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Traditional vs. Portable Storage

The days when you had only one storage option are long gone. Now, there’s a new kid in town, and its name is portable storage—but what’s the difference between portable storage and a regular unit? Which one’s right for you? Read on to find out!

What’s the Difference?

Say you’re looking to hold some furniture until you move from your house or you need some summer campus storage for a couple of months while you head back home. You go to one of several locations, choose the size of your locker (or garage), and put your stuff inside. When you need your stuff again, you go back and pick it up.

That’s traditional storage. Portable storage is different. Instead of you going all the way to your storage space, it comes to you in the form of a container or unit. It’s dropped off at your door, you fill it up, and, when you’re ready, it’s picked up and either taken off-site to be stored or transferred to a location of your choice.

Which One’s Right for You?

It may seem like a subtle difference, but having your storage come to you can make a world of difference in many ways. To decide whether you need traditional or portable storage, you’ll have to look at a range of factors.

Costs

First up is cost. With portable storage, you’ll usually have to pay a one-time fee for the storage container to be dropped off at your location and picked up afterward. These units usually come in various sizes, but are generally quite large, and having them stored will normally cost you more than traditional storage—as you’re paying for a bigger space.

Convenience

The greatest advantage of portable storage is the convenience. Since the container comes to you, you’ll save both time and your back muscles.

With traditional storage, you have to handle your stuff four times: once when you load it into a car or truck, again when you load it from the vehicle to your locker, and then the same in reverse when it comes time to collect everything.

Portable storage cuts this handling in half since you only need to load and unload the container. Not only that, but you can take your time to load and unload since you can keep the container there on your property for days at a time.

Access

Another thing to consider is access. Some storage sites will only let you deposit and retrieve your possessions during set hours, which can be a pain if you work full-time. Portable storage comes to you when you want it, and then you can access that container at any hour of the day or night, if your container is on your site. The facility access may be a bit limited, but comes at a ground level!

Climate Control

While they do exist, it’s rare for portable storage containers to come climate friendly, as opposed to a traditional secure storage facility. Traditional storage is normally well protected from the elements, dampness, and temperature swings, which is important to consider if you have especially valuable (or fragile) items.

Time Is Money

Although portable storage might seem like it’s a bigger up-front cost, it’s not necessarily cheaper to stick to traditional lockers. Time is money, as they say, and it’s true with storage as well. Consider the cost of renting a truck, buying lunch for helpers, fuel, and your time—all of which are greatly reduced if not eliminated with portable storage.

What if I Move?

One final and important factor to consider is what will happen if you decide to move while your stuff is in storage. If you go interstate and everything’s in traditional storage, for example, you’re going to face a logistical nightmare as you try to get everything you own back to you.

Portable storage solves this problem because your items are already neatly packaged and ready for transport. Most storage companies can just load up your container and ship it to wherever you like in the country, so you don’t have to worry about it.

Finding the Right Solution for You

If you’re still not totally sure what solution is right for you, don’t worry. At Box-n-Go Moving and Storage, we’re the experts on student self-storage. Whether you’re a homeowner or a student needing campus storage, our friendly and professional team can tailor a package that’s affordable, convenient, and effortless. Don’t leave it to the last minute—call us today at (877) 269-6461 to find out how!

How to Avoid Moving and Storage Scams

Moving is no different from anything you do in life: There’s always someone out there trying to take advantage of you. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a big residential move or you’re just a college student looking for summer storage. It’s a confusing and potentially risky market that can cost you a lot of money if you’re not careful. Luckily, we’ve got just the guide to help you avoid any pitfalls.

woman taping storage box — Packing for Storage

What Can Go Wrong

For a task that, at its simplest, is just about moving some of your things from point A to point B, there’s a surprising amount that can go very bad very quickly. Leaving your stuff in the wrong hands can not only mean that you end up paying far more than you should be but also result in:

Missing or damaged items
Items held for “ransom”
Overpriced and improper boxes and packing materials
Poorly protected temporary or campus storage

What You Should Be Watching For

Fortunately, there are a few simple things that you can look out for to keep your most treasured possessions safe. Many scams and dishonest companies operate in the same way, so, once you know how to spot a fake, you’ll save yourself some big headaches every time you move.

