Anaheim Self Storage Topics

Moving The Business's File Storage Off Site

When my small landscape architecture firm in Anaheim started really taking off about six months ago, I knew it was time to make some major business decisions. I was running my business out of a small office in a strip mall, where I had just enough space to house my office, a receptionist, a room full of files, and a little warehouse out back where I could store some of my equipment and supplies. I didn't have but one part-time employee at the time, but it was looking like I was going to need to hire more employees soon.

The problem was that I didn't have any place to put new employees, especially another designer who would need to work in the office part time. I looked into renting a bigger office facility, but all the options with a warehouse were still way out of my budget. That's when a buddy I'd met at a meeting of a bunch of entrepreneurs suggested I check into getting all those files off site so that I could clear up that entire room for a new employee space.

I wasn't sure if it would work. I mean, didn't I need to have all those files stored where they were accessible? It turns out, though, that it was a great idea!

Anaheim Self Storage Worked for Me!

Just for kicks, I decided to check out different Anaheim Self Storage locations. That's when I came across US Storage Centers Anaheim Self Storage. The location was perfect – right on my way home from work. And they had really reasonable rates. They even offered some deals for long-term storage for businessmen like me. At that point, I was still pinching pennies to make the business grow, so I was excited that they would offer me a good deal on longer term storage!

I didn't need a very large Anaheim Self Storage unit. Just enough space where I could stack some file cabinets in and still have them easily accessible when I needed them – like during tax season! The space the manager set me up with was perfect. I could slide my file cabinets right in and keep them as organized as they had been in my office space. Only now, they weren't taking up my office space, and renting an Anaheim Self Storage unit from US Storage Centers was way cheaper than renting a new office space that was larger!

What I Keep There

At first, I thought I would only get an Anaheim Self Storage unit big enough for a couple of small file cabinets so that I could keep tax paperwork there. As a small business owner, there's so much tax paperwork that I have to keep for years! It's really kind of ridiculous!

It was going to be great to just be able to get two of the file cabinets out of the file room because that would clear up a corner large enough for a desk for someone else to work in. Sure, it wouldn't be a comfortable office, but it would work.

Anaheim - How Self Storage Helped Us Sell Our Home

Trying to sell a home that you're living in when you have an active family is more than a little crazy. When we first had a realtor over to look at our home before taking photos of it and listing it, you could read the shock in her demeanor. Seriously – toys everywhere, clutter on all the shelves, and furniture that had been around the block a time or two. While it would be easy to box up the clutter and the extra toys so the house would stay neater, what were we going to do about that less-than-presentable furniture?

We'd talked time and again of selling the furniture for new pieces, anyway, so we thought about doing that when it was time to stage our home. The problem was that the kids would just tear up any new furniture we bought (we had three under five at the time!), and our current furniture was really sturdy oak furniture that we had hoped to re-cover as soon as the kids were a little older. We decided we didn't want to get rid of the furniture, but the realtor had another suggestion to help us make the house look nicer while trying to sell: hire a stager.

So, we talked to a professional home stager just before we hosted an open house that would hopefully get us a buyer. She suggested that we store our current furniture in this Anaheim Self Storage location called US Storage Centers while she brought in her own furniture to stage our home. We were a little leery about storing furniture in a storage facility, because we were afraid something might happen to it to damage it. But the stager, who was an expert at furniture storage, gave us these tips for our Anaheim Self Storage unit, which made us feel like furniture storage pros:

1. Protect the corners: I guess corners are most likely to chip during moving and storage, and they can harm other pieces of furniture, too. You can get these really nifty cardboard corner protectors for the corners of dressers and framed artwork and such, and that really helps keep things safe during storage.

2. Break things down: I hadn't ever really thought about breaking down furniture and how much room that could save in storage, but the stager said it's one of the best ways to get more into less space when it comes to self storage. So, we broke down our bed and our dining room table, which had both been upgraded with the rented staging furniture for showing our house. That meant we used a lot less storage space than we'd thought we would use.

3. Cover it with cotton: It seems cheap and easy to cover furniture in plastic when you put it in storage, but this is really bad for wooden and cloth furniture, especially. The stager said that we could get cotton drop cloths or sheets instead, and that this would protect our furniture while letting it breathe so mold and mildew wouldn't be a problem.

