7 Tips for Cleaning Out Your Storage Unit

Your storage unit helps you to store items of value and save space in your home. At some point, you might want to declutter or clean out the storage unit for a variety of reasons. The following steps can help you get started on cleaning out or decluttering your storage unit.

Understand the Reason for Cleaning Out

The first step is understanding why you are cleaning your storage unit. The unit may have too many items, and you want to declutter. In other cases, maintaining the storage unit may have become a burden, and you want to clear everything out and hand over the keys so you don’t have to pay the rental charge each month. Another possible reason is that the storage unit is too big, and you want to downsize and move to a smaller unit.

Have the Right Mindset

It can be difficult to let go of items that you have an emotional attachment to, so you should go into cleaning the storage unit with the mindset of getting rid of as many items as possible. This may include memorabilia that remind you of special moments and people in your life. You may be afraid that letting go of these items will rob you of the memories of these people and items. However, remember that people are not their items, and letting go of these items doesn't make the person's impact on your life any less meaningful.

Make a List

The first step is to compile a list of each item in the storage unit. Ideally, you should have made a list when you first moved into the storage unit and updated it whenever you added an item to the unit. If you won the storage unit at auction, the auctioneer may have given you a list of all the items in the storage unit. 

Use the following tips to create a list:

Lighten Your Load

Cleaning out the storage unit by yourself can be time-consuming and tedious. Instead, donate or sell some of the items while cleaning out the storage unit.

Take pictures of the items you want to sell or give away and post them online. People who want the items will come to the storage unit and pick them up. This way, you can earn extra money and reduce the load of cleaning out your storage unit.

You can also donate some of the items in your storage unit to a local donation charity or thrift store. Contact the charity in advance so that they can be ready to pick up the items on the clean-out day, or drop off items throughout the unit cleaning process. If you still want to keep the items for yourself and get them out of the unit, organize for a moving company to come and pick them up.

Keep the Focus Small

You may want to clean the entire unit at once, but this can overwhelm you. The best approach is to divide the unit into smaller sections and clean out each section of the unit at a time. Focusing on a small area helps you to remove items properly and in an organized manner.

Clean the Unit Itself

Once you have removed all the items from the storage unit, thoroughly clean the space. Get rid of all garbage and sweep away all dirt and debris in the unit. You can also hire a cleaning company to tidy up the storage unit.

Upgrade or Downgrade Your Unit

After you’ve cleaned out your unit, you may discover you have fewer items than you started out with or you have more items at home you want to store. You can downgrade to a smaller unit or upgrade to a larger unit to better fit your needs.

Brownsburg Self Storage Locker Inc. provides small to large storage units for various uses. Contact us to book your space in Indiana or for more questions about storage units.