A reliable mover should have excellent client reviews

According to the U.S.-based Better Business Bureau, which helps consumers determine if businesses are legitimate and good to deal with, the firm receives loads of complaints from homeowners who have been scammed by movers. To help people determine what movers are for real, the BBB and American Moving and Storage Association has a few pointers.

For instance, the organizations say homeowners should research the company thoroughly by reviewing its website and consulting with outside groups. They may also want to get at least three estimates about what the costs will be to move, as the organizations say legitimate movers will fulfill this request in person rather than over the phone or online.

Testimonials are another good indicator a mover is reliable. Jiffy Self Storage has an array of positive reviews from satisfied customers at its website. What’s more, the company has consistently received an A+ rating from the BBB.

Fortunately, a U.S.-based media source recently published some ways people can find more room to house their belongings in the bedroom.

You'll need less self storage if you organize your storage stuff

For instance, the Seattle Times recommends using the space that’s beneath the bed, as a standard king-size mattress takes up 42 square-feet of living space. Thin portable storage containers would fit nicely.

The paper says homeowners should also look to make the area that’s made for storage more efficient – namely, the closet. This can be accomplished by taking everything out and then rearranging the rods in a more space-efficient manner, according to what will be on shelves and what will hang from rods.

Another way to save space, according to the paper, is to remove bedside tables and replace them by installing a headboard equipped with cabinets.

If these space-saving steps don’t make enough of a difference, a storage unit is always available.

This is the season when most people move seasonal car tires into and out of storage.  Toronto car dealers charge as much as $150.00 to store tires for six months. But at Jiffy Self-Storage, we  have the smarter solution for thrifty Toronto consumers looking for a cheap Toronto solution for storing seasonal tires.

Rent a 25 sq ft (5ft x 5ft x 9ft high) unit from Jiffy Toronto to store your winter tires plus other seasonal stuff inside one of our climate controlled storage spaces.  When you store your tires in your garage, your summer tires could be exposed to extremes of cold in winter and in the dead of summer, winter tires could be exposed to extreme heat.

The worst thing a car enthusiast can do is store tires standing up with no support. Tire experts agree that an unsupported tire could develop flat spots. At home, this happens often when storing tires in tight spaces. Often to save space, tires are stored upright with no position change for six months or more. When you store at a self storage facility like Jiffy Self Storage, one of our standard storage lockers is large enough to store tires flat and on top of each other. Since there is no weight on a specific portion of the tire, you do not create a condition for potential flat spots.

Besides storing tires that free up space in you home or garage, many of our Toronto storage clients use their storage space to store seasonal items. In summer, our Toronto storage clients use their Jiffy Self Storage space to not only store their winter tires, but store leisure items like toboggans, roof racks and roof storage, snow skis, snow boards, snow shoes, snow mobile jackets, helmets, snow-blowers and any other winter seasonal stuff in their Jiffy Toronto Storage locker. Sorry, no snow men allowed!

In winter, seasonal things that will take up room in our storage clients garage storage spaces are moved into their Toronto storage locker. Items that for sure would clog up a garage or a balcony do a lot better in a climate controlled storage space. Take the example of an active family that likes to hike, camp, water ski and more. Naturally, they can store their stuff at Jiffy, as well as storing their boat in our gated and fenced in lot as well.

So for just a few bucks a day, a lot of stuff that clutters a home or a garage can be stored at a self storage company like Jiffy Self Storage.

More families are starting to realize that using a home for storage is a very expensive proposition, especially in Toronto GTA where the average home sells for $450,000. Therefore, if a home space being used for storing  is the equivalent of 100 sq ft, that means that the space that is being used is worth $25,000. Why would anyone want to store this stuff in such valuable space?

Start taking back your Toronto storage space and let your family enjoy their new found space to the max. Let Jiffy Self Storage look after your stuff for just about $3.00 per day. That type of logic is making a lot of sense to more Toronto families living in expensive Toronto GTA homes, apartments and condos.

Take the example of a middle class retired couple that rented a Toronto storage locker for more than 15 years. When the children of the deceased couple opened their parents’ storage locker for the first time, they were taken back with items that they found.

What greeted them were two 25 year old IBM XT computers with matching monitors, a Betamax video player and matching Betamax camera, 8 track tape player and a variety of tapes of the era prior to storing; old infant furniture; a Zenith 21 inch color TV, sofa, side tables, coffee table, lamps, books and accessories from the room that they all used to enjoy watching Bonanza and My Little Genie; and a few personal pieces of costume jewelery. In its day, these were all valuable items, worth their weight in gold, but over time, this valuable treasure tarnished and magically morphed itself into Fool’s Gold. This is not an isolated incident but a true story that happens frequently in the business of Toronto self storage.

Can you imagine the look on the siblings’ faces when they saw what Mother and Father had been saving for them? These items were to be their parents’ legacy, or so they were told. Naturally, this nostalgic moment caused a few laughs and some tears, but in the end the only items that could be salvaged were the 8 track player and tapes that were sold to a collector. They received about $150 in total and the rest of the heavy metal went to a scrap dealer and the furniture went out in the trash.

So the moral of the story is that before you decide to save personal items for the next generation, first decide if the cost of the long term storage will be worth the intrinsic value. Rule of thumb: If the value of items stored will be worth less than the cost of 2 year’s storage, sell the items today. Take your loss now; forget about saving for a rainy day. By the way the value of the estate was reduced by $36,000 or the cost of storing over 15 years.

But many persons feel that people should not be influenced with bonuses when they rent storage space from a Toronto self storage company. They feel that storage space should be strictly rented on merit rather than travel points. We also feel the same way about travel miles, but the reason that Jiffy Self Storage offers points to affiliate members of these premium credit cards is not to influence them one way or the other; it is because we want to enhance their storage experience even more and provide them even greater value.