In particular, you should check the following:

That the company has a physical address – Also look for a phone number listed on their website which is answered when you call. If anything goes wrong, you need to be able to get in touch with your movers.
That the company is rated well by other users – Thanks to the internet, it’s now easier than ever before to check out genuine reviews of the moving company you’re considering. Many review websites exist—do your research and examine the feedback before you commit.
That they don’t give quotes without looking at your stuff – It’s next to impossible to give a final quote for storage and removals without first examining what needs to be moved. So, if a company can give you a fixed quote over the phone, and you don’t see them before moving day, it’s a little fishy.
That you’re not being asked for big money upfront – While deposits aren’t unusual, large deposits which are close to, or over, the cost of the move are highly suspicious. Almost all companies will charge you only once the move is completed. Insist on this and, if they don’t agree, then choose another company.

man holding storage box shaking hands with woman — Professional Movers at Your Service

How to Find the Professionals

If that seems like a lot to consider when all you want is to move your stuff to student self-storage, don’t worry. There are still many reliable, honest, and professional movers out there who just want the best for you and your belongings—like the experts at Box-n-Go Storage and Moving, your trusted name when it comes to moving and storage units near UCLA.

With no hidden costs and a friendly, straight-forward team, our solutions will save you time, money, and a whole lot of hassle. Don’t just take our word for it—read our reviews and call us today at 877-269-6461 to find out more!

How to Deal with the Stress of Residential Moving

Anyone who’s ever moved from houses or apartments knows well how much stress is involved. On top of it being a time of great change in your life, there’s also the constant worry of having all those things you worked hard to buy go missing or get damaged. Moving doesn’t always have to be a difficult emotional experience. Here’s how you can turn it into a happy and relaxing one.

Developing a Plan

The first—and probably most important—step is to develop a structured and easy-to-follow plan. Doing things haphazardly will lead to confusion and stress, so you’ll need to consider every aspect of your move before you even start.

Timing Is Everything

Faced with a big move, most people will try to get it done as quickly as possible—often on a weekend. This is fine, as long as nothing goes wrong, but why give yourself such a tight and inflexible deadline if you don’t need to?

Really consider how long things will take, and try to allow space for the odd hiccup and some time to unwind. Consider taking a few days off work so you’re not constantly running around.

Where Are You Moving To?

Research the area you’ll be moving to before you start hauling boxes. Find a nice place to break for lunch, find out how many trucks you can fit on your street, even find your closest mall for those things you just can’t bring yourself to unpack yet. Above all, get comfortable in your new neighborhood!

Not only that, but it’s a good idea to visualize where everything will fit in your new place before you start packing those boxes. That way, you can organize better and work out if anything needs to be sold or put in storage before you move, saving you a headache further down the line.

Setting Goals You Can Achieve

If there’s one thing about making a plan that can’t be overstated, it’s that you need to make your steps, and your goals, small and manageable. You want to make every little thing you do a victory that you can celebrate, not just an insignificant step in a monumental undertaking. Make your plan as detailed as possible so you can check it off—and give yourself a high-five—as you go.

Taking Care of Yourself

While moving might seem like it’s all about protecting and moving your things, it’s quite an emotional time for you, too. It’s not uncommon to feel a level of grief when leaving an old home behind—in fact, many people rate a move as a heart-wrenching experience on par with a break-up or the loss of a friend.

Add these feelings to the inherent difficulty of a move, and you’ve got a recipe for some very high emotions. In order to avoid a meltdown, you’ll have to look after yourself just as much as you’re looking after your possessions. Make sure you:

Call on friends for support and a helping hand
Give yourself plenty of breaks to appreciate the little things
Get plenty of sleep
Celebrate both your new place and the memories you left behind
Say hi to your new neighbors
Keep in touch with old friends you might be leaving behind

Engaging the Professionals

It’s likely, at this point, you’ll be considering getting some outside help for your move. After all, it’s a lot for just one person or a couple to manage, and reliable and professional movers can make a world of difference to your stress and sanity.

Box-n-Go can make all the difference to not only the security and speed of your moving process but, ultimately, also your stress levels. We love every little challenge that comes with moving and storing your stuff—contact us now at 877-269-6461 and let us do the hard work for you!

The Art of Furniture Packing

When it comes time to move out of your dorm for the summer, you’ve got some difficult decisions to make. Clothes and books are easy enough, but where exactly are you going to put all your bigger stuff?

Normally, you’d put it into storage near campus until you need it again, but larger items like furniture and electronics can be tricky and time-consuming to pack. Find out how to do it right with these handy tips!

Can You Sell It?

The little hoarder inside us might cry at the thought, but have you considered how much of this furniture you will need in the future? After all, the easiest way to pack something is to not have to pack it at all.

Consider which of your furniture pieces or larger appliances you could part with, and put them up on Facebook or Craigslist. It’ll give you a bit more summer money, too!

Taking It All Apart

For the furniture that you simply couldn’t give away, you’ll have to disassemble anything that you can so it takes up less space in storage. Give yourself a full day to do this, as the more time you spend doing this right, the easier it’ll be to put back together later.

