone has more than a billion active users worldwide, 33% of whom have followed a business or other brand. People are used to keeping up with one-another via social media, so it only makes sense for them to want to keep up with the places where they shop and do business that way, too.

At Storage ‘R’ Us in Oklahoma, we love to hear from our customers! Whether they come in to one of our self-storage locations in Lawton, Chickasha, Duncan, or Moore, give us a call, or connect with us on social media. Because we love staying in touch with our customers, we love how social media gives us a wide range of new tools to stay connected, alert our customers of new specials and deals, and just share in the daily lives of the people who make our work here at Storage ‘R’ Us not only possible, but enjoyable!

Our accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube give us a lot of opportunities to keep in touch. Whether we’re giving our customers sneak peeks at new developments at our Oklahoma self-storage locations, notifying you about specials and deals, or showing off nifty new products like our all-in-one Box Cutter/Marker.

The key word in social media, though, is “social,” and our Facebook, Twitter, G+, and YouTube pages are for more than just giving us a way to talk to you—they also give us an opportunity to hear back. Whether it’s a +1, a like, or a retweet, or comments, posts where people have tagged us after their successful move to a new home or when they’re pulling out holiday decorations from their self-storage unit. We think of our customers as part of the Storage ‘R’ Us family, and one of the best things about social media is being able to stay connected with all of you!

If you’re a little intimidated by the social media landscape and aren’t sure which platform would be best to follow us on, it depends a little bit on what you’re looking for. Facebook and Google+ are great networking tools, allowing conversations and discussions, while Twitter delivers information and interactions in more bite-size chunks, but is a great place to keep up on specials and news. YouTube lets us show you demonstrations of products and services in action, like our video of the new Box Cutter/Marker.

Whatever social media channel you choose to follow us on—and hey, we’d love to see you on all of them!—we want to hear from you! Don’t just follow along, reply, retweet, and join in the conversation. When it comes to self-storage in Oklahoma, we want to be your go-to place, and that means we want to hear what we’re doing right, what we’re doing wrong, and, maybe most importantly, what you need from us.

Moving time is always exciting, but it can also be pretty stressful. It seems like there’s always more that you need to do, something else you forgot to pack, change of address forms to fill out at the post office, getting utilities hooked up or switched over, and so on. With so much to keep track of and so much to do, it really helps if you have the right tools.

Luckily, at Storage ‘R’ Us in Oklahoma, we’re more than just your source for self-storage in Moore, we’re also your one-stop shop for moving supplies and trucks. We’ve got everything you might need to move, from boxes and tape to packing supplies, and we’re also Oklahoma’s largest Penske truck rental representative.

When it comes to moving supplies, you can never have too many, and we’ve got all that you could want. From small to large cardboard moving boxes to specialty boxes like wardrobe boxes for your suits and dresses and mirror/picture frame boxes for moving big mirrors or art items easily and safely. We’ve also got packing tape, wrapping paper, bubble wrap, and everything else that you need to move house.

What’s more, our friendly staff can help you with moving checklists and suggestions that’ll make moving quicker, easier, and as painless as possible. At Storage ‘R’ Us, we help a lot of people move, and so we’ve seen a lot of problems come up, and we know a lot of good solutions. Here’s one that we’ve developed just recently:

Keeping track of your tools when you’re moving can be a chore. You’ve got a box that’s already packed up, but you need to add something to it. You’ll need a pair of scissors or a box cutter to get it open, so you’ve got to find those. Then you’ll need to find the marker to add the new item to the list on the box. Nine times out of ten, you’ll find that you’ve got one tool, but the other one is in another room, or someplace else entirely. Luckily, Storage ‘R’ Us has the solution: Our new all-in-one box-cutter and marker tool gives you both in one package; a handy marker on one end, a sliding box cutter on the other!

Storage ‘R’ Us can help make your move easy and hassle-free in a lot of ways, so stop by our location in Moore, Oklahoma, or give us a call at 405-794-1058 today! And while you’re here, why not check out one of our climate-controlled Oklahoma self-storage units. They can be a lifesaver when you’re moving—whether you’re downsizing to a smaller place, or just need somewhere for things to layover during the process, or until you get unpacked. Whatever you need for your next move, we’ve got it at Storage ‘R’ Us!