If you check out Self Storage in Toronto, whether you are a collector of Air Miles or Aeroplan Miles, you will find out that Toronto storage company, Jiffy Self Storage, is the only Toronto mini storage company ever to achieve: A perfect record with the Better Business Bureau of zero complaints and consistently achieve a BBB score of A+; a rating by Toronto Life Magazine in their annual yearend Best of the City article as,” Toronto’s best storage;” winning the Consumers’ Choice Award for Business Excellence 14 consecutive years.

So this is not a story about a Toronto storage company tooting their horn. This is about independent arms’ length distinguished organizations reporting results of what the public at large says and knows about Jiffy – and Jiffy Self Storage cannot unduly influence any of these results.   

The moral of this story is if you have something that you value that is worthwhile spending money to store, then you should keep your stuff with a Toronto self storage company that is the only Toronto storage company to have ever achieved all these independent recognitions.

People that have already stored at Jiffy believe in the storage value they received from Jiffy because at the end of their storage term, they found that when they moved their stuff out from Jiffy Storage, it was in the same condition as the first day they moved their stuff in.

If you are not sure or have even the slightest doubt that another storage company can meet these conditions, then the money paid out for short term storage or long term storage could be money thrown out the window. That`s why it is best to go with a self storage company that has the experience, knowledge and an earned reputation to maintain your stuff in the same condition as the first day your stuff will be moved in.

To learn more about travel point programs, click either Air Miles or Aeroplan Miles links now. If you are not a member of either of these programs, you can join them for free and start taking advantage of points offered by Jiffy. Just follow these links for information on either or both programs.

Persons going through separation, divorce, executors managing estates, sudden illnesses, forced downsizings, persons retiring from businesses – all of these are individuals going through unexpected life disruptions and Jiffy Storage can manage all their problems of moving and downsizing - from supplying boxes and in-home moving packers, arranging for trucks and movers to money saving packing tips that go along way for reducing storage costs.

We are more than just another Toronto storage company  –  Jiffy Self Storage has staff with expertise to deal with other peoples’ storage problems so they don’t have to.

Many consultants and professionals – like family law and divorce lawyers; marriage and bearevement counselors; health and geriatric care personnel – count on us to help their clients because we have nearly 25 years experience in storage and other related storage services.

If someone is stressed out due to unplanned change, Toronto storage company, Jiffy Self Storage, can help reduce the trauma. People get honest answers to questions so when we are through answering, persons have “peace-of-mind” that their problems are not insurmountable.  

Jiffy Self Storage is there to help. Period.

5. Reduce storage size by reducing total volume of items stored by filling all voids in appliances, washers and dryers, dressers, cabinets, etc. Often by doing this you should be able to reduce down to the next smallest or second next smaller size.

4. Reduce storage room size by stacking high. A little more exerted effort could reduce your storage unit size up to or more than 20%.

3. Leave items that need immediate or frequent access (like tools, personal hygiene, important  papers) that will be moved out first, in a separate compact storage unit — and items that will be moved later, put in another storage room that will be crammed full to the rafters. This way rent stops on the smaller space when you move these items first and you only pay rent on remaining full unit.

If timing for moving will not be optimal for the single over-sized unit and takes place at the beginning of a month, this could  be especially expensive; firstly rent will have to be paid for the balance of the month and secondly, if the unit will be the larger unit used for the entire storage term, you pay rent on the oversized storage space rather than on a smaller remaining size.

2. Don’t waste money storing electronics, computers and entertainment equipment over a long period of time. Technology is advancing so quickly, that what may seem worth storing today, likely won’t be worth the storage costs paid over 2 or 3 years. We have seen many examples of older persons saving stuff for their kids and grandchildren and when the unit is finally emptied out, not even Salvation Army or Goodwill will send anyone to pick it up, not to mention the storage cost over 10-15 years.

If the storage cost is $100 per month, then over 10 years the cost paid out by the estate of the deceased would have been reduced by $12,000. What about a larger space? You do the math. You’ll see what I mean. We have seen this happen time and time again. Today, who would want a Betamax or VHS video recording device? How about a an IBM XP computer or a cathode ray glass tubeTV set. I can go on and on but I don’t want to bore you. I’m sure that you get the gest.

1. And finally, the most important tip of all: If the cost of storage is going to exceed the value of the stored goods, no matter how sentimental the stuff is – sell it, give it away or just throw it out. You’ll have peace of mind when its gone and you won’t have to worry about paying rent each month — and after having paid out so much money, you’ll still have to pay to dispose of worthless junk.

Right now, mini storage activity at Jiffy Self Storage Toronto is in the midst of the year’s biggest storage rush. If you’re thinking of putting off storage for a while, my advice is not to wait much longer because the correct size that fits your needs best will be gone and you may wind up having to pay more because you’ll have to store either in multiple smaller units or in over-sized larger units.

And once the clamoring crowds looking for storage, finally move their stuff into Jiffy Self Storage, as sure as there will be a waning harvest moon, there will hardly be any movement out of storage over the ensuing cold winter months ahead – not until the warmer weather breaks next spring.

The next big storage season for GTA self storage takes off with the start of Canada’s largest spring Home Show in Toronto. Just like  early spring blooms and awakening sleeping bears, humans also get the urge to be active outside their homes – and just like a precision clock, the Toronto self storage cycle starts again.

Don’t be sorry by putting off doing what you can do today for something that might be done tomorrow.

Why end up with more than burning holes in your pockets?

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Good luck and have the best neighborhood garage sale ever,
Allan Barkin, President
Jiffy Self-Storage
www.JiffyStorage.com