Keep the Pieces Together

The last thing you want when it comes time to put your furniture back together is to discover you’ve got pieces missing. Make sure you collect all the screws, bolts, brackets, and nuts that you’ve just removed, and either put them all in a clearly labeled bag or attach them with tape to the furniture piece they connect.

Label the Parts

Do you have the original assembly instructions for that bed or chest of drawers? Of course not—nobody ever does! That’s why you’ll need to label each part of the furniture clearly— either with a small pencil mark or with a small piece of tape.

Make It Easy to Transport

One of the hardest parts of moving furniture is not so much the size of it, but the endless trips carrying awkward pieces from truck to room. Make it easier on yourself (and whoever’s helping you) by tying or strapping pieces into easy-to-carry bundles—but don’t make them too heavy!

Long-Term Preservation

Just getting your furniture into campus storage is only half the battle. Due to the moisture, transport, and dust, it’s easy for furniture to get damaged even after it’s left your safe hands. In order to save yourself a summer of worry, you’ll need to take active steps to preserve your furniture, including:

Covering wood and fabric furniture with at least one layer of plastic wrap to protect against dust
Wiping any fabric with an antibacterial cleaner and letting it dry before storage to prevent mold or mildew
Polishing any metals and applying protectant for rust and oxidization
Using bubble wrap for any sharp corners and electronics
Storing electronics off the floor to prevent water damage
Separating furniture with old towels or blankets to stop them hitting each other

Keep Your Furniture Safe with the Best Storage Around

Nobody wants to discover that their favorite piece of furniture has been ruined while they were away, which is why the best tip we have for packing your furniture is to put it in safe hands. Box-n-Go Storage and Moving is the expert at student self-storage in the UCLA and USC areas, and its team will make sure your much-loved pieces stay just how you left them.

Check out our summer storage for college students to find out how you can save time, money, and worry, or call us at 877-269-6461. Rates start at just $10 a month, so don’t leave it to the last minute!

Packing Tips for Storage

It’s amazing just how much stuff we accumulate in our lives. When it comes time to move, though, where should you put it all? Whether you’re between houses or between college semesters, the most logical place to stash too much stuff is in a storage unit.

Unfortunately, these storage units don’t organize themselves. To save yourself time, effort, and a big headache, here are some top packing tips for every kind of space.

Choosing the Right Boxes

Gone are the days when you’d have to scour your mom’s basement for a half-dozen leftover boxes. Nowadays, student self-storage companies offer a huge range of different sizes and types, making the hunt easier but the decisions harder.

Size

The great thing about big boxes is the same as the bad thing: They can hold a lot of items. While this makes it easier to pack, it also makes the boxes heavier, harder to move around, and more liable to break. Opt for smaller boxes if you can, which also means that you can further separate your goods into categories.

Type

Cardboard boxes will always be the traditional and most obvious choice, but have you considered thinking … outside the box? Many storage companies and homewares stores sell large, stackable plastic tubs with lids, which have many advantages over cardboard:

Transparent and easier to see what’s inside
Many come with wheels for easier relocation
Removable lids mean you don’t have to bother with tape

Packing for the Future

What many people seem to forget is that there are two sides to campus storage: packing it up and getting it back out again. When you’re packing up your stuff, make your life easier and think about the long term. Think about how you’re going to locate your stuff when you need it again.

Labels

Labeling your boxes is a no-brainer, but you have to remember to be specific. “Toys” is quick to write, but not very useful when you’re looking for your video games. Don’t forget to label multiple sides of the box, so you can quickly check the contents even when it’s stacked in the corner.

Tape

When it comes time to unpack your stuff, you want it to be in the same condition as when you packed it. Having the right type of packing tape is key—you’ll need something that doesn’t peel off over time and which can seal off all those tiny holes from dust and moisture. Leave a roll in your storage unit, too, for when you need to get something out and reseal a box.

Filling the Space

Now that you’ve got everything neatly together, it’s time to put it all away in storage. This might seem like a simple matter of throwing all your boxes in there, but it’s a little more complicated than that. You have to think about:

Access – Are your least-required items at the back of the unit? Do you have space to move between boxes so you can access everything?
Weight Distribution – Are your heavier boxes at the bottom of the stack? Are your fragile items in a safe space where they won’t topple over?
Location – Are you looking for summer storage as a college student? Do you want somewhere close by, so it’s not a major hassle when you move back to campus? Do you need storage units near UCLA?

Choosing a Storage Solution

There’s nothing worse than suddenly realizing you don’t have enough space to store everything, or that you’re paying too much for space you don’t need. Before you start packing, it’s wise to consider exactly what size storage unit you’ll need.

Even better, contact the storage experts at Box-n-Go Storage and Moving, who can customize a storage package to match your needs. Call us at 877-269-6461 to find out more!

