Flying the American flag is acceptable any day of the year, especially on National Holidays like Veteran’s Day and Labor Day. American flags are collected and cherished by many, becoming heirlooms and keepsakes. However, these aging flags need to be carefully stored because the fabric used to make older flags often become fragile over time.
Continue reading “How to Properly Care, Store, Handle, and Retire the American Flag”
Storing baby gear can give you or a loved one a head start when planning for a second baby. Instead of spending many hours and dollars buying more baby clothes, toys, and equipment, you can simply take out the storage boxes and rediscover the items you already treasured. Continue reading “Tips for Storing Baby Gear for Future Children”
At some point our lives, most of us will go through a transition that requires us to rely on short-term storage between homes. Whether Mother Nature has forced you out of your home, you are taking on a temporary work assignment, or you are in the midst of a remodel, experiencing any type of change in your day-to-day lifestyle is stressful.
One of the easiest ways to give yourself the peace of mind you need during a time of transition is by moving your valuable belongings to temporary storage to protect your belongings from theft or damage. Continue reading “The Benefits of Utilizing Short-Term Storage Between Homes”
Family friendly toy storage tips can be invaluable when you’re preparing to move, have a baby, or simply clean the house. Keeping toys tucked away when not in use can relieve stress and prevent your home from becoming a toy disaster zone, especially during transitions.
While you can find plenty of great ideas and inspiring pictures online, in the end, all you might need is a few good principles to follow. Here are some toy storage tips that can make the difference between organization and chaos.
Continue reading “Kid Friendly Toy Storage Tips for Busy Parents”
Whether you are moving to Alabama or have lived here your entire life, there are great things to see and discover in Alabama’s state’s capital of Montgomery.
While Montgomery is recognized worldwide for its historical and cultural significance and landmarks due to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 60s, it continues to be a city of great significance. Continue reading “Moving to Alabama? We Offer Storage Units in Montgomery!”
Big city apartments are usually high on costs and short on space, especially in terms of storage space such as closets and cabinets. The trend towards smaller apartments in New York continues to gain popularity. Prefabricated in Brooklyn, New York, these modular micro-apartments range anywhere from 260 to 360 square feet. It’s no wonder many Brooklynites turn to Sheepshead Bay self storage to make their lives more manageable.
While the idea of living in a minute amount of space may come as a shock to most, for many New Yorkers, a self storage unit often serves as their second home because it provides the extra space people need to make living the apartment life in Brooklyn more enjoyable.
Continue reading “How Sheepshead Bay Self Storage Makes Apartment Living in Brooklyn Easy”
Self Storage can be a safe space for your things while you address your life goals. For some, the opportunity to travel abroad or go on a road trip is irresistible. For others, it all comes down to too many things and a lack of space. Rather than getting rid of your sports gear, bed, or furniture, to name a few examples.
Say you’re a recently graduated college student with an apartment full of furniture and no clue how to move with it, or a newly married couple intent on selling your home and traveling for the next six months. While selling everything might work, it’s difficult and sometimes a significant waste of time and money compared to other options.
Continue reading “Self Storage? It’s Affordable If You Do It Right”
Millions of Americans rely on self storage to cope with clutter even though naysayers tell us self storage is what happens when we consume too much. The reality is that 10% of Americans who rent a storage unit, do so for good reasons.
In some ways, looking for a great self storage unit with a reliable company is like looking for a great apartment with a reliable building manager. The unit will ideally have everything you want at the right price, and you’ll be able to trust the self storage company to take care of any problems that arise, from security to pest control.
Continue reading “How to Choose the Best Self Storage Company”
While Halloween kicks off the winter holiday season, Thanksgiving offers an opportunity for some serious celebrating. Will it be last-minute planning and chaos? Or, will you keep calm and Thanksgiving on? There is no time like the present to get ready to entertain—learn how to organize holiday helpers and keep leftovers safe with our thankful Thanksgiving storage tips.
