UNITS – Pack it up Pre-nup

Published: April 29, 2019

Ensuring “Happily Ever After” Doesn’t End During the Move-In

(Charleston, SC) – Young couples and newlyweds are preparing to start their lives in a new home this spring— but not before they sign an agreement to declutter with a document that clearly outlines what stuff stays and what stuff goes. This hot new millennial trend is called the “Pack-It-Up Pre-Nup” storage agreement and it’s catching on nationwide.

May is both National Moving Month and prime wedding season, and one local storage company encourages folks to sign these new “Pack-It-Up Pre-Nup” storage agreements because so many couples clash over their beloved belongings. (Can’t you trash those trophies? Bury all those books?) The goal of signing these agreements — whether you’re getting married or just shacking up with a partner or friends — is to prevent fights over stuff and space come move-in time. You’ll have the agreement in writing in case arguments flare up down the road!

Storage Wars! How Bad do Couples Clash Over Their Stuff?

• Recent studies show almost half (48 percent) of couples fight over clutter, never more so than when combining two households into one.
• A 2018 survey reveals one in five people who have remodeled, redecorated, or built a home with their partner or spouse took issue with their partner's decor items in the process.

“Couples, or even friends who start their lives together in shared space should celebrate this joyous event, but we’ve seen the challenge of blending households cause frustration and fights,” says Michael McAlhany, founder and CEO of UNITS® Moving and Portable Storage, a national franchise headquartered in Charleston, SC. “We created the ‘Pack-it-up Pre-Nup’ storage agreement as a fun and helpful way to help couples and friends through the moving and storage process and now the idea is gaining traction nationwide!”

7 Steps to the “Pack-It-Up Pre-Nup” Storage Agreement

Rather than risk a furniture fight, couples agree to take these steps to peacefully plan their move.

I Agree to:

1. Plan Properly – Whether you decide to pack each other’s places together or separately, plan a day to review items that stay and go. Try and make a weekend out of it and reward yourself with some fun food, good music and a date night after you’re done!
2. Move like Marie – Following the Marie Kondo Method, you should organize items by category, not by room. That’s because things such as furniture and decor that don’t work in a living room may fit perfectly in a bedroom or home office. Organize and take inventory of items to help you decide on stuff you really need.
3. Follow the “Rule of Three” – With things in categories, organize into three piles.

Stuff:

• 1) you both agree on for the new pad — put in a pile to move in
• 2) to go — set aside to sell, donate or trash
• 3) to debate — see step 4

4. Breathe and Bargain – Don’t continue to debate each piece, and if you can’t agree, put stuff in storage or negotiate space in your home. Perhaps, each person can have one room in the home they have domain over. Or you can try bargaining: “If I let you have this poster, will you let me have this lamp?” “Can we try something my way for 30 days, then try it your way for the next 30 and see which we like best?”
5. Pack Proficiently in this order:

• 1st – Stuff you disagree on goes first so it will be in the back and won’t come into your new home immediately.
• 2nd – Load non-essential stuff (out-of-season clothes, holiday decor) that you don’t need right away and may want to store.
• 3rd – Pack last, your essential items you need immediately (kitchen items, toiletries, bedding) so they’re the first thing you can grab when unloading.

6. Lose the Limbo – Whether you keep the items in dispute in a spare space in your home or leave them in the storage container to go back to the warehouse, don’t keep them there forever. Decide to revisit the items after a set period between 30 days (a month) to 90 days (a season). By then you need to decide on what really brings you joy or what’s just junk. At the agreed upon date, either welcome the items into your new home or toss them.
7. Sign and Date – Don’t forget to sign so you have an agreement in writing in case someone wants to display those old trophies front and center in your living room!

Sign here: ______________________                       _________________________

Date: ___________

Portable storage companies like UNITS Moving and Portable Storage bring the container to you and set it in a convenient, ground-level location so you can load stuff at your own pace. Once the container is ready to go, the portable storage company moves the container to store it in their climate-controlled warehouse or moves it to your new home, so you can unload it yourself.

To download a copy of the “Pack-It-Up Pre-Nup,” click here.