Getting Our House Ready for a Little One

When we decided to have a baby a little earlier than originally planned, we knew it would take a bit of creativity on our parts. We were so ready to bring a baby into our lives, but our finances hadn't quite caught up with the vision yet. But they say if you wait until you feel financially ready to have a baby, you'll never do it. So true! Luckily, with a bit of creativity and common sense, we were able to get our house ready for our little one without breaking the bank. Here's how it worked for us.

One of the main things we were concerned about with having a baby was simply having room in our two bedroom house. Of course, that second bedroom would be the baby's, but at the time, it was our office and catch-all room. We couldn't afford to get rid of all the stuff in the room, even if we did not really need a designated office space. So, we decided to look around for a place to store all the stuff in the office room so that we could make room for our baby.

That's when we found US Storage Centers Anaheim Self Storage. It had great prices, and they even ran specials that let us save even more on our first few months of storage. The prices of the Anaheim Self Storage units were low enough that we knew we'd be able to afford to budget for a storage unit indefinitely, even after we had a baby. That wasn't the only reason we chose this Anaheim Self Storage location, though.

When we actually went to see the US Storage Centers Anaheim Self Storage location, we immediately found that it was clean and tidy. This made us feel better about leaving our items in storage there. Plus, the units were individually alarmed, and security seemed great. We didn't want to have to worry about break ins, and with this storage location, we got about as much guarantee as you can possibly get that no one was going to be able to mess with our stuff.

Once we rented our Anaheim Self Storage unit, we set about getting our house ready for the little one. Of course, we cleared out that second bedroom first. We found, though, that we had plenty of room left in our mid sized storage unit after that room was cleared out, so we decided to go through the rest of the house to find other things we might like to store. In the process, we cleaned out the garage and a couple of closets that were full of things we wanted to keep but didn't need on a regular basis. It was so nice to feel like the house was more organized and less cluttered as we got ready for our little one's arrival.

We even ended up using the Anaheim Self Storage unit for some of the baby's stuff. For instance, we were lucky enough to find a great car seat on sale. It was the kind that stays in the car and converts into a booster seat that you need after the infant car seat. We decided to go ahead and get it, and we were able to leave it boxed up in storage until our kid would need it in several more months. It was great that the car seat could go in our Anaheim Self Storage unit rather than somewhere in our small home. There just wouldn't have been room! You'd be amazed at the size of a box for something a tiny kid was going to use!

Our experience with our Anaheim Self Storage location by US Storage Centers has been great all around. We've never had problems with water damage or break ins, and we can access our unit pretty much whenever we need to. Since we still occasionally use some of the items that are in storage there, this was really important to us. As we get closer to our baby's arrival, we're also storing more clothes there that my wife finds on sale and buys well ahead of the game. We already have a bunch of toddler sized clothes waiting for the day they'll be used!

Why Use Storage in Anaheim, CA?
There are as many reasons to use a US Storage Centers Anaheim Self Storage facility as there are people in this city in Orange County, California. The population of the city is about 300,000 according to the 2010 US Census, which makes this hopping place the 10^th most populous city in California and the 54^th most populous city in the United States. This unique city has a lot to offer, and lots of reasons that you might choose to use a personal or business storage facility, to boot.

Education

Anaheim has eight public school districts, including Anaheim City School District, Centralia School District, and Orange Unified School District. Many parents of school-aged kids find that Anaheim Self Storage is a great option for storing off-season clothes or even clothes that their kids have yet to grow into yet. Plus, there's all that sports equipment that school-aged kids use during the sports season, but what do you do with it all when the season is over? Take it to an Anaheim Self Storage location, of course!

Anaheim is also home to Anaheim University, one of the first universities in the US to offer completely online graduate degree programs! The university plays host to many students, including international students, each school year, and many of them use storage during the summer when they head home but leave their college supplies behind for the year. In fact, lots of students go in together to rent a larger storage unit and split the cost!

Demographics

According to the 2000 US Census, there are about 96,000 households in Anaheim, about 73,000 of which live inside the city limits. Almost half of the households had children under the age of eighteen living there, and over half of the households were a married couple that lived together. The median family income in Anaheim in 2000 was $49,900 per year. Many of these families use Anaheim Self Storage while moving, as a second garage, or simply to get a few odds and ends out of the house for an indefinite period.

