College Storage: The Basics

College can mean great intellectual and physical freedom, but it isn’t necessarily free of clutter. Dorm rooms and student apartments are notoriously small and cramped, and there are few places to store all your things. College storage is not typically a top priority .... until you can't cram anything else beneath the bed or in the closet and you can no longer walk through the room without dodging stacks and piles of stuff.

There has to be a solution that will declutter your dorm room or apartment as well as give you back your peace of mind. Your freedom from disorder could be as close as a nearby storage facility.

Once you’ve decided to move some of your stuff and bring order to the chaos which is your room, here are a few questions you might want to ask the self storage facility:

• How will you keep my stuff secure?  What kinds of measures do you take (onsite management, video, lights, fences and gates, etc.)?

• What size storage units does the facility have available and what are the prices for those units?

• Can you get a month-to-month lease for the storage unit?  Will you have to pay for all of the last month's rent even if you move out early?

• What type of lock will you need for your storage unit? 

• Can you pay online or by credit card?

• If, for some reason, rent is not paid, what happens?

After you have rented your unit, what should you store in it? Excellent candidates for the storage unit include your old textbooks, clothing for other seasons, and those various boxes of stuff that keep following you whenever you change rooms.  But, there are some things that you should not put into your storage unit. For starters, nothing illegal (it should go without saying, but…). Also, you should avoid storing anything that could catch on fire/explode (also should go without saying) or that could go bad (like food). Check out the list of "Items Prohibited" from storage wihich is on this website for more details.  

If you want to not only store textbooks and other stuff, but actually be able to find it later, here are some tips to make finding stuff easier::

• Label your boxes. Write legibly, include enough information that you can actually tell what is in there.

• Put items that you probably won’t use often at the back of the unit.

• Anything fragile or easily broken should go on top of other items, especially on top of heavy items.  

• Keep stacks of boxes and other items orderly, and give yourself lots of room to walk through and around them .  Make sure to not stack boxes too high near the fire sprinklers or hang things from exposed pipes.

• Think about buying and adding portable shelving units.

Now you have plenty of room and can actually think clearly. Just imagine, now you can get more studying done ... or finally reach the next level on your X-box.   Who knows, maybe now your room will impress the cutie down the hall!

If you realize that you you need a storage unit, but still are not quite sure what exactly to put in it, click on our Storage Tips article "College Students: To Store or Not to Store" for some helpful hints.  You can always give us a call at 949-366-1133 and we would be happy to discuss your storage questions and needs.

San Clemente Self Storage

170 Avenida La Pata, San Clemente, CA  92673

949-366-1133