The holiday rush can make it easier to get distracted and miss out on the special moments. It’s why Metro Self Storage is dedicated to helping you live an organized life every day of the year. Continue reading “Thankful Thanksgiving Storage Tips + Free Printable”
We all love the holidays, but there’s no denying it can be a hectic time of year, especially if your home is cluttered. Before the sleigh bells ring and the snow starts to glisten, use these quick tips to declutter your home before the holidays arrive. Continue reading “10 Tips to Declutter Your Home Before the Holidays”
Clothes on the ground. Papers stacked up on the desk. A lone shoe missing its mate. Does that sound like your bedroom storage? If the answer is yes, then it’s time to get organized.
When most people think of affordable bedroom storage, they think of big ugly boxes, plastic totes, or DIY furniture from big-box stores. Metro Self Storage is here to change your mind and offer an alternative. Here are a few ideas to help you organize your bedroom and do it in style.
Call it a trick from our college days. If you’re living, or have ever lived in a dorm, then you know that when space is tight, you’ve gotta get creative. Bed risers are the perfect budget solution to give you more space and help you get organized. Sold in sets of four, some lifts can raise your bed up to six inches. While that might not sound like much, you’d be surprised at the amount of storage space you actually get with six extra inches. You can purchase bed risers for under $10 from many retailers and big-box stores, including Target, The Container Store, and Bed Bath & Beyond. Continue reading “Bedroom Storage on a Budget”
When it comes to preserving your family traditions and memories, it is important to learn how to prepare family heirlooms for storage so they will be around for future generations. Family heirlooms include expensive objects such as antique furniture or a Cartier necklace. However, anything from furniture and musical instruments to recipes, photos, and diaries could be considered a family heirloom.
The decision to rent a storage unit for your heirloom or declutter it all depends on your family, the types of items under consideration, and whether or not you consider the items in question valuable multi-generational heirlooms.
Boomers and even some Generation Xers often find themselves decluttering and downsizing while Millennials are moving into urban settings that offer smaller dwellings. Who wants to haul around grandpa’s 500-pound antique oak writing desk? It begs the question: Are the days of younger generations wanting to prepare their family heirlooms for storage long gone?
For today’s modern sensibilities, how a piece of furniture functions is just as important as how it looks. The trend to build smaller homes and apartments continues to grow making space-efficient multifunctional furniture a must have—think IKEA bed with spacious pull-out drawers discreetly built into the bed frame.
Nevertheless, there are instances where long-cherished furniture is worth the investment to place into storage for future generations. Even if you are downsizing, you can justify the cost to store items if a child, niece, nephew, or another relative you plan on passing it down to has expressed a sincere interest in taking the item in the near future.
For example, heirloom wood furniture, like a pine antique armoire imported from England, is often irreplaceable. So, if you plan to save a treasured item, be sure to read our post on how to properly prepare your wood furnishings for storage to ensure they are as beautiful coming out of your storage unit as they were going in.
Whether you have priceless African drum, a Guarnerius violin, or various guitars you have collected over a lifetime, all musical instruments and electronics are sensitive to environmental conditions such as hot and cold temperatures, dust, and humidity.
Keep these guidelines in mind to ensure the safety of your valued objects whether you are storing family heirlooms, electronic equipment, or antique instruments:
Instruments made from durable metals—cymbals, French horns, tubas, slide trombones, and other types of brass instruments—are easier to prepare for storage than instruments made from more than type of material. With the proper preparation and storage techniques, there is no reason your instruments shouldn’t last many lifetimes.
While inheriting family heirlooms may be like the lottery for some: almost anything that represents family history and memories can be considered as a valued possession. If you need help storing your objects of value, contact your local Metro Self Storage facility for knowledgeable advice and helpful service.
Sweaters are great for December but do you really need your summer dresses and shirts after summer is over? When the seasons change, so does our wardrobe. Unfortunately, closets are often too small, and even walk-in closets don’t offer enough clothes storage if you are sharing with a roommate or spouse.
