If your parents requested your assistance with their downsizing efforts, you might be eager to volunteer to help transport their belongings to a personal storage unit. While you may be happy to help, you may also know that setting up an efficient system is the best way to keep your parents safe and allow them to quickly find their items when they are needed. As you get ready to dive in to this family project, use these tips to impress your parents with your organizational skills.
Choose Clear Bins
When possible, choose clear plastic bins that allow your parents to see at a glance exactly what each one contains. Then, encourage them to pack items that go together in the same box. For instance, they may place their holiday decorations in a clear bin along with other items that they may need during that time such as wrapping paper. This helps to maximize space, and it reduces the amount of searching they will need to do when they arrive to retrieve specific items.
Use Strategic Placement
Storage units typically have one main entrance, which means that anything in the back will be harder to access. Try to plan your parents' storage unit layout with enough space in the middle for them to move things from the back to the front. It is also helpful to make sure that the items that they need frequently, such as lawn equipment, are stored near the front while memorabilia is stored toward the back.
Add Shelves
An organized storage unit will not stay that way for long if your parents must shuffle boxes around. Help them avoid injury and frustration by putting shelves in the storage unit that allow one box to be moved at a time. This also helps your parents make use of vertical space so that the unit does not get too full.
Draw a Map
Ideally, your parents should accompany you on the last drop off trip so that you can show them where everything is located. However, it is also helpful to have a map that your parents can use when they visit the unit on their own. This doesn't have to be fancy. Just a pen and paper drawing will do. Once you've drawn the layout, make sure to leave it in a prominent area of the unit so that your parents can easily find it.
The next few weeks will be busy with all of sorting and packing that your family will do. Yet, that doesn't mean that organization has to be forgotten. By implementing just a few simple strategies, you can give your parents an organized storage unit to celebrate their efforts at downsizing. Visit sites like http://www.atozstorage.net to learn more about unit options.
