Embracing a well-thought-out approach to moving can transform the entire experience into a smooth and stress-free endeavor. Whether you’re relocating all your possessions to a new home or stowing away some items in a self storage unit, these expert packing and self storage tips are designed to streamline your moving day.

Packing Hacks

1. Organize Your Packing Supplies

Collect an ample supply of boxes, tape (in diverse colors), markers, labels, and protective packing materials (e.g., foam shipping noodles, bubble wrap, packing paper, or towels).

2. Uniform Box Sizes

Opt for uniformly sized boxes to facilitate easy stacking. Ensure the boxes are sturdy enough to support 25-30 pounds without overpacking.

3. Label and Number Strategically

List box contents on all sides, number each box, and seal with tape. Create a detailed inventory for quick reference.

4. Color Code by Room

Assign a specific color to each room and apply corresponding color codes to the boxes. Label room doors with matching colored stickers for easy identification.

5. Priority Items in Clear Bins

Pack essential items in clear plastic bins for easy access after the move. This may include paper towels, trash bags, box cutter, cleaning supplies, tools, kitchen utensils, cookware, power bars, and toilet paper.

6. “Open Me First” Boxes

Seal boxes that require immediate attention with red duct tape.

7. Wrap and Stack Delicately

Wrap dishes and glasses in paper and pack them in sturdy boxes. Stack fragile items on top.

8. Utilize Stretch Wrap

Group items together with stretch wrap and protect furniture from scratches. Keep a roll handy during the move.

9. Drawer Efficiency

Keep dresser drawers intact by covering them with stretch wrap. Remove drawers during the move and reinstall them later.

10. Strategic Storage

Stack heavier boxes at the bottom and lighter ones on top.

Self-Storage Tips

If you plan to utilize a self storage unit, consider these tips:

1. Optimal Unit Size

Rent the smallest storage unit that meets your needs, maximizing space usage.

2. Preparation is Key

Protect your belongings by covering the storage unit floor with a protective layer.

3. Guard Against Dampness

Elevate storage items on 2×4 boards or pallets to prevent contact with damp concrete floors.

4. Strategic Placement

Plan the layout of your storage space, keeping frequently accessed items near the front and leaving an aisle for easy navigation.

Self storage units can vary in cost due to a number of factors. These can include size, features and location. Location is also a primary reason for variations in cost. A storage unit in areas such as Burnaby will cost more than a storage unit in Mission, and self storage in a downtown area will be more than that on the outskirts.

Features such as temperature-control, indoor facilities, drive-up units, and hours of access will all affect pricing. Here are a five things to keep in mind when calculating the cost of a unit beyond location:

Storage Unit Size

Storage units typically range from 5’ x 5’ to 10’ x 30’.

• Smaller units are great for storing boxes, files, and holding the contents of a bachelor-sized apartment,
• Medium sized units are large enough to store the contents of a one or two bedroom apartment. They are also great for storing extra office furniture
• Larger units can store  the belongings of multi-bedroom homes. You can find a storage calculator at applestorage.com or contact any location to find what size unit would work best for you.

Generally speaking, the larger the unit the higher the price.

Temperature-Controlled Storage Units

Controlled storage units cost more than a non-heated storage. If temperature changes could affect the items you’re storing, paying extra for a temperature-controlled storage unit makes sense to protect those items. We recommend a temperature-controlled storage unit if you are storing:

• Electronics
• Glass items
• Valuable furniture or artwork
• Certain documents
• Medical Supplies

Drive-up and Indoor Storage Units

Drive up units are great for quick and easy access. They are on the ground floor and have a roll-up door so you can drive up and easily move items in and out of your vehicle. Drive up storage units are like a garage, great for small vehicles, sports equipment, and seasonal items. In contrast, indoor units can be temperature controlled so they are suited for antiques, electronics and other valuable items. Since the storage units are enclosed, they are also more resistant to pests, dust, humidity, and large temperature fluctuations.

Length of Stay

Most storage units are rented on a short term basis. However, if you know you’re going to need storage for the long term, special rates can be offered. Please feel free to contact us for details!

Miscellaneous Items and Insurance

Don’t forget to take into account costs that may come from extras that you need or insurance. Tenant’s insurance is important to protect belongings from unforeseen circumstances. There are different cost tiers depending on how much you want to insure your unit for. Also, there’s a small admin fee for renting a storage unit.

There are a million things on a new parent’s mind when the time finally comes to bring their baby home. As organized as you may think you were before the big day, there are so many unexpected challenges and changes that come up once you get into a routine at home. For example, maybe keeping your home clean and organized while caring for a newborn is more challenging than you had expected. Moreover, folding and organizing clothes may take up a longer time than anticipated. To help you keep your home organized, here are four tips you can use.