Tips on Moving Storage Boxes

This is the question that you’ll likely be asking yourself after you’ve made your plans to move into your new house. While the feeling of finally moving into your new dream house is an extraordinary one, you still have to ensure that you safely transfer your household items from your old house to the new one. For the process, moving storage boxes can help you out. Looking for a way to manage affordable moving? Trusted companies like Box-n-Go are here. Read on to know more about storage for moving.

When you begin the process of moving, one of the leading factors will be to find the most affordable moving option. It is safe to say that if you’re looking for the most affordable moving option then moving storage boxes are the answer.

However, affordable moving storage boxes are only one part of the solution. It is necessary that you look for certain signs and features in order to ensure that you end up with the best storage for moving option at your disposal.

The sizes of moving storage boxes:

There are moving storage boxes that are designed to cater to various needs. Each box is meant to hold some specific items and present the best storage for moving options for distinct purposes.

Small:

The small moving storage boxes are designed to hold stationery items such as books, magazines, DVDs, consoles and any other such items. They’re both small and have the capacity to hold these items safe and intact.

Medium:

The medium moving storage boxes offer an affordable moving solution when you want to transport items such as photo albums, toys, kitchen utensils, and other items that are small but have some weight. The medium sized storage for moving boxes are perfect to keep them safe and easy to handle. The best way, here, is to keep the heavy items at the bottom and the lighter ones on top. The bases of the affordable moving boxes are strong enough to hold them.

Large and wardrobe boxes:

As the name implies, these kinds of storage for moving boxes are specially designed to hold precious and heavier items safe and make the process of moving for storage easier.
For items that are specifically tall and require specific dimensions, wardrobe moving storage boxes work the best.

The prices of storage for moving:

When it comes to moving storage boxes, you’ll find that the prices are quite affordable and do not put a great deal of stress on your wallet.

The prices of affordable moving boxes start usually at around 75 cents for the small boxes, $1.30 for medium, $1.50 for large and $10 for wardrobe boxes. Because the prices are already so affordable, it would be highly advisable that you avoid the brands that offer cheaper boxes.

The reason for that is often these companies lower the quality in order to produce these cheaper boxes. You have to ask yourself whether it really is worth it to risk the safety of your precious household items for a few dollars.

You can get yourself the best quality moving storage boxes at extremely affordable prices without having to spare a second thought regarding their safety.

If you’d like help with moving at your own house and need affordable moving storage boxes or any other moving-related services, get in touch with Box n Go storage at 1-877-2696467.

Box-n-Go Moving and Storage for Affordable Moving

There are many reasons why we decide to move. A career, school or the weather are just a few of a person’s motivations to change. Regardless the motive, when that time comes, the first few questions remain the same. Where, when, how and why? The where and the why are individual desires. However, the when and the how should be the same for everyone. When? As soon as your ready! How? Connect Box-n-Go Moving and Storage for moving storage boxes!

Box-n-Go offers convenient and affordable moving and storage solutions for all your needs. Whether its short-term, long-term, intrastate or a cross-country move; Box-n-Go Moving and Storage has you covered. Our innovative storage for moving facility make the entire process safe, efficient and most of all easier.

Here’s why Box-n-Go Moving and Storage is the only choice:

Safety:

All portable units stay secured in our storage facilities with state of the art security systems.

Convenience:

No need to pack and unpack a truck. We bring our portable units straight to your door.

Affordability:

Box-n-Go offers competitive rates, starting as low as $59 monthly.

Flexibility:

We provide both short and long-term storage options. Once your ready to move in, just give us a call and schedule a drop off date. Box-n-Go Moving and Storage, subsequently, will bring your moving storage boxes to your new home or office!

The safety and convenience of Box-n-Go Moving and Storage Portable Units

Box-n-Go offers durable and secure portable storage units for all your moving needs. Each box is breathable and has sizable options to fit every aspect of your move. From car parts and fitness equipment to fine china or electronic devices, rest assured your items remain safe.

Make moving a breeze

Once your done packing, call us and we come and retrieve your unit. If short or long-term storage is needed fine, however, we also offer immediate drop off is your destination is ready. Need time to get squared away? Again, not a problem, our state of the art storage facilities offer 24-hr security to protect your keepsakes. Finally, when the time comes that your ready to complete the move, give us a call and have your unit delivered anywhere you want it. Additionally, after unpacking, members of our transport team will return to your drop off location and haul away the empty unit. As a result, your portable storage for moving experience got a lot simpler. And your need of affordable moving will get sorted.

Contact-Box-n-Go Moving and Storage today! We provide service to all parts of Los Angeles as well as Orange County and the state, including:

Anaheim
Corona
Hawthorne
Irvine
Long Beach
Los Angeles
Newport Beach
Norco
West Hollywood
Whittier