The solution? Seasonal clothes storage will instantly give you more closet space. However tempting it may be to store extra clothes in the garage, basement, or attic, these spaces can be detrimental to your clothing. Especially, if it is hot or humid where you live. Where and how you store your clothes determines how long they last.
Seasonal clothes storage will inspire you to declutter your closet and keep it organized. We offer you a few simple steps and the best solutions to keep your clothes fresh and ready-to-wear when the seasons change.
Continue reading “Clothes Storage Solutions to Keep Your Clothes Fresh”
When you use a self-storage facility, you expect that your items will be safe from theft. After all, isn’t safety one of the top reasons for using self storage?
Unfortunately, though, not all self storage facilities are equally safe. Some provide excellent customer service, yet have gaps in their security. Once you’re gone, your items become vulnerable. That’s why it’s important to carefully evaluate the security features of any self-storage facility you’re considering. While friendliness and cleanliness are important, they ultimately won’t protect your property.
But what exactly should you look for? To judge a self-storage facility’s security, you should look at the following 5 features.
The best time to visit a self storage facility is after sunset. Then, you can easily see how much lighting the facility has. There should be plenty of light. A self storage facility shouldn’t be trying to save electricity. Security should be its #1 priority, not reduced light bills.
Sufficient lighting is an easy way to discourage crime, but it’s also important for other security features. For example, video surveillance is only effective if the area is well lit. Before asking about high-tech security, then, first check out the quality of the lighting.
If there’s enough light, start looking for and asking about video surveillance. Are there enough cameras? Are they always on? For how long do they record video?
Recorded 24-hr video surveillance is absolutely necessary. Don’t be satisfied with just ‘video surveillance’. Be curious about it, since you want any potential crimes to be on video. Otherwise, if your stored property does get stolen or vandalized, you won’t be able to identify the criminal or get your property back.
Robert Frost once wrote, “Good fences make good neighbors.” The same could be said of self storage facilities. An excellent fence is an essential security feature every self storage facility should have. The fence should surround the entire perimeter, not just the entrance, and be sturdy and difficult to climb. A chain-link fence won’t be enough to keep criminals away from your valuables.
Let’s say you want to get something out of your self storage unit. How does the self storage facility allow you to access your unit? Is it easy—perhaps too easy?
Accessing your unit should be convenient yet secure. Simple locks are convenient, but not secure enough. Coded keypads are much safer. The main gate to the self storage facility should definitely have a coded keypad, ideally monitored by video surveillance. Then, entering the premises will be difficult for outsiders, yet easy for you.
Getting an excellent lock is an essential part of making sure your storage unit is secure. The self storage facility might have the best security possible, but that shouldn’t stop you from choosing the best lock—a disc lock.
While padlocks are cheaper, they’re not the most secure option. Even an inexperienced thief can pick a padlock or cut it off. Disc locks, on the other hand, were designed especially for storage units. They’re resistant to picks, bolt cutters, and heavy hammers. A thief would have to grind it off, a loud, time-consuming process.
Disc locks are more expensive than padlocks, but that extra investment is worthwhile if you’re storing valuables. They definitely discourage theft, and they’re not hard to find. You should be able to buy one at the self storage facility.
If a storage facility offers these five security features, you can rest assured that your storage unit will be safe. However, keep in mind that security features can’t protect your property from natural disasters, like earthquakes and flooding. For complete peace of mind, take advantage of tenant insurance, which covers accidents and unexpected events.
For more information about security features, contact Metro Self Storage and check out what we offer our clients!
If you are passionate about crafting, you’ve probably experienced first hand how quickly your work space can go from clean to cluttered. Crafting utilizes many different types of objects, which can make craft storage at home a challenge. Add small children or pets to the equation, and you may choose to opt for offsite craft storage.
