A few times a year, it is typical for people to do some overhauling in their home, usually spring or fall cleaning of closets to get rid of some of the excess and unnecessary things they have accumulated over time. It is also a more popular trend to move toward living in a more minimalistic way rather than being focused on consumerism. Regardless of your reason for downsizing, it is becoming more and more popular to downsize the amount of possessions in your home while utilizing a storage unit in your area to house your extra or seasonal belongings. You can use a self-storage unit in Las Vegas near Mountain’s Edge to help you downsize your home with ease, and here are a few ways you can make the whole process easier:
Divide Your Areas
If you have a large home with many bedrooms or many rooms in general, it is important to remember not to take it all on at once. Make sure you are working through one area of one room at a time, and completing that area before moving to another. If you are planning a move, you can focus on what items will be going where in the new place, which will help you stay organized throughout the process. Set goals for yourself like completing a number of rooms a week, perhaps one per day or one area per day, like a closet or two.
Make sure if you are downsizing and loading new boxes, label the ones that will be moved to the new location by room, and label the others with a clear indication of what will be going into your storage unit.
Donations & Trash
Chances are there will be plenty of found items that you will be able to donate to Goodwill or is no longer usable and can be thrown away. You might consider some of the items that you could sell instead of donate, however. If you separate your items into three different boxes for donation, sale, or trash, it makes it much easier to continue through the same process room by room. If you aren’t ready to sell right away, pack up your to-be-sold items for storage in the meantime.
Plan Ahead for Moving
Sometimes downsizing to a smaller space or smaller home means less work cleaning, but usually means making decisions about what is needed and what is not as well. Take the time to review your belongings - again, go through one room at a time and think about the things you need to have and will need to be moved for sure. You can use something like colored stickers to note which items can move into a storage unit, which can be moved to the new home, and what can be given away for donation or thrown away. You could also make a list of the belongings you’ll be taking with you to your new space instead of marking them individually, but the more organization you have accomplished before your move, the better.
Prepare for Long-Term Storage
Making your storage unit easy to use and easy to organize can go a long way with keeping things in order long-term. Instead of using old or worn boxes you have on hand, invest in storage containers or utility boxes that are meant for storing items. Usually this means it will make things more easily stackable and will make moving multiples easier - loading boxes on a dolly is much simpler with even sizes. Using supplies like these will ensure you are staying organized once you move the boxes into your storage unit. While swapping things out seasonally or retrieving something from your unit, it will make it easy to remove and transport to your home as well.
Looks Can Be Deceiving
While you may think you can look at your space and determine what will fit where, and how it will all fit in the room, it can be a bit deceiving. Taking and keeping a list of measurements while you are planning to downsize your home or move into a smaller space can help you ensure you aren’t in for any surprises when you are actually moving. The same goes for your storage space - make sure any large items like furniture have passed through the measuring tape at some point to be confident your items will fit in the space you have chosen for storage.
Always Plan Ahead
Instead of saving all these small tasks until the same month or few weeks prior to your downsizing move, take the time necessary and get started much earlier. Chances are you have had this downsize planned or had an idea of the timeframe in which you’ll need to accomplish things, so get things started a couple of months in advance. You can keep yourself very organized by making lists of measurements and must-have items in your new space far in advance. Choose tasks that don’t disturb your everyday life if you haven’t started the packing process yet. Starting a few months ahead of your move will give you some sense of readiness when it comes down to crunch time.
Storage Close to Home
If you are looking for storage units in Las Vegas and you live or are moving near Mountain’s Edge, Storage Durango Blue Diamond is the perfect location to check out. It is much easier to have a storage facility close to home, especially when you are in the process of moving into a new home and downsizing.
Be sure to review the size requirements you desire for your storage unit, and plan to leave a little extra space during your downsize, just in case you feel like you need more space after getting more settled in your new home. Self-storage is the perfect way to secure a little extra space for yourself while you transition or even to help house your seasonal items.
Contact us today to get more information about our storage units for rent.
