If you’re thinking of downsizing your home after retirement, you’re far from alone! According to a recent survey, half of all people over the age of 60 think that downsizing is a good idea. The survey results also found that 64 is considered the “perfect age to downsize.”

Why are so many people choosing to simplify their lives and move into smaller homes after they retire? There are as many reasons as there are people. Now that the nest is empty, some find themselves with more room than they need. An empty house can be depressing, not to mention expensive and time-consuming to care for, and to heat and cool. Others find that they simply don’t need as much space as they once did, and don’t necessarily want the hassle of going up and down stairs. Still others choose to downsize in order to save money.

Downsizing may be a way to reduce clutter and stress, a way to remove obstacles that are keeping you from enjoying your life as much as you otherwise might, but it can also be a daunting task. Fortunately, climate-controlled self-storage in Lawton can help take some of the weight off, and make downsizing easier for everyone!

If you’re moving into a smaller home, there’s going to be less space. You may sell some of your stuff at a garage sale, or donate it to charity, but there are bound to be things that you don’t want to part with. Collections that you’ve built up throughout your life, mementos and heirlooms that hold great sentimental value even if you don’t use them every day. There may be things that you’re keeping for your kids or grandkids. After all, chances are you didn’t have a thing in the first place if you didn’t want to keep it, right?

Fortunately, all of that stuff can find a safe, secure, accessible, and affordable home with climate-controlled self-storage in Lawton. Climate-controlled self-storage can protect your most treasured belongings from extremes of heat, cold, humidity, and other perils. And climate-controlled storage from Storage ‘R’ Us is always safe and always accessible. Nevertheless, it’s a good idea to take out insurance if you’re storing something valuable—rather than simply priceless to you—since even we can’t protect against things like tornadoes.

Downsizing your home and your lifestyle doesn’t have to mean letting go of the things that you treasure. Climate-controlled self-storage in Lawton from Storage ‘R’ Us can provide a safe, accessible home-away-from-home for the things you don’t have room for, but also aren’t ready to part with. Want to learn more? Give us a call or stop by one of our convenient locations today to learn more about how climate-controlled self-storage can help you!

We’ve talked before about the benefits of climate-controlled self-storage in Lawton, Oklahoma. Here in Oklahoma, we experience pretty much the full range of weather—from hot summers to cold winters and everything in between. But no matter where you live, chances are you could benefit from climate-controlled self-storage. After all, pretty much every place on Earth experiences fluctuations in temperature and humidity that can damage sensitive materials like wood, paper, art, and antiques, to name just a few. Whether you live in a rainforest or a desert, the weather changes everywhere, and that can be bad news for your valuables.

So unless you’re planning to stick great-grandma’s late-17th Century Spanish walnut bedroom set in a storage locker on the moon—where there’s no atmosphere—you’ll need to look into climate-controlled self-storage. In fact, about the only way to avoid needing climate-controlled self-storage for valuables that are sensitive to extremes of heat, cold, or humidity is to store your belongings somewhere in space.

That painting you bought on your honeymoon would probably be okay in a non-climate-controlled unit on Mars, where the atmosphere is considerably thinner than on Earth, although you might run into trouble with temperatures. While Martian summers aren’t too bad, with highs around 70 degrees, Martian nights can dip down as low as 220 degrees below zero during the long polar winters. Not only that, but you’d need to invest in a really good dust cover or drop cloth to keep off all that red Martian dust.

When you need to store your old business records, you could try Mercury, which has an atmosphere that’s even thinner than the one on Mars, consisting mostly of helium. You’d definitely need a storage unit that was heat proof, though, as days on Mercury can get as hot as 800 degrees Fahrenheit!

So even if you did want to store your latest art project in outer space, you’d still have a lot of logistical issues to contend with. And that’s not even taking into account the fact that it costs around $10,000 to put a single pound of anything into low Earth orbit. Plus, talk about inconvenient! The Apollo missions took about three days to travel the more than 200,000 miles to the Moon. Travel time to Mars varies from 150 to 300 days. Imagine having to wait that long every time you needed to get something out of storage!

At the end of the day, it’s easier—and definitely cheaper!—to just store your collection of rare first editions in climate-controlled self-storage in Lawton, Oklahoma from Storage ‘R’ Us. Whether you’re storing books, files, artwork, antique furniture, or anything else that needs special care and protection (And insurance!), we’ve got the climate-controlled self-storage solution that’s right for you! So give us a call or drop by and chat with one of our self-storage experts, and let us help you start storing your most precious belongings today!

When customers come to see us looking for self-storage solutions, one of their first questions is often, Do I need climate controlled self-storage? It’s a question that we hear time and time again, so we thought we would take a stab at answering it here.

