Many people choose to store their belongings. Perhaps you are moving and need a place to temporarily house your things, or maybe you need more space in your house and so are putting things you don't use often in the storage unit and a variety of other situations. Regardless of the reason you are storing your things, the important thing is to make sure that you are storing your belongings correctly. Here are some things you should do to make sure everything is safe.

1. Keep Things Off the Ground

If possible, you should keep valuable things off the ground. Most storage units have cement floors. This is great for durability, but it also makes the items more susceptible to moisture and temperature changes. Thus, if you put something like an expensive leather couch on the ground, the leather could easily crack, and the couch won't have any air passing through to keep the leather dry.

Instead, bring in some cinder blocks or crates that you can prop things on. For example, you can prop up your couches, leather furniture, and any boxes that are full of things that could break or be damaged. Something that is plastic and easy to replace can be put in a box on the ground, since it is more durable, but anything that is expensive should be propped up.

2. Keep Things Covered

Another important thing to know is that you need to keep things covered. When things are out in the open, they are more susceptible to deterioration. Thus, you should get lots of sheets and pieces of fabric and loosely drape all of the furniture. You cannot wrap the furniture tightly with plastic. Things like wood and leather need air to pass through; otherwise they could become moldy, become cracked, or have a myriad of other problems. That is why a sheet of fabric works best.

Keeping the items well covered will also protect them from dust. Dust and dirt can eat through the items and permanently discolor them. This is why it is best if you keep items covered, either in a box or with a sheet.

3. Check on Your Things Often

Once your things have been put in the storage unit, you should be taking many opportunities to check on the items often. Things could break and leak, flooding the unit, and things can fall, be vandalized, and so forth. The earlier you catch problems, the better.

These are just a couple things you need to know about storing your items. Look at companies such as A Big A Self Storage to look at storage units.