Placing your temporarily unused possessions in a storage unit is a great idea, but it can become a big frustration if you do not know how to find anything when you need it. Most items are stored for a month or longer and very few people can recall exactly what was placed in each of the boxes when their possessions were packed up to be placed in storage. Of course, this problem becomes even more complicated if there is more than one person packing things into the boxes or if someone besides the person that packed the boxes is sent to retrieve something from the storage facility.To make locating an item or future unpacking even simpler, you should be sure to try to keep the contents of each box somewhat similar so that you can write a simple label, such as "Kitchen Supplies", on several surfaces on the outside of each box. You will want to write the simple label on several surfaces of the cardboard box so that it is easier to read without the need to move all of the boxes around to see the labels.
Some people suggest making an individual inventory list that is placed in each cardboard box right before it is sealed as well as a master inventory list that contains the labels and contents for every one of the boxes that is goes into the storage unit. The master list should be kept in a safe place, such as a file cabinet, with other the important papers in your residence. It allows you to know what items you have in storage without actually going there to look. In addition, it can come in handy if you choose to send someone else to the storage facility to retrieve something for you. You can tell them exactly what box they should open to find the item that you want.
