Tag: woodbridge storage unit

How To Effectively Downsize and Move Into A Smaller Home

Posted on August 19, 2015 by - Lifestyle, Storage

downsizing

Photo Credit: baslow

Are you considering moving to a smaller place? If you are then taking the time to effectively downsize will ease a lot of the stress about your upcoming move. Over time we tend to accumulate a lot of stuff in our homes. This can make moving quite difficult, especially if we’re moving into a smaller place.

Below you’ll find a process that will help you effectively downsize into a smaller place.

1. Take Stock Of Your Current Items

Before you begin the downsizing process you’ll need to take stock of what items and furniture you currently have in your home. Make sure to check all of your typical storage areas, as well as hidden closets and cabinets.

This part can be very overwhelming as you’ll come face-to-face with items you’ve been storing and holding onto for years. However, keep in mind the stress won’t last long as you’ll be moving into a smaller place very soon.

It can be helpful to sort your new items and group them by category. 

2. Measure All Furniture You’re Keeping

Once you can visually see everything you own it’s time to start sorting the items you’re going to keep, and the items you’re going to give away or sell.

Make sure you measure the dimensions of the items you’re going to keep, so you can be sure they’re going to fit into your new place. Anything that’s too large will have to move into the donation pile.

3. Assess Your New Space

Do you know the dimensions of your new space? If you don’t know the exact dimensions of your new place, or Woodbridge storage unit, you can make an approximation based upon how much space you wish to have.

This will help you pare down your goods to only the essentials. After all, there’s no reason to hold onto items forever if you don’t actually enjoy them, or use them frequently.

4. Donate or Sell Old Items

Now that you have your items sorted, and know which items you’re going to keep you can begin the process of selling or donating your goods.

Common methods of getting rid of old goods include listing them on eBay, or Craigslist. Or hosting a garage sale.

After you’ve attempted to sell all of your items you can take your remaining goods to a thrift store, or consignment shop.

5. Get Organized

Once you’ve successfully unloaded all of the items you no longer want to keep you can then begin the process of organizing your goods for your move.

Box up all of your items and use the necessary packing materials to ensure their safety. It can also be helpful to label everything by room, so you know exactly where to take each box.

By applying the strategy above to your downsizing process you’ll find it will be much less stressful overall.

If you need a self-storage solution throughout the duration of your move we hope you consider Gateway Storage.We love serving our clients and customers across the Alexandria, Woodbridge, Springfield, and Northern Virginia areas.

Tips For Storing Your Business Documents

Posted on March 11, 2015 by - Lifestyle, Storage

organize your business documents

Photo Credit: EvelynGiggles

If you run a small business chances are you’ll need to keep years of tax information and other important documents in some form of storage. Usually, this means you’ll have stacks of boxes and confidential documents clogging up your office.

Instead of having these documents take up precious space in your home or place of work, many business owners have opted for renting a Woodbridge self storage unit. You don’t want these documents to become damaged or end up in the wrong hands, so you’ll need to take extra precaution. 

We’re going to highlight a few of our best tips for taking care of your sensitive business documents. You have enough to worry about as it is, so don’t let having to keep years of printed business documents weight you down.

What Are The Right Documents To Keep?

You probably have a lot of documents to sort through. Knowing the correct documents to store and which ones to get rid of can be very beneficial. You’d hate to hold onto documents for years when they’d be better suited for the trashcan.

Documents to keep permanently include: tax returns, year-end financial summaries, bond and stock certificates, deeds of ownership, health and trust records, birth certificates, and custody and death records.

Documents to keep for a short period of time include: paycheck stubs, utility and phone bills, monthly bank and credit card statements, monthly mortgage statements, brokerage statements, and any cancelled checks or tax deductible expenses.

Documents to trash include: bank deposit slips, credit card receipts, receipts for minor purchases, old magazines and articles, and any documentation and warranties for items you no longer own.

Consider External Factors

Once you have your collection of documents under control it’s time to move on to external factors that could destroy your documents. The downfall about storing paper documents is that it’s easy for them to get damaged. Factors like light, moisture and temperature can make all of your documents virtually unreadable.

When you’re organizing your documents you’ll need to think about which ones you’ll need to access regularly and place these documents towards the front of your unit. Otherwise, you run the risk of damaging or losing certain papers when you have to shuffle them about.

Keep all of your documents dry from the start and invest in proper containers to keep your documents in good condition. This means you’ll want to go beyond simple cardboard boxes, and purchase plastic containers that have snap-on lids. These will help to keep moisture out. It can also be valuable to store your containers on top of wooden pallets to keep them elevated.

Investing in the proper Woodbridge storage unit is very crucial in keeping your business documents safe. When it comes time to keep your goods safe and protected we hope you consider Gateway Storage . We love to serve our customers across the Alexandria, Woodbridge, and Springfield counties, as well as most of Northern Virginia.