Keep daily used items close to the changing table

In the first few weeks, your baby grows so much. You may feel like they are constantly growing out of their clothes and onto the next size up. If your changing table is on your dresser, or close to it, keep those current sizes in the top drawer. If you change your baby in another room like the living room or your bedroom, keep a basket close by with all their current clothing and accessories for easy access. This way you won’t struggle to search for something that fits.

Use size organizers in the closet

Adding size labels to your closet is super helpful when organizing your baby’s clothing, especially after your baby shower, when you are overwhelmed with the amount of clothing your little one received. Additionally, hanging items are easier to see and grab rather than folded ones.

Most baby clothes already come on plastic hangers that are marked with their sizes, so all you need to do is hang them right up in the closet with the corresponding size organizer. Unfortunately, a lot of those cute clothes you got as gifts will end up unworn, with the tags still attached, if the size or season was wrong. Organizing clothing this way allows you to pinpoint which items they didn’t end up wearing so that you can make some returns if necessary. A trick for easy returns is to keep all of the gift receipts in the pockets or attached to the hanger.

These little plastic discs may not seem like much but can make a huge difference. They are inexpensive, fit most standard closet racks and can be found on most shopping websites.

Organize by item type

Keep socks with socks. Dedicate a section of the baby’s dresser to short-sleeve clothing and another to long-sleeve clothing. This way, If it’s a warm day, you’ll know exactly where to grab something with short sleeves; if it’s chilly out, you’ll easily be able to reach for the long-sleeve onesies. With a child that needs your attention, every second counts.

Keep a hamper close to your changing table

With a hamper within range, you can take the dirty clothes off the baby and toss them directly into it easily. As a new parent, your hands are always full – literally. You’ll realize it’s amazing what  you can accomplish with one hand while the other holds the baby. Keeping everything you need close by makes navigating through the day that much easier.

Use a storage unit

To keep your home organized and clean, you can first declutter and remove all the unnecessary items from your home and move them into a storage unit. You can rent a storage unit for the long-term and access items in the storage unit whenever you need them.

If you have a lot of stuff that needs to be stored, you can choose a storage unit size that’s a bit bigger, such as a 5×10 storage unit. If you only have a few items to store, go with a closet-sized storage unit, such as a 5×5 storage unit.
At U-Lock Mini Storage, we have storage facilities across Greater Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Our facilities include self storage Victoria, self storage Parksville, self storage Nanaimo, self storage Burnaby, self storage White Rock and Surrey, and self storage Chilliwack. Contact us if you have any questions!

Is your clothes closet as clean, organized and streamlined as you’d like it to be? Do you find yourself repeatedly wearing only two or three items from your overstuffed closet? If you are like most people, your closet contains things that no longer fit or items you no longer like to wear. When your closet is disorganized it makes finding what you actually like to wear a frustrating task. As seasons change, it’s a great time to learn how to clean a closet and organize your storage space from top to bottom!

So set aside a long afternoon, grab the following supplies, put on your tunes and let’s get started!

1. Take out everything from your closet first

It might seem like a drastic measure, but the best way to do the job right and be happy with the end result is to actually remove everything from the closet. If it’s been a while since you’ve cleaned your closet, you’ll want to wear a dust mask to avoid headaches or allergies. It’s amazing how much dust accumulates in a closet!

2. Donate your clothes

Don’t second guess yourself – remove everything you haven’t worn in the past year and take it to the car to be dropped off the next day at your favorite charity. While there is a possibility you’ll give away something you wish you had down the road, in the long run it will have been worth it. Cleaning out a closet will make future decisions much easier. Chaotic closets end up costing us money! Being more organized will help you know what you actually need to buy going forward and you’ll make less clothing mistakes.

3. Rent a storage unit

If you have some outfits that you LOVE but only wear seldomly for special occasions, you can rent a self storage for either short-term or long-term to store these outfits. There are a variety of storage unit sizes for a person to choose from. If you’re looking to store a couple of clothing items, you can go with a 5×5 storage unit which is approximately the size of a walk-in closet.

At U-Lock Mini Storage, we offer storage units across Greater Vancouver and Greater Vancouver Island. We offer self storage Burnaby, self storage South Surrey and White Rock, self storage Chilliwack, self storage Nanaimo, self storage Parksville, and self storage Victoria. Book a storage unit today! Contact us if you have any questions.

4. Hang up the clothes you actually wear

Only hang up clothes you wear so that your closet is occupied with outfits that you actually wear. Doing this helps you deter hoarding outfits that you rarely wear and making a huge mess in your closet! If you have some outfits that you’re on the fence about whether you’ll wear them on the regular, we’d recommend storing these items in a storage unit to avoid clustering your closet with outfits that you seldomly wear.

