You've finally recovered from the backbreaking chore of packing up a bunch of your household items and hauling them off to your a self-storage unit, such as Epic Group Inc. The last thing you want to do is try to dig through a pile of unmarked boxes to find something that you mistakenly packed away, or some item you now need.

When you discover you require something out of one of the boxes, it won't matter whether it's the next day, two weeks later, or six months down the road. If you find you need one thing out of a mystery box, it is going to take time to lug out countless boxes, opening them one by one to try and find whatever it is you want.

Here's a few box labeling tricks that will save you time and help you find exactly the box you need to look through to find any item.

Details

It won't make much sense to spend the extra time labeling the contents of your boxes if later you are unable to decipher what the information you put down means. There are a couple of ways to make note of the contents in your boxes.

Whatever you do, do not scrimp on the details. Write down what is in the box, only using generalizations for things like dishes, linens, or other like items in a box.

Boxes Lettered or Numbered

With this technique you will give each box a number or a letter. Choose a system that best works for your needs, but be sure to take into account how many boxes you have.

When you only have a few, either numbering or lettering is fine, but if you have a lot of boxes to store, numbers, or a combination of letters and numbers, will be best. Whichever numbering system you decide to use, be consistent.

As you pack your boxes, keep a notepad, or sheets of paper handy. It is best to list the contents from the bottom of the box upward as you pack, but just knowing what is in the sealed box can be sufficient.

For boxes with a lot of small miscellaneous items, the bottom up list can help prevent the need to unearth all the contents of the box to find one item. This idea also lets you know where fragile or breakable items are packed inside your boxes, which can help when you stack them in storage.

Use Lists

Your content lists themselves are important. If you use the box letter or numbering system, you will need to be certain to specifically mark each content list accordingly. If you mess this process up you will really have wasted a lot of time.

With you boxes marked clearly and your labels matched, you now must remember not to lose these lists. They are like the combinations to a lock, but when you have a whole bunch of boxes stacked in your storage room, it is like you have a whole bunch of combinations to try and remember. Do not lose your lists, or you will have essentially accomplished nothing.

One trick is to copy your lists. If you copy them in triplicate, you can attach one to the outside of the box, put one inside before you seal the box, (just in case), and then keep a notebook full of all of the content lists for every box, neatly in one folder. With the labeled list on the outside, and/or the inside also, you have a guarantee that you have not wasted your time if you lose any of your content lists.

You can use this labeling technique for boxes and other things in your home as well, it isn't restricted to just stuff you're going to put in storage.

While you might think it will take lots of extra effort, just compare the few minutes it might take to make a content list for your boxes as you pack, and then how long it might take to unearth one box out of your storage room. An orderly list of contents can save you hours in a scavenger hunt- like dig, trying to find the right box to open.

If you can easily what's inside each box stacked in your closet, you won't have to empty all the contents to find one item. Itemizing and labeling your boxes, or storage bins, can make like both at home and in your self-storage unit a whole lot easier.