Moving house is often considered one of the more stressful experiences to go through as a family, even if it’s usually part of a positive change in your life. While you might be excited to live somewhere new and better able to accommodate your needs and your family, getting to that stage isn’t easy.
This is especially true if you have added complications like small children and pets, or if you’re moving across a long distance.
Thankfully, there are steps you can take to simplify the moving process and dial down that stress. One of the most effective ways to do this is to take advantage of self-storage.
What is Self-Storage?
Self-storage is pretty much what it says on the tin. If you can’t store items or furniture at home, it allows you to hire a safe and secure place to store what you need. Self-storage containers keep your things clean, dry, and locked away so you can keep them out of sight and mind until you need them.
You can use self-storage for a lot of reasons and can keep your items there for as short or long a time as you need to. But one of the most common reasons to use self-storage, and the reason that will be explored in this post, is to help you move house.
Long-Distance or International Moves
If you’re moving across the country or, even more tricky, to another country entirely, you need to take advantage of every way to make the move easier. You have so many things to navigate and timing really matters so you can be sure that you and your items are where they need to be, when they need to be.
There’s a lot that can go wrong, which is why self-storage is such a handy tool to be able to use.
Self-storage allows you to be more organised and it can shorten the journey to an extent. You can store your belongings in advance, ideally somewhere close to where you will eventually move. This means that, rather than having to transport all of your worldly goods all that way, you can just take them from the storage location to your new home.
Moves Involving Temporary Accommodation
Ideally, when you move house, you’re able to move smoothly from your old place to the new property. But we don’t live in an ideal world, which means sometimes you might have to wait in a kind of residential limbo before you can settle in.
This might happen when you sell your house before actually buying the new house or if the sale has been delayed for some reason. Or perhaps you are able to buy the house, but it needs major work done before you want to move in. These are just a couple of reasons why you might end up in temporary accommodation, but they still leave you in the same boat.
Temporary accommodation might mean living with someone else for a while. Or it might mean a short-term rental property or even a hotel before you can move your belongings into your new home. But this obviously leaves you in the position where you have all this stuff and nowhere to put it.
Even moving it into a short-term rental property might not be ideal, because you may be in a place that’s too small for all of your furniture. Besides, nobody wants to completely unpack their lives just for a few weeks or months.
A better solution would be to store your belongings in self-storage until you are finally able to move in. This takes away some of that added stress and makes the actual move far simpler.
Packing in Advance
One of the best ways to simplify your move is to get as much done in advance as possible. This way, you don’t spend the day frantically packing and then moving everything. Instead, you can smoothly move all your pre-packed possessions and hopefully get it all done in one day.
The only real issue with packing in advance is that you’re stuck with all these boxes cluttering up your home. This is where self-storage can help you. Pack your non-essential items and furniture, labelling boxes as you go, and store them somewhere safe for a week or so.
Obviously, some things will need to be packed the day before or the morning of your move, but other than a few clothes, some furniture, and some other essentials, everything else can be packed and stored in advance.
Staging a Show Home
Another good reason to use self-storage is during the selling process of your home. People prefer an emptier home when they’re deciding whether or not to buy it. Even while you’re still living at home, you can clear out some essential clutter and make your property look more welcoming to potential buyers.
This is also a great opportunity to clear out your property before you move and get rid of any junk. Any items you don’t need but still want in your new home can be safely stored.
Convenience and Timing
One of the best things about self-storage is that it’s as flexible as you need it to be, so you can plan your timeline perfectly. You can store your items all at once or over time and access the storage as and when you need to.
From there, you can empty the storage container when you make the move, allowing you to settle in at a pace that suits your needs.
Peace of Mind
One issue with storing your belongings in a friend or family member’s garage, as well as imposing on someone else, is that you don’t know how safe your stuff is. It could get stolen or damaged, leaving you with a nasty surprise when you unpack.
But if you use a trusted self-storage system, you know that your things are safe. You can pick a suitably sized storage unit and you can inspect your belongings when you need to. It’s just one less layer of stress for the moving process.
Contact Contain it today to secure your storage unit!