Living in a studio apartment can be challenging since the bedroom and living room are combined. Depending on the space’s size, you have to find ways to live in a studio apartment effectively. We have come up with some valuable studio apartment living tips that will help you re-imagine small spaces.

Here are three tips and tricks for living in a studio apartment.

1. Rent a storage unit

Since a studio apartment is minimal in space, it’s ideal to keep as few items in the apartment as possible. To do so, we recommend renting a storage unit. By renting a storage unit, you can store items that you seldom use or use them seasonally such as snowboarding equipment or camping gear and access these items whenever you need them.

At U-Lock Mini Storage, we offer storage units across Greater Vancouver and Greater Vancouver Island. We offer self storage Burnaby, self storage South Surrey and White Rock, self storage Chilliwack, self storage Nanaimo, self storage Parksville, and self storage Victoria. Book a storage unit today! Contact us if you have any questions.

2. Buy multi-purpose furniture according to your lifestyle

Create a space where you can hang out with friends, watch TV, and work on your laptop. To do this, think multipurpose. Instead of buying a desk, a TV stand, and a bookshelf, install wall shelving that you can use for all three. Instead of buying a huge, bulky couch, get a couple of smaller armchairs. But before you buy anything, think of how you’re going to live in space.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Do I need to work in this space? If so, how can I fit in a desk or use another area (like a dining table) to serve this purpose?
• Realistically, how many people will I have over for get-togethers? Make sure you have space for everyone to sit. If you only have one or two people over, a larger scale two-seater sofa should suffice. If you have more, think about a smaller couch in addition to floor poufs and accent chairs.
• Am I making the space do too much? Is there some functionality you could give up to make your apartment seem more streamlined? Perhaps you don’t need to have a gym studio in the corner. Maybe you can do your work at a coffee shop instead of in the apartment. Sometimes, a compromise can help your home base feel more serene.

3. Declutter kitchen utensils and clean your kitchen often

In a studio apartment, your kitchen is probably going to be one of two things: a strip of cabinets against one wall of the living room, or a room so small there’s hardly enough space to open the refrigerator door all the way. How can you make it work? Consider doing the following.

• Only buy essential kitchen utensils.

Remember that you don’t really need a tofu press, and twelve different knives aren’t necessary. Don’t let your cabinets fill up with boxes of pasta and cans of vegetables that you’re never going to use.

• Clean your kitchen routinely

Whatever you do, do not let kitchen messes build up. Wash the dishes as you use them, throw out expired food right away and wipe down all your surfaces after cooking.

Drawers are a fantastic way to compartmentalize one’s belongings. But, it can also get real messy, real fast… Especially if you clean with the “out of sight, out of mind” approach. From office desk drawers to “junk” drawers, let us teach you how to reverse the entropy in those pesky little compartments in 4 easy steps. 

1: Emptying and Dusting the Drawers

Emptying out the drawer is a great idea to understand what exactly has been packing inside. Although you can still attempt to organize the drawer with all your belongings inside, it won’t be as effective to declutter for step 2, and be especially difficult for cleaning the dust out of the drawer itself.

Next, use a handheld vacuum or hose attachment to remove the dust that has accumulated inside. After all the dust has been removed, you can move onto using a cleaning spray on the drawer and subsequently wiping it clean with a microfiber cloth. If you spot any stubborn stains, baking soda and a wet brush works as a gentle exfoliant.

2: Sorting & Decluttering

Now, turn your attention to your pile of belongings you’ve removed from the drawer and categorize the items on utility. This is a great way to determine if you should actually keep the items. As you’re doing this, keep an eye out for items that are damaged and sort those into items that you would fix, recycle, or throw away. 

Although it can be tough to say goodbye to your possessions, here are 4 helpful questions to help you decide if you should keep your possessions. 

1. Have you used the item within the last six months? 
2. Do you foresee yourself using this item in the near future? Some seasonal items are exceptions to rule 1, as they can be cycled between storage and drawers as necessary. 
3. Would you purchase this item again? If not, and you’ve said no to rules 1 and 2, it’s time to let it go.
4. Would you keep the item if you were movin? If not, it’s time to say goodbye. 

Finally, consider the size of your drawer. If it’s a small drawer, don’t expect to keep more items than what you are able to fit within it. As for the no-pile, they can be sold at a garage sale or donated to a local charity shop. 

3: Designating space for the organized items

Similar to the previous tip, it is important to organize the drawers to make sure you have enough space for everything you’re choosing to keep, and that you’re able to categorize these items efficiently. 