Sports and Fun

Many of the families and individuals in and around Anaheim are athletic people who like to get out and about to have fun. Sports related activities in and around Anaheim include water skiing, hiking, and camping. In fact, many people who use Anaheim Self Storage do so in order to store their sporting equipment in the off season or in between uses. For instance, campers will often store their tents and other camping gear in an Anaheim storage unit between weekend camping trips.

Storing My Camping Gear

Lots of people who live in Anaheim are campers, and I am definitely one of them. I spend lots of time in the campgrounds and trails around the area, and I always love returning to favorite spots year after year. One of the problems, though, with camping is that I'm also an Anaheim University student, and I really don't have room to store my camping gear in my dorm room. Luckily for me, there's a place called US Storage Centers Anaheim Self Storage not far from campus, and it's affordable enough that I can actually pay to store my camping gear there.

My mom is actually the one who first came up with the idea of using a storage center as a place to keep my camping gear. I was having trouble functioning during the school year that first semester without being able to take off for a solo camping trip once in a while because all my gear was at home. She suggested I take my essential gear and store it in a storage unit somewhere near campus. Sure, it would cut into my limited budget somewhat, but it would also let me take off camping when I wanted to, which is totally necessary for my sanity.

So I looked at different self storage locations near campus, and I found US Storage Centers Anaheim Self Storage. The location was great, and I knew it would be easy to get my camping gear on weekends when I wanted to take off on a hike or solo camping trip. With the size of unit I could afford, I would even be able to bring some extra camping gear up so I could take friends on weekend camping trips, too.

The manager of the US Storage Centers Anaheim Self Storage location was great, and he helped me pick the perfect size unit for my needs. Plus, I was able to save even more money on the unit for the first few months of rent. Another thing that I liked about the Anaheim Self Storage center was that I was able to lease my storage unit month to month. Since I didn't have to sign any long term contracts, I was able to just rent the unit during the school year. During the summers, I went home or went on extended camping trips by myself, anyway, so I didn't need a place to store my camping gear during those few months out of the year. I wasn't about to pay for storage I didn't need, so the month to month storage option was perfect for me!

Storage In Between Apartments

Ending up in between apartments is never a great idea, but sometimes it happens. It happened to me last year. My lease was up on my old apartment in May, but the apartment complex I most wanted to move into didn't have any openings until July. What's a guy to do? I couldn't pass up a whole year in a sweet new apartment because of a few weeks of inconvenience. So, I decided to rely on the hospitality of my friends as well as an Anaheim Self Storage location called US Storage Centers to help me get through the transition.

I first came up with the idea of couch surfing and getting an Anaheim Self Storage unit when I was talking with a friend about the being in between apartments possibility. This friend offered me a place on his couch for a couple of weeks if I would pitch in for groceries and utilities at his apartment. The problem, of course, was that I had all that stuff I had to figure out what to do with. My friend had recently rented a unit at the US Storage Centers Anaheim Self Storage location to get a little extra storage space that he just didn't have at home, and he suggested that I do the same while I was between apartments.

I went the next day to talk to the manager of the Anaheim Self Storage location. I was very impressed with the prices, first of all, and the fact that I could get a discounted rate for the first couple of months of rent. Since I wouldn't need the storage very long, this was going to save me some good money! Plus, I could pay ahead of the game so I didn't have to worry too much about making payments while I was living on other people's couches.

Another thing that I liked about the Anaheim Self Storage unit was that it was very secure. Each unit had an individual alarm, which would go off if it wasn't deactivated by the owner's code at the front gate. Besides that, the facility was secure looking simply because it was well lit and well kept. Both of those things made me feel that I was safe leaving pretty much all my worldly possessions in a storage unit at this Anaheim Self Storage location.

I went ahead and signed a month to month lease with the US Storage Centers Anaheim Self Storage location. It was great to be able to sign a lease for a super short term, since I would be moving into my new apartment shortly. I did end up renting the storage unit for three months because I took some time moving stuff into the unit before my apartment lease was up, and I took some time moving stuff into my new apartment when I moved into it.

