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You need to keep your tax records for at least five years, and you need to keep receipts of purchased items for as long as their guarantees last. In addition, there are important documents like your home’s lease, your past bills, and odd bits of correspondence. Plus, there are your kids’ first drawings to consider. What does all this mean? It means that you have a lot of paperwork and not enough space to put it – that is, without the help of storage facilities!
Storage facilities allow you to get all of that paperwork out of your house (and out the clutches of moths and mites) while still ensuring that it will be safe and secure. But, how do you make extra sure that your important documents will be safe and sound? We have a few tips for you!
How to Prepare Your Paper Documents for Storage
- Choose the Right Storage Facility
For starters, find a storage facility that takes special measures to ensure the safekeeping of your goods. Look for top-notch fire detectors and security measures so that you can rest easy knowing that your documents are safe.
- Get Fire-proof Boxes for Especially Important Items
Even though some storage facilities are safer than your home in terms of fire protection, you can never be too safe. So, if you have especially important documents, you might consider fire-proof boxes to keep them particularly safe in the event of a blaze.
- Boxes vs Filing Cabinets
You could use filing cabinets to keep your documents organised whilst in storage. But be sure to use a lockable cabinet to be sure that the drawers or doors won’t open in any situation.
If you decide to pack your documents in boxes, be sure that you don’t overfill them. This can cause damage. But, at the same time, don’t leave too much room between the documents and the lid of the box. If there is a gap, fill it with cloths to make sure the documents don’t move around (don’t use newspaper as this may mark your important papers).
- Use Pallets to Prevent Against Moisture
Facilities like ours are sophisticated enough that damp is not an issue. But, to be especially safe, you could place your boxes of documents on pallets, keeping them off the bottom of your storage unit.
- Get Watertight Boxes
It might also help to get some watertight boxes to keep your documents free of moisture. The likelihood of your documents getting wet in our facility is very slim, but a little over-preparation never hurt anyone.
- Label Your Boxes Well
Finally, be sure to label your boxes well. This will mean that if you are ever looking for a specific document, you’ll know exactly where it is. After all, rooting through piles of similar-looking documents is not a great way to spend a day!
Choose the Best Storage Facilities
At Easy Store, our storage warehouse is fully kitted with fire, weather, and theft prevention, meaning that your goods stay safe and dry. Plus, with our system bringing storage right to your front door, you can rest assured that your documents will be easy to access in the future.
For more on our facilities and our services, contact us today!
