pack and organize

So you've packed all of your belongings (or the stuff that won't fit into your new home, at least) into boxes and had them put into a storage unit. With the stress of your move occupying a majority of your mind, you realize your storage unit isn't as organized as you would have liked it to be.

Luckily, you can hire a moving service to organize and repack everything in your storage unit, usually based on an hourly rate, per mover. Before doing this, you may want to check back to our guides on packing, cleaning and organizing your facility, as well as prohibited items in self-storage units.

If hiring someone doesn't work for you financially, here is some advice to help you clean and reorganize your storage unit on your own:

Big items stay on the floor: The space in square feet that is allotted to you in your storage unit will, for the most part, determine how much organizing you can actually do. The idea is to make the most of out the space you're given. If you can build shelves in your unit, it can free up ground space for your larger, heavier items. This, of course, will only be worthwhile if you plan on having your storage unit for quite some time.

Pull everything out: Odds are you probably forgot most of what you have in your unit, depending on how long you've been storing your items. Everything will need to come out first before it is reorganized.

Visualize where everything needs to be: Before you start haphazardly putting your items back in the storage space, do a little mental planning (or draw it out, if it helps). Think of reorganizing as a game of Tetris – what items fit nicely with others? What can be stacked? What larger items should be pushed against the wall? What will you need quick access to?

Enlist a friend or two to help you if need be, since moving large furniture can be too physically demanding for one person, or sometimes even impossible. Once you have a plan as to where you want everything to go, let the reorganization commence!

If you do hire a moving service through movers.com, be sure leave a review of your experience.