Moving this time was more leisurely than it usually is. I had a couple of weeks to slowly move boxes and furnishings over to my Anaheim Self Storage unit, rather than the few hours I normally had to move stuff out of my apartment and into a moving truck. I didn't even have to rent a truck. I just loaded up boxes in my car to take them over a few at a time, and I conscripted a friend's pickup truck to be able to move the bigger stuff over in one day.

When You Can't Build a Bigger Garage

Big garages are really an American thing, but who can blame us? We're the ones with the big SUVs, so we need the big garages! The problem is that when you have a big SUV, a bunch of kids with all sorts of toys, and a hobby that requires garage space, you can quickly run out of space in your garage. This is what happened to me. My garage was overtaken by kids' sports equipment, random junk, an SUV, and my hobby of woodworking. I needed a bigger garage, but I couldn't really get one without knocking over the neighbors' privacy fence and invading their property. My neighbors are nice and all, but I doubt if they would go for that.

Instead of getting a bigger garage, I decided to check out Anaheim Self Storage options. Luckily, there was a great US Storage Centers Anaheim Self Storage location close to my home. Instead of getting a bigger garage, I was able to make my garage seem bigger by clearing out space around it and inside of it. All of the things in the garage that we used sometimes but didn't need on a regular basis, I was able to take to the Anaheim Self Storage unit.

One of the great parts about the US Storage Centers Anaheim Self Storage location is that it was close to my home, and it's also very easy to access. Since I was taking a few things to our storage unit that we actually did use once a month or so, I needed to be able to access those things when I needed them. With their extended gate hours, I had the freedom to come and go in my storage unit as I needed to.

I did learn very quickly, though, that I needed to pack my Anaheim Self Storage "spare garage" very carefully. I needed to make sure that the things I needed to access most often were at the front of the unit where they'd be easy to reach, and I pushed all the things I needed once a year or less to the back of the unit. At first, I didn't really follow this principle, and it quickly became annoying to get stuff I needed on a regular basis!

Another thing I learned about packing my Anaheim Self Storage unit was that it was helpful to box things up as much as possible. In my garage, I had shelves and cabinets, so lots of the extra stuff in there was just kind of loose. It seemed easiest to take it to the storage unit that way, too, but this was definitely not the case because it was harder to stack when it was loose. I invested in some higher quality moving boxes, labeled them carefully, and packed them with the various things from my garage that I needed to store. It was much, much easier to keep the storage unit neat and tidy when everything was boxed up.

Storing My Stuff During the Summer at Anaheim University

As a film student at Anaheim University, I spend my summers traveling, shooting films, and doing internships. Sometimes I'll head home for a couple of weeks to say hello to the folks and catch up with high school friends, but more often than not, I'm on the road. That makes it a little difficult to figure out what to do with all the stuff I use during the school year in Anaheim. I mean, I don't have a ton of stuff in my dorm room, but there's enough stuff there that I do have to do something with it during the summers. I've got some personal items, things I use at my desk, bedding, books, shelves, and a few other odds and ends, and during the summer, I've figured out the best option is to put them all in an Anaheim Self Storage location called US Storage Centers.

After my freshman year, I figured I needed to find some place to put all my college stuff while I was out and about, so I decided to check out different self storage locations close to Anaheim University. That's when I found the US Storage Centers Anaheim Self Storage location. It was close to the university, and it was clean and secure. Plus, the prices were great!

As a college student, price was definitely at the top of my list of considerations for the things I needed in a good storage unit. I couldn't afford to pay a fortune for storage, and with Anaheim Self Storage by US Storage Centers, I didn't need to. Plus, I was able to get a month to month lease, so I didn't have to sign any sort of long term contract. I was able to just get the storage unit for the summer months when I needed it, and I could terminate the contract easily after that point.

That first summer, I just rented the absolute smallest storage unit by myself. Even that small Anaheim Self Storage unit was a bit big for the few items I needed to store there, but I wasn't paying that much for the unit, so I wasn't concerned. I just packed everything away during the last week of school, and then I unpacked the unit when I moved back in, so it was really easy and simple.

The next summer, I had friends who were also interested in getting a storage unit near Anaheim University. I saw this as an opportunity to save even more money on storage over the summer! I suggested that my friends and I check out some of the slightly larger units at US Storage Centers Anaheim Self Storage location, and maybe we could split the cost of a larger unit.