5 Tips For Moving A Deceased Person’s Belongings To Storage

If you've just lost a relative or friend and now face the task of sorting through their belongings, the idea of going through the person's house or apartment might be more than depressing. One option is to put everything into a storage unit instead of trying to sort through it all while it's still in the person's home. While there are times when leaving things where they are is a good idea, removing everything to storage can be very beneficial if you do it correctly. Here are a few tips to keep in mind to ensure the process goes smoothly.

Unit Size

You may want to consider renting a storage unit that is slightly bigger than you think you'll need. This will make it easier for you to arrange items in such a way that you can still access each part of the storage unit. Cramming everything into a smaller unit may be necessary if you're really strapped for cash, but if you can, go for the bigger unit so that you can have some room when you start doing detail work.

Keeping Rooms Together

Unless you have only a very short time to move everything out, try to box items from the same room together, and place them in the same area of the storage unit. So, you'd have all of the kitchen goods in one area, all of the living room goods in another area, and so on. This will help you find items that you know were kept in certain rooms, even if you don't remember exactly where they were.

Labeling Boxes

Even if you've got everything from the same room in the same pile, label the boxes. You don't want to open up several boxes while searching for a certain item only to find all of the boxes contained basic dish sets, for example. Labeling the boxes will save you time later on.

Mini-Sorting

As you put items into the boxes, do a mini-sorting for obvious things. For example, if you're boxing up the person's books, and you know that there are some books that no one in the family will want, pull those out, ensure there's nothing hidden in the pages, and set those aside for donation, sale, or recycling. Pull aside broken dishes and glasses (you'd be surprised at how many chipped dishes you can find, hiding at the back of a cabinet), and if you find anything that looks like a very valuable item, set that aside too as you may need to sell it or have it appraised for estate value purposes. Ensure that you pull out all old financial papers, too -- many times, these can lurk in boxes stuck at the back of a closet, unknown to anyone who is merely looking in desks and filing cabinets for papers.

Keeping a Regular Schedule

Actually set appointments to go and sort through the items in storage. It is very easy to gradually forget to go to the storage facility, especially as you start sorting the older and less desirable items.

If you want to know more about using a storage unit for holding a deceased person's household belongings, talk to a storage facility like Controlled Storage Systems now. They can help you choose the right size and right features to make your job easier.


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