Storage Tips

7 Steps for Staying Organized During a Move

[ https://www.houzz.com/magazine/7-steps-for-staying-organized-during-a-move-stsetivw-vs~139697522 ] Moving can be physically and mentally overwhelming in the best of times, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic adds new challenges. The recommendations on social distancing mean you’ll need more coordination to manage your move to ensure that you and those working for you stay safe. As professional home organizers, one of our services is managing the moving process for our clients. Here are seven strategies we use to help our clients stay organized — and that we recommend you adopt if facing a move yourself, pandemic or no. 1. Create a Master Plan and Schedule Before diving into any part of the moving process, it’s important to understand the big picture of all the tasks that need to be completed and all the people who will be involved in each part. I recommend creating a spreadsheet or a calendar of events so you have a visual of the overall timeline as well as your current progress. A defined plan can prevent you from getting buried in or overlooking any of the details. Having a plan also makes it easier to delegate tasks and manage the different crews that will be in your home. I recommend that you add to your schedule the contact information for key people involved, including your real estate agents, packers, movers, inspectors, architect and designers. Tasks to include on your spreadsheet or calendar might be real estate agent meetings, packing deadlines, moving dates, inspector visits, donation pickups, trash removals, and utility cancellations and setups, among others. I also suggest you create corresponding to-do lists for each of these tasks. 2. Declutter Before You Move Packing can be hard work. Most people must make decisions about which items to move and which to let go. This can be mentally exhausting, especially if you’re downsizing to a smaller space and have accumulated many items over the years. Your first instinct may be to pack everything and review belongings once you’ve moved. But I recommend putting in the hard work of ...

Patricia Lee
August 18th, 2020

A Guide to Self-Storage: Is a Mini Storage Unit Right for You?

[ https://www.houzz.com/magazine/a-guide-to-self-storage-is-a-mini-storage-unit-right-for-you-stsetivw-vs~92232065 ] You have stuff and need somewhere to stash it. Maybe you are staging or remodeling your home or are moving to a new one. Maybe you’re combining, dividing or downsizing your household because of marriage, divorce or an empty nest. You may need to leave your residence between college semesters, between jobs or because of a natural disaster. You may have accumulated too many belongings on your own or inherited a loved one’s. Perhaps you have a thriving eBay business. And so, if yours is like nearly one-tenth of U.S. households, you turn to self-storage, aka mini storage. Before you make the commitment, read this three-part series to find out how to get the right off-site storage for your needs and how to protect yourself and your things. After all, if they’re worth storing in the first place, you wouldn’t want to lose your treasures without any recourse or see them auctioned off on Storage Wars. The First Step Before you even start contacting storage facilities, be honest with yourself about why you are holding on to the stuff and what it’s worth. Does it bring you joy, in the words of decluttering guru Marie Kondo, pictured? Or are you delaying a bunch of emotional decisions that you have no reason to believe will get easier with time? Would you rather have your things or the money you’re going to spend on storage and insurance? Will your heirs want the items and, if so, could you pass them on sooner rather than later? Give serious consideration to possible alternatives to off-site storage. Can you donate things to charity in exchange for a tax write-off? Can you scan any photos or toss any documents? Would it make sense to buy a backyard shed? Types of Storage The next step is to consider the kinds of storage available. Full-service move-and-store companies In the U.S., the business of moving and storing household goods began with Bekins Co., founded in 1891 in ...

Victoria Villeneuve
February 9th, 2018

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