Continue reading “Craft Storage: How Self Storage Can Help You Create”
There are lots of reasons why people decide to remodel rather than move. If the kids are in a great school, or you love your neighborhood, you might not want to give those things up. While spring and early summer are the best times of the year to put your house on the market, you might decide to undertake a home remodel instead. If you utilize self storage during your home improvement project, you can decrease the chaos of remodeling while increasing the value of your home. Continue reading “Utilize Self Storage During Your Home Improvement Project”
A room that is the heart and soul of a home needs special consideration when it comes to kitchen storage. Successful kitchen design is equal parts work space, storage solutions, and seating areas for family and friends. If you want a storage-packed kitchen that is both functional and beautiful, these tips will help make the most of any kitchen. Continue reading “Kitchen Storage: Tips and Tricks to Make Your Space More Productive”
We asked some of our most experienced storage managers located throughout several states to bring you the top 10 moving tips from Metro Self Storage. With more than 45 years as a leading self storage provider, you can count on Metro for the latest systems and technologies to make your storage experience a great one.
Founded in 1973 by Karl F. Nagel, Metro Self Storage has grown to over 120 storage facilities in 11 states and continues to help people just like you find the perfect storage solution when moving or experiencing another type of life transition. Continue reading “Here are the Top 10 Moving Tips from Metro Self Storage”
Business growth is a great thing. It is a healthy sign that your business is doing well and making money but getting bigger doesn’t come without its challenges. For many businesses, growth and expansion equate to the need for more physical space. Renting a business storage unit can be a cost-effective solution for businesses who want growth to remain profitable.
While storage facilities have not always promoted their units for business storage or commercial storage, there is a growing trend to use this cost-effective option because it provides a clean, secure, and if desired, climate-controlled space, without the stress associated with a complex and expensive commercial lease.
Additionally, a storage facility offers scalability of the units they rent so that growing businesses can increase space requirements at one convenient location instead of shelling out big bucks to move to a new location. On the other hand, if a business is experiencing a contraction, downsizing a storage unit is simple.
In the United Kingdom, self storage facilities like Big Yellow are promoting their storage facilities as business storage solutions for companies ranging from online eBay and Amazon e-tailers and specialty food distributors to corporations who need up to 5,000 square feet of warehousing space. Beyond the traditional storage services, UK storage companies also offer a host of add-on services such as flex offices, virtual receptionists, and forklift drivers.
Here in the US, business storage units range in size from small storage lockers and 5X10 units to much larger spaces depending on the storage facility and its location. Business storage in the US is primarily utilized by entrepreneurs, construction and landscaping contractors, pharmaceutical sales representatives, real estate agents and stagers, professional offices, and retail outlets.
Climate-controlled business storage units are an attractive upgrade from standard units and a necessity for any company who has temperature-sensitive products and inventory like pharmaceutical sales reps.
Drive-up access garage-style units allow landscape contractors the ability to get to their equipment quickly. Commercial vehicle parking spaces are often available to rent at storage facilities but look for ample lighting and 24-hour video surveillance.
Full-service mini storage companies like Metro Self Storage, offer business storage units with heated and cooled spaces, tenant insurance programs, and package acceptance with delivery to your unit. Typical gate access hours are from 6 am to 9 pm but if your storage facility doesn’t advertise 24-hour access, ask the property manager if they grant 24-hour access to businesses upon request.
Besides low-cost space, the biggest advantage business storage can offer you is peace of mind when it comes to security and the bottom line. Modern storage facilities ensure the safety of stored items by providing select security features. These security perks are included in your monthly storage fee.
Additional security features to consider for your business storage solution include individually alarmed units as well as smoke and fire detectors throughout. Renting a business storage unit is also ideal for any business owner who wants to keep work and home life separate and avoid cluttering up their house or garage.
If negotiating a commercial lease and a large capital outlay is not something you are ready to do yet, renting a space at a self storage facility might be the right choice for any growing business. In big cities, commercial space can be downright cost prohibitive.
Startups who are unable or not willing to commit to an expensive commercial lease, and businesses and independent contractors who need more space quickly, will find that outsourcing their business storage needs to a storage facility can be the best flexible and cost-effective solution to meet the demands of a growing business.
