7 Back-to-School Storage Tips

The month of August is a time of excitement as parents, students, and teachers prepare for the upcoming school year. Stores are filled with families purchasing clothes, notebooks, pencils, backpacks, and other supplies. As everyone is filled with anticipation over what the new school year will bring, a stressful thought begins brewing: Where will we put all these extra items?

Textbooks, sports equipment, school projects, and more will pile up in classrooms and at home. For teachers and college students, this time can be especially stress-inducing as they begin to prepare for their new adventure. Teachers stockpile supplies, posters, textbooks, furniture, and other items for their students. College students are preparing to pack up all of their belongings and leave home for the first time. Renting a self storage unit with StoreEase is the solution for freeing up extra space during the school year.

Self Storage for Teachers and Students

Both teachers and college students are trying to find places to store the large number of items they have in the tiny amount of space they are given. In most classrooms, there are not many places to store school supplies, textbooks, furniture, and important documents. Teachers are forced to stockpile these things in corners of their classrooms, making everything feel cramped.

For college students, they are sharing a tiny dorm space with a roommate and trying to fit their entire bedroom into half the space that they used to have. Most of the time, a lot of belongings are left behind for parents to deal with. When you find that your classroom or dorm room is becoming too crowded, it is time to rent a self storage unit. Follow these seven tips to help out with back-to-school storage:

1. Begin purging early
2. Get creative with available space
3. Pack away excess school supplies
4. Store classroom and seasonal decorations
5. Make use of climate-controlled storage for textbooks
6. Categorize each bin
7. Get your friends involved to save money

Keep reading for additional information on these tips and how to organize and decide what items should be stored away, as well as how to make the process of packing up a storage unit as easy as possible.

Tip 1: Begin Purging Early

Before you begin the process of packing your items into bins or boxes, you first need to begin throwing away any unnecessary or useless items. If you are moving into a dorm room, throwing out any clothes that you haven’t worn in awhile or getting rid of any decorations or furniture that don’t match your style anymore is a good place to start. You can donate these items to a local shelter or sell them to a thrift store or in a garage sale. You also need to decide what items are traveling with you to college and what can stay behind or be stored away for later.

In your classroom, throwing away projects from last year is a must. You will also want to get approval from your school district to dispose of any outdated material such as worksheets or textbooks. Lastly, check filing cabinets for old documents that need to be shredded to make room for more in the upcoming school year. Purging all your old belongings will make the process of packing up items you do still need and want much easier.
Storage: The Next Step

Tip 2: Get Creative with Available Space

Cleaning out your space can feel like a huge task, but it doesn't have to be! Start with one drawer, one shelf, even one box. Set small goals for yourself by setting a 15 minute timer or cleaning out a few drawers at a time. You will be amazed how much you can accomplish. There are many resources available online, and even professional organizers who can help if you're truly overwhelmed.

This Mental Health Awareness Month, consider the link between your physical environment and your inner world. Focus on progress, not perfection. Decluttering can be a powerful act of self-care. As you make room in your home, you could be making much-needed room in your mind, too.

Tip 3: Pack Away Excess School Supplies

Teachers are especially notorious for stocking up on school supplies right at the beginning of the year. Often, these items are used up within the first few months of school and then you are left scrambling to buy more. By packing excess supplies away in a storage unit, you are able to better ration the items you buy at the beginning of the year to make them last a bit longer, saving you some money. Now, you can just restock from your already existing supply when you find yourself running low in your classroom at the end of the week. At StoreEase, our units are always easy to access.

Tip 4: Storing Seasonal Decorations

Decorations can make any space feel more welcoming and inviting. This is the space you will be in for the rest of the school year, so you should make it feel like your home. However, when you find yourself with an abundance of classroom, dorm, or seasonal decorations, you will want to put some of them in storage.

Decorations and furniture you are saving for when you move out of your dorm room and into an apartment can easily be stored. Classroom posters and other items you are saving to redecorate with in the following school year can be conveniently stored in your self storage unit. If you have decorations for Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or any other holiday, pack them away and store them at StoreEase.

Tip 5: Make Use of Climate Controlled Storage for Textbooks

Other items that can take up a lot of space, especially in the classroom, are textbooks. While these are in use for most of the school year, there are times when teachers choose not to use them as they supplement with other materials. For example, if you are a high school English teacher, you may not need giant textbooks when working on a novel unit. Maybe you just received a new set and you want to keep the old ones just in case.

As a college student, you will also begin accumulating many textbooks as you make your way through your classes. While you will only be required to use them for one semester, you might want to hold on to your textbooks from the past semester to be able to turn back to for reference whenever you need.

When you need to create more space on your shelves or tables, pack away those textbooks and store them in your self storage unit. To protect the pages from wrinkling or becoming warped, rent a climate-controlled self storage unit from StoreEase. These units keep your items stored at a consistent temperature for the entire year. If you live in an area that is prone to intense weather patterns, these units will help protect your textbooks from the elements.

Tip 6: Categorize Each Bin

Once you have decided what items will be going into storage and everything is packed, make sure to create an organizational system to help you find items easily. Whether that is a color-coded list system, labels that are put directly on the bins, or a map of the unit itself, you will be thankful you created something.

One solution could be to buy different colored bins and put certain items with a designated color: clothes in blue bins, school supplies in red, decor in green, and so on. You will also want to put similar items together within your storage unit. This way, you will always be able to find what you need when you need it. Make sure to store lesser-used items toward the back of the unit so you can get to your more frequently used items easier.

Tip 7: Get Your Friends Involved to Save Money

At StoreEase, we understand that money can be tight for college students and teachers. That is why we offer affordable self storage units as well as promotional savings online. However, if you are still uneasy about the price, get a group of friends together to split it. We offer units in a wide variety of sizes that can hold storage items for multiple people. So grab your teacher besties or dorm mates and split the cost of a unit together.

Rent a Self Storage Unit from Your Local StoreEase Today

 Whether you are moving away from home for the first time or you are preparing your classroom for the new school year, we can offer a self storage unit that fits your needs. We have storage units across the United States that can fit a variety of items including small boxes of decorations, piles of textbooks, and large pieces of furniture. Find your local StoreEase, and rent or reserve a self storage unit for your classroom or back-to-school needs today!