Storage Tips & Resources
Practical advice on packing, organizing and protecting what you store — gathered from what actually goes wrong for people, not from a checklist.
Packing for Storage
Packing for storage is not the same as packing for a move. Things sit still for months, temperatures swing, and nobody is checking on them. A few habits make the difference between opening the door to what you left and opening it to a problem.
Use uniform boxes
Matching box sizes stack square and hold weight properly. Mixed grocery-store boxes lean, collapse under each other, and waste the vertical space you are paying for. Heavy items in small boxes, light items in large ones — not the reverse.
Fill every box completely
A half-full box caves in when something is set on top of it. Pack to the brim and use towels, linens or paper to take up slack. A full box is a structural component of the stack, not just a container.
Label the sides, not the tops
Once boxes are stacked you cannot read the tops. Label at least two sides and note the room the contents came from, not just what they are. "Kitchen — pans" beats "misc" every time.
Wrap furniture, do not shrink-wrap it
Plastic traps moisture against wood and upholstery. Moving blankets, old sheets and furniture pads let things breathe. If you must use plastic, leave the ends open.
Drain and dry everything
Fuel out of mowers and trimmers, water out of hoses and coolers, food out of refrigerators. Anything holding liquid will eventually leak, rust, or grow something over a summer in a closed unit.
Take photos before you close the door
A quick set of photos of your packed unit takes two minutes and settles any question later about what you stored and what condition it was in. Useful for insurance, useful for your own memory six months on.
Organizing Your Unit
How you load the unit on day one decides whether it stays useful or becomes a wall of boxes you dread opening. A little planning at the front pays back every visit after.
Leave a center aisle
Load down both sides and keep a walkway to the back. It costs a little floor space and buys you access to everything you own instead of only the front row.
Put what you will need at the front
Seasonal decorations, tools, business records, baby equipment — anything on a predictable schedule goes nearest the door. Furniture and long-term storage goes to the back.
Build stacks heaviest at the bottom
Appliances and furniture on the floor, medium boxes above, light and fragile on top. Keep stacks below shoulder height if you will be handling them alone.
Lift furniture off the concrete
Pallets, scrap timber or even a layer of cardboard under mattresses and upholstered pieces keeps them off a floor that can sweat when the weather turns.
Disassemble what you can
Bed frames, table legs and shelving units flat-pack into a fraction of the space. Tape the hardware in a labeled bag to the piece it belongs to — not to a general box of screws.
Keep a rough inventory
A note on your phone listing what went in and roughly where saves a whole trip when you are trying to remember whether the Christmas lights made it in. Update it when you add or remove things.
What Not to Store
Some of this is our rental agreement and some of it is simply hard experience. Either way, these do not belong in a storage unit.
Anything flammable or hazardous
Gasoline, propane tanks, kerosene, paint, solvents, fertilizer, cleaning chemicals, fireworks and ammunition. Not permitted, and genuinely dangerous in a closed unit through an Arkansas summer.
Food and anything perishable
Including sealed and canned goods. Food attracts pests into your unit and your neighbors', and pests are far easier to keep out than to remove. Pet food counts.
Living things
No animals and no plants. This should not need saying, but it does get asked.
Anything you actually need regularly
Passports, medication, tax records you are mid-way through, the tools you use weekly. Storage is for things you are keeping, not things you are using.
Irreplaceable valuables
Cash, jewelry, important original documents and heirlooms are better in a bank box. Tenant protection has limits on high-value categories, and some things cannot be replaced by a payout anyway.
Wet or damp anything
A damp rug or a not-quite-dry tent will find mold within weeks and pass it to whatever is stacked against it. Dry things completely before they go in.
Need More Help?
If you are not sure how much space all this will take, the size guide compares every unit we offer against what fits inside it. Or just call and describe what you are storing — we do this every day.
View Size Guide Call (501) 604-8333