Make Efficient Use of Storage Space

When you rent a storage unit, you might have an underlying concern that all of your items may not fit. Usually, there's a lot more space in your storage unit than you realize. However, you should still follow these space-saving tips to make efficient use of your space and avoid a situation in which you have leftover boxes and nowhere to store them.

The more you fit inside each box, the fewer boxes you'll have to pack. Ten fully packed boxes take up half the space of 20 half-packed boxes. Plus, packing each box to the brim helps make sure that box does not cave in when you stack another box on top of it. If a box is getting too heavy as you pack it, fill the rest of the space with lightweight items like linens and dishcloths.

You might save a few dollars by collecting free boxes from warehouses and stores, but in the long run, you are better off buying moving boxes in uniform sizes. Buy two or three different sizes of boxes, but no more. Uniformly sized boxes are easier to stack safely. If all of your boxes are different sizes, you will struggle to make stable stacks and end up with a lot of wasted space as a result.

Space bags are plastic bags that you can use to vacuum-seal your clothing. You place your clothing or linens inside, then use a vacuum to suck out air. As a result, the clothing and linens take up a lot less space — sometimes as little as one-quarter of the space they originally occupied.

You can save space by stacking some items on top of appliances and furniture, but do not go overboard. You may want to mark your lightest-weight boxes with a certain color marker and reserve them for the spots on top of the furniture and appliances. Boxes that are too heavy might leave an impression or strain the joints of the furniture.

Keep your space bags and other items aside until all of the more rigid items have been packed into the storage unit. You can stuff these soft items into spaces between boxes and appliances or even shove them on top of stacked boxes. Since they are pretty lightweight, they don't present a major hazard if they tumble off the stack.

In general, you shouldn't stack boxes higher than your head. Put the heaviest boxes on the bottom of the stack and the lightest boxes on the top. Not only does this make for a more stable stack, but it also reduces the chance of injury if one of the top boxes does fall. 

Oddly shaped items like tables and bed frames are hard to pack around. If your furniture comes apart, your best choice is usually to disassemble it. Keep the hardware in a bag inside a dresser drawer, and label it so you know what it is when you later unload the storage unit.