For example, if you have a drawer full of power tools, screws, and mail, consider removing the mail into another safe place in your office drawer. Similarly, instead of folding hoodings and placing it into a dresser, the most efficient use of space would be hanging it up. The bottom line is that you’re keeping only the essentials in your home, and you’re doing so in a way that maximizes the space you have. 

4: Getting creative in categorizing your belongings

You’re all set in organizing your drawers and deciding what to keep. For items that are small and may require further sorting, the next step may be to think about getting dividers to keep things neat. Drawer liners are a great choice in dividing the space into usable sections, and they are also great in helping to minimize dust. A liner without holes is great for preventing any dust accumulation on the drawer underneath, and it is also easier to clean than going back to step 1. 

However, if you are on a tight budget, shoe boxes and cereal boxes are great make-shift containers for organizing dresser drawers. The bottom of cereal boxes are great too for storing silverware and utensils. Egg cartons and ice-cube trays are also a good method for storing smaller items, such as jewelry, on a budget.

And finally…

There you have it! Four steps to cleaning and organizing your drawer. However, if you’re someone who has gone through these four steps and still aren’t able to part with their belongings, it may be time to look into a self-storage unit to tidy your belongings. And conveniently – these 4 steps are great for organizing your drawers in the storage unit too!

At U-Lock Mini Storage, we have storage facilities across Greater Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Our facilities include self storage Victoria, self storage Parksville, self storage Nanaimo, self storage Burnaby, self storage White Rock and Surrey, and self storage Chilliwack. Contact us if you have any questions!

Life is unpredictable and you never know when you might need  a long term storage. Maybe you’re relocating for a new job and need to put your items away, or maybe you are a store owner who needs a place to store the seasonal merchandise (afterall, there isn’t much demand for skiing equipment in the summer months). Or, some people prefer to store large items such as cars, boats, and RV’s in a long term storage because it takes up a lot of space in their home. 

Regardless of the reason for why you need a long term storage, it can be dizzying to choose from so many options of long term storage, but not all of the choices will suit your needs. Read on to find out 6 important factors you should consider to make sure you chose the best long term storage unit for your needs! 

1.The location of the facility & its accessibility

The distance of the long term storage should be carefully considered because it determines how accessible your trips will be. Unlike short-term storage, you can expect to travel back and forth a lot to retrieve your items in long term storage. How important is it to have a storage close to you? Are you willing to go for a more distant, but storage plan that is of better value? These are important questions to answer so you make the best choice for both your gas and storage budget. At U-Lock Mini Storage, we have storage facilities across Greater Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Our facilities include self storage Victoria, self storage Parksville, self storage Nanaimo, self storage Burnaby, self storage White Rock and Surrey, and self storage Chilliwack.

2.The Hours of operation & your personal schedule

Factoring in the facility’s hour of operation allows you to determine if you can access the storage unit at a time that is convenient for you. For example, if you are someone who works long hours during the day and the storage unit follows a strict 9 to 5 work day, it will make it very difficult for you to find the time to retrieve your belongings without sacrificing work hours. Ideally, we would recommend a storage unit that offers access on weekends or past work hours. 

3. The Finances & The “Fine-Print”

There is often flexibility in paying by the month or by the week, and sometimes there may even be “freebie” storage months if you are a long term client. On the other hand, if you’re not sure how long you’d want to keep your items in storage, make sure to find out if you’re able to terminate the contract anytime without penalty. It is always in your best interest to pay attention to these details so you are storing your items on your terms, and not the other way around.

3. The Safety & Security of the Unit

While all storage units offer some level of protection, not all security measures were made equal and you should consider what levels of protection you are comfortable with for your belongings. The security can range from a simple lock on the unit, to ones that include additional 24-hour digital surveillance in a brightly lit environment. It is never a bad idea to double check with the security measures before signing a contract with your chosen facility.

4. Insurance Options for the Storage Unit 

If you have insured your items through a third-party insurance policy, you may need to check if those items are still protected when they are placed in a storage unit. If not, you may need to opt for a storage facility that offers additional insurance policies to protect your belongings. These policies usually cover losses such as water damages, theft, and will properly compensate you if the unfortunate events do happen. Plus, it can offer your great peace of mind to know that your items have an additional layer of protection in the storage unit.

5. Past Reviews and Ratings 

Last but not least, past review ratings paint an honest picture of what you can expect when you trust the long term storage with your belongings. Even if you are signing with an established storage facility, it is still important to double check with your specific location. 

Websites like Yelp or Facebook can give you an idea of the storage unit’s services from the customer’s point of view, or even asking for friends’ and neighbours’ recommendations are a good way to gauge whether or not you should go with a certain storage unit.

And there you have it – 6 important things to consider when choosing a long term storage unit. You are now all set to find an option that works the best for you!