Climate controlled self-storage has a lot of different uses, and different people rely on it for very different things. The simplest way to determine whether or not you need climate controlled self-storage is to ask whether the things you’re storing could be damaged by changes in temperature or humidity. Our non-climate controlled storage units are secure and relatively impervious to the elements, but without being heated in the winter and cooled in the summer, there’s only so much that a storage unit can do to protect against changes in temperature and humidity.

While electronics, books, photo albums, antiques, paintings, and family heirlooms are some of the most common items stored in our climate controlled units, we’ve seen people use climate controlled self-storage for all sorts of things over the years, including supporting their home-based business by storing paperwork or excess inventory, selling things online via eBay or Etsy, storing musical instruments, and a whole lot more. Basically, if it can be damaged by humidity or extremes of heat or cold, then it should probably go into climate controlled self-storage!

It’s also important to note that while many people use self-storage as a temporary solution, it doesn’t take long for the days to turn into weeks, the weeks into months. Time has a way of getting away from you. Those family photo albums, antique wood furniture, or boxes of business paperwork that you told yourself would be fine for a few weeks may not fare as well if the seasons start to change. So it’s always better to be safe than sorry. And since most things that are stored in climate controlled self-storage are pretty valuable, it goes without saying that they should also be insured. Like we said, our storage facilities are secure, and we provide 24/7 video surveillance, gated access, and other security measures to keep your valuables safe, but even we can’t protect against natural disasters, and in the event of a tornado you’ll be glad you had insurance on your stuff, whether it’s computers or paintings.

So now you may be asking yourself the opposite question: When do I not need climate controlled self-storage? Well, the answer, again, varies from person to person, but if you’re storing something that isn’t going to rust, mildew, or fall apart in extremes of heat or cold or changes in humidity and doesn’t really require any special care, then regular self-storage is probably a good fit. Many of our customers use regular self-storage for sturdy furniture that won’t be damaged by humidity, outdoor holiday decorations that take up a lot of room in the garage or attic, lawnmowers (drained of gasoline, of course), and so on.

Whether you’re looking for climate controlled self-storage, or aren’t sure what kind of self-storage is right for you, come by Storage ‘R’ Us today and let us help you find the perfect self-storage solution for all your needs!

Renting a self-storage unit seems pretty simple, but there’s actually a lot of thought that should go into it before you choose the self-storage unit that’s right for you. A lot that can go wrong if you don’t think ahead! If you’re renting a storage unit for the first time, if you’ve had bad experiences in the past, or even if you’re just planning to upgrade or downgrade an existing unit for one that’s a different size or has different amenities, there are a few things that you should keep in mind:

• Choose the Right Unit for You: While self-storage units may seem like just long concrete and metal boxes when you’re driving by, there are actually a lot of options available to the savvy self-storage shopper. As with most things, it doesn’t pay to just get the first thing that crosses your path. Do some homework into what’s available in your area, and what your self-storage needs will be.
• Size Matters: Self-storage units come in a variety of sizes, whether we’re talking about climate-controlled self-storage or the more “standard” kind. Knowing what size unit you’ll need depends on what you’re going to be storing, how good you are at packing, and how often you’ll be accessing your stuff. Storage ‘R’ Us offers a free and easy-to-use self-storage calculator that can help you get an idea of how much space you’ll need.
• To Climate-Control or Not to Climate Control: We mentioned climate-controlled self-storage in Moore Oklahoma already, and chances are if you’ve driven by very many self-storage facilities you’ve seen the signs advertising climate-controlled self-storage. So you may be asking yourself if that’s something you need? Basically, climate-controlled self-storage is for protecting items that can be damaged by extremes of heat or cold, as well as humidity and other environmental factors. This can include anything from antiques to paperwork, and from LPs to electronics. If you’re concerned about the effect environmental conditions may have on your stuff, ask one of our storage specialists if climate-controlled self-storage is right for you.
• Packing is Important: Good packing not only determines how much of your storage space your stuff will take up, but it also helps prevent your belongings from becoming damaged, and makes it easier to get to what you need, when you need it. For packing advice, check out some of our self-storage tips, and for packing materials, you can stop by the storefront of any of our friendly offices, where we sell boxes and other packing supplies.
• Use Your Resources: No matter how well you plan your move into a self-storage unit—whether it’s your first unit or your fiftieth, and whether it’s climate-controlled self-storage or not—you’re going to forget something, or run into a snag that you couldn’t foresee. Don’t be shy about asking our highly-trained self-storage specialists for help or advice. And we always offer free use of moving equipment on-site, to help make moving into or out of your self-storage unit a breeze.

