Safely Storing Your Items

When you’re in a transitional circumstance, such as moving temporarily away from home or downsizing your house, temporary storage can be a terrific alternative. Placing your belongings in storage can be a great answer to your current problem of not having enough space to store your things if the new place is not yet ready to receive them. 

However, before your belongings are placed in a self-storage unit or in the care of a moving company who will then store them at their own storage facility for a delayed delivery in accordance with your requirements, those items will need to be well prepared in order to survive the storage period without suffering any kind of damage.

Follow below for preparing safely storing your items.

Here are a few valuable tips for preparing items for storage in order to protect and pack your household goods in the best possible way.

• Buy packing supplies you’ll need to put your belongings for storage, including packing paper, bubble wrap, moving blankets, sturdy cardboard boxes in similar sizes (which are simpler to stack), and different tools to disassemble appliances and furniture, if necessary.  Don’t forget a Sharpie to clearly label what’s what.
• Go through every object in your possession and select which ones you will put in storage and which ones you will just throw away. If something is too old, too worn out, too useless, or there are simply too many of anything, now is the best time to get rid of it. Conversely, mentally go through the expected time frame you plan to use storage.  Think of things you may need before you move them out — such as Christmas items, winter clothes, tax documents, etc.  Keep any thing like that in a clearly labeled container and make sure it is easy to access.
• Any fastening components should be placed in sealable plastic bags, properly sealed, and attached to the furniture unit to which they belong. This will prevent you from losing even one screw, bolt, nut, washer, or dowel during the extremely stressful time of moving between two residences.
• Prepare your clothing for storage by either hanging it inside wardrobe boxes or placing it in large moving boxes (for more expensive designer clothes). Until you can hang your pricey clothing into the dresser in the new house, wardrobe boxes will keep them wrinkle- and dust-free.
• Pack breakables like china plates or glasses with additional caution while storing them with extra fragile goods. Making ensuring that each fragile item is carefully wrapped in packing paper is the key. Keep in mind that unlike plastic packaging, wrapping paper will absorb any moisture in the air rather than trapping it.  Be sure to clearly label these boxes as “Fragile” and not to place other boxes on top.
• Remember to mark any package you plan to store, whether it’s for long-term or short-term use. In the future, labeling the storage boxes will save you a ton of time because you’ll know exactly where to look for everything you’re looking for without having to open up a bunch of different containers.
• Don’t plan on storing food.  If you have to, you can pack non-perishable items like salt, spices, oils, but keep them in a plastic container with a secure lid to keep rodents away. If you are storing wine for example, be sure to label it clearly.  Keep in mind that many storage facilities don’t have heating or cooling.  If you live somewhere with extreme temps, you may want to find an alternative.