Recently, our research for blog posts on self storage tips led us to a few great web sites and some great organizational tools for decluttering and storing your stuff efficiently and effectively.  Similar to The Lock Up’s news section, Rubbermaid’s Adventures in Organization Blog has many helpful storage posts under such categories as Media Storage, Moving, Office / Home Office, and Organization Basics. I’m sure many of you have seen the Rubbermaid storage bins with the snap lids. These bins can really help you to organize your belongings—especially with the clear bins which enable a visual of the contents within. Now the question is whether to stack them up or place the bins on shelves. If you are going to be storing your items for a specific time period and won’t be needing anything until you leave The Lock Up storage facility, stacking the bins will suffice. Otherwise, it is nice to have some type of shelving in order to facilitate the search for a specific item. One of the most inexpensive shelving units is the DIY method which can be read about in the One Project Closer Blog post, How to Build Inexpensive Basement Storage Shelves.
Once you have decided on the shelving unit, it is time to think about labeling the bins so that you can quickly find the items you need when unpacking your storage facility. If you are a tech-savvy person, you may have heard about Evernote. This web service helps you remember things by using image-scanning technology that records and indexes all text content within a photo. It also allows you to leave voice memos. So once all your bins are packed up and the labels are on them, all you need to do is whip out your iPhone or any other smart phone device and snap photos of all the bins. If you have an iPhone and you don’t want to type out the items in each bin, the Dragon dictation iPhone app works quite well. Check out the Evernote Noteworthy Blog post, How to Unclutter with Evernote and Rubbermaid in 4 Steps for more info.
Feel free to post some of your favorite time-saving self storage organizational tips.