In the end, choosing the right self-storage unit for you—from boat and RV storage to climate-controlled self-storage in Moore Oklahoma to whatever else you may need—takes a little thought and preparation, but it pays off big in the long run, not only in saved costs, but also in efficiency, ease of use, and peace of mind.

Whether you already have a self-storage unit or are just considering trying one out, you may be asking yourself, “What should I put in it?” Of course, the most obvious answer is: “Anything you’re not using or need to get out of the way.” A self-storage unit is a great way to tidy up your house, but climate controlled self-storage can offer you more than just a way to de-clutter your life. Here are a few innovative ways that people have found to use their self-storage units:

• Support Your Home-Based Business: It may come as a surprise, but more than 51% of all businesses in the US are run out of the home. That means no offices, no warehouses, no storefronts. Just someone’s living room, den, or garage. From freelance writers and artists to people sewing handmade clothes or baking specialty treats, home-based businesses come in all shapes and sizes… but they all have one thing in common: They need space to store supplies or excess inventory that quickly threatens to take over their home. Many home-based business owners turn to climate controlled self-storage as a way to keep a handle on supplies and inventory, while still keeping them close at hand.
• Sell Things on Online: Even if you don’t run a business out of your home, many people in America sell things on eBay or Etsy. Maybe it’s stuff that you make in your spare time, or maybe you like to go around to garage sales and auctions and find great deals that you can then re-sell for a little profit. Whatever the case may be, selling online means holding onto items until they’re ready to ship. If you do it regularly, it also means keeping plenty of packing materials on hand. A self-storage unit can be a great solution for keeping that collection of Beanie Babies safe until they’re ready to be shipped out to their new home.
• Store Crafting Supplies: Speaking of Etsy, these days more and more people have crafting hobbies. Just take a drive through any big town and you’ll see craft stores aplenty. Scrapbooking is especially popular, allowing people to take that boring old family photo album and turn it into something that expresses their own personal style, while still keeping all those cherished memories. Whatever your hobby, a climate controlled self-storage unit can preserve all your crafting supplies so they stay neatly organized and right where you need them when you’re ready to work.
• Staging Your House for Sale: When it comes time to sell your house, you want it to look its best… but you may not be ready or able to move everything into your new place before the old one is sold. What’s the answer? Self-storage can give you a place to store things so they’re out of the way when people come to view your home, while still giving you easy access to them when you need them. 

Whatever use you have in mind for your self-storage unit, climate controlled self-storage from Storage ‘R’ Us has the perfect solution for you! Come see us today, or give us a call, and let one of our experienced self-storage specialists help you find just the right self-storage unit for your needs.

Chances are you’ve driven by storage facilities (maybe even some of ours!) and seen signs for “climate controlled self-storage,” but maybe you’re not sure what that means, or why you might need it. When most people picture a storage unit, after all, they’re pretty much imagining a concrete room with a rolling metal door. And that’s all many self-storage units are, and all that they need to be.

But sometimes you need to store something that’s particularly valuable, or irreplaceable—like an original piece of art, a rare book, a one-of-a-kind family heirloom. Other times, you simply need to store something that’s environmentally sensitive. Electronic items and wood furniture are just a couple of common storage items that can be damaged by extremes of heat or cold.

So that takes care of why you might need climate controlled self-storage, but we’re still left with the question of just what is climate controlled self-storage? Well, fortunately, the answer is pretty much there in the name. A climate controlled self-storage unit is one where the environment stays constant. Since temperature is usually the biggest factor in the environment of a self-storage unit, climate controlled self-storage is also often called “temperature controlled” self-storage.

And while climate controlled self-storage is heated in the winter and cooled in the summer, to make sure that the temperature stays within a regulated range, that’s only one of the safeguards present to protect your valuables. Climate controlled self-storage units also protect against dust and humidity, and keep out pests that can damage or destroy your belongings. Not only that, but because they’re enclosed and temperature controlled, climate controlled self-storage units can be perfect for people who visit their units frequently. If you’re a big scrapbooker, for instance, and need to store a lot of scrapbooking supplies that you access frequently, climate controlled would definitely be the way to go.

Of course, you can never be too careful, especially with valuables such as family heirlooms or antiques, so it’s also a good idea to invest in self-storage insurance if you’re storing items of significant value, or that would be difficult to replace. At Storage ‘R’ Us, the safety and security of your belongings is our top concern, and we do everything that we can to ensure that when you want them, they’re waiting for you just as you left them. But even the most secure facility isn’t proof against everything, and insurance can be a lifesaver in the case of a tornado or other natural disaster.

Whether what your storing is a priceless painting, or simply your son or daughter’s finger painting that is priceless to you, climate controlled self-storage can be the perfect place for anything that you want to keep protected from extremes of temperature, humidity, dust, or other dangers.