8 Simple Life Hacks and Self Storage Solutions for Your Home

With day-to-day life seemingly getting more complex by the minute, life hacks are becoming increasingly popular with people of all ages and from all walks of life. Just do a quick Google search, and you can find life hacks for just about anyone and anything: life hacks for moms, teens, school; life hacks for the home, the office, the beach; life hacks to help get you through your morning, your evening, and even your weekend.

Many of the life hacks that you find have to do with increasing productivity or efficiency—getting things done easier and with less fuss and work. Here at Storage ‘R’ Us, we’re always happy to see life hacks that help you make better use of your time and space around the home, since they often recommend public storage in Oklahoma as a solution that can help reduce clutter, simplify your day, open up your living spaces, and generally improve your life. With that in mind, we’ve assembled a few life hacks of our own that you can use to get the most out of self storage: 

1. Think Twice About Packing Your Essentials

Self storage is a great solution for so many things, but it’s not the right answer for everything in your home. It’s a good idea to think seriously about what you’re planning to put into public storage, and don’t pack away anything that you’re going to need on a regular basis.

Sure, you may not use that newfangled pressure cooker that you got for Christmas every day, but if you’ll be using it even once a month, it might be better to keep it in the cabinet and save yourself a trip to your Oklahoma self storage unit. When putting items into self storage, consider how much space they take up and how often you use them.

2. Use a Pack and Track App for Self Storage

It can take the average American family six months or more to unpack the last box after move. That’s a heck of a long time to go without, well, whatever was in that final box. Fortunately, there are plenty of options available these days that can help you keep track of what you’re moving and storing.

“Pack and track” apps for your smartphone can help you streamline your move, but they’re also a great solution for keeping track of things in self storage. There are a number of different apps available, and many of them not only itemize the contents of your storage boxes, they generate color-coded labels to help let you know what’s in each box at a glance!

3. Vacuum Pack Clothes and Bedsheets

Clothes, towels, blankets, bedsheets, and other linens and fabric items can take up a lot of space. Fortunately, you can not only reduce that space but also protect these items from bugs, wrinkles, and even mildew with the use of simple vacuum-sealed bags. These are available online or from many home goods stores. You simply put your quilt or clothes into the bag then suck out the air with your vacuum cleaner. Now your bedsheets or beach towels take up much less space, and they have an added layer of protection!

4. Buy a Variety of Storage Box Sizes

One of the biggest mistakes people make when packing items for self storage is not filling the box. Filling boxes until they are full not only makes the best use of your space, it also helps protect the items that you’re storing and helps protect you. Boxes that are filled all the way up are less likely to tip and fall, potentially damaging the contents or even giving you a bump on the head.

To make the most out of your self storage space, get boxes in a variety of sizes. This means that you can easily fill boxes to capacity while also having boxes that work well for items of different sizes. When putting boxes into your storage unit, be sure to stack lighter boxes on top of heavier ones and smaller boxes on top of larger ones. You can also use pallets or shelves so that your boxes will be up off the floor and easier to get into.

5. Break it Down Before Storing

Furniture is a popular item for self storage in Oklahoma, partly because furniture takes up a lot of space. Unfortunately, that means it takes up a lot of space in your self storage unit, too. The good news is that you can reduce the space furniture takes up by disassembling it before you store it. Furniture isn’t the only thing you can take apart, either. Many seasonal decorations and other items can be broken down before you put them away.

When you’re disassembling anything from furniture to exercise equipment, however, make sure that you disassemble carefully and label everything so that it’s easy to put back together when you need it again.

6. Use Up All the Storage Space but Leave a Pathway

To get the most out of your self storage unit, you should pack it full. That means making use of vertical space, too. However, you don’t want to fill every single inch of your storage unit. Leave a little space between the outer walls of the unit and your items to give your belongings a little room to “breathe.” Also make sure to leave yourself a path so that you can get to everything without having to move a bunch of other stuff to do it. 

7. Consider the Changing Weather

Here in Oklahoma, the winters are cold and snowy, spring and autumn are often rainy and cool, and the summers can be scorchers with high humidity. Not many things stand up well to those kinds of extreme temperature changes, so if you’re storing Grandma’s old armoire or your collection of ancient scrolls, consider climate-controlled self storage in Lawton. 

8. Make Sure Stored Items Are Insured

A good public storage provider in Oklahoma will do everything possible to keep your belongings safe and sound. At Storage ‘R’ Us that means 24-hour digital video security, fenced and walled perimeters, gated entry, and a whole lot more. Even with all these measures, however, we can’t protect against everything. Over the years, Oklahoma has seen floods and ice storms that left thousands without power as well as high winds that have torn the roofs off of homes and businesses. Plus, you’ve probably seen Twister, the 1996 movie starring Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt, right? That movie was filmed in Oklahoma for a reason.

When you’re putting your stuff into self storage in Oklahoma, it’s always a good idea to get a little extra insurance, just in case the worst should happen. It’s not much to pay for peace of mind, and in the event of a disaster, you’ll be very glad you did.

Use Public Storage in Oklahoma for Your Best Life

Here at Storage ‘R’ Us, we think self storage in Lawton is one of the best life hacks around. You can use it to de-clutter your home, simplify your life, and even keep treasured items safe from the weather with climate-controlled self storage. Whether you’re looking for military self storage, specialty vehicle storage, or lots more, we’ve got the perfect life hack for you at Storage ‘R’ Us in Oklahoma!