Storing Items when moving house – Things to know?

Storing Items when moving house – Things you need to know…

Moving day is approaching and you find yourself caught in a whirlwind.

Sorting out packing, contract-signing, arranging utilities for your new home, registering your new address, etc. it’s quite easy soon get stressed out.

There are things you can do to ease the pressure – like using a storage facility.

Reduce the stress of moving day

A storage facility is a way to take away some of the stress on moving day, it means not everything has to be done in one day.

Staggering the moving of your belongings means you don’t have to do everything at once.

You can move things you don’t currently need out of the house early and take things into your new home when you’re ready to find a place for them.

If you sell your property and move your items into storage while renting or staying with family, you become a chain free buyer.

This allows you to be more flexible, knowing your items are in good condition and safely stored.

What is self-storage?

Self-storage centres offer units of space varying in size.

They’re designed to be safe and units are lockable from the outside and covered by CCTV and intruder alarms.

They are convenient plus you can hire them for as long or as little time as you want, with size and cost flexible to your needs.

Rough Guide to size of unit required

When should you use storage?

Storage is ideal for:

• Clearing certain parts of the house ahead of moving day.
• Planning renovation or redecoration in their new home.
• Anyone who has extra complications on moving day e.g., if in a big housing chain or you plan on exchanging contracts on completion day.

How much will storage cost?

Difficult to say exactly how much storage costs as it’s dependent on the company you use and the size of the unit and how long you use it for.

There are many elements of the cost of storage that you’ll need to think about. It is always wise to shop around.

Look for weekly billing

Most companies bill you monthly, which means if you run a day or two into the next month, you’ll end up paying for weeks of storage when you’re not using it.

Therefore, if you can, find a storage company that bills weekly to give you a little bit more flexibility it would be wise.

Be careful of introductory deals

A lot of storage facilities offer deals like ‘first month free’ or ‘half price for the first 8 weeks.

These may seem tempting however, these deals can end up costing you more in the long run.

People tend to keep their stuff in storage for much longer than they plan – the average length of stay in storage believe it or not is 9 months – and storage companies know it.

N.B. Discounts in the first couple of months might be cancelled out by the price of the following seven.

Insurance

Storage facilities are secure places but, it’s still worth taking out an insurance policy to cover your belongings if your existing home insurance doesn’t cover it.

Beware of ‘inhouse’ insurance policies (insurance policies directly with the storage companies) they can often be extremely expensive.

Storage Tips

• Storing long items on end to preserve floor space.
• Wrap and pack items properly will ensure they’re safe and protected from any moisture or damage.
• Take apart furniture to get it into the unit. (Don’t forget to attach screws etc so they don’t get lost)
• Make an inventory of everything going into your storage unit. This means knowing not only how many boxes and items there are, but what they include.
• Use a colour coding when labelling this does make this easier. If you are likely to be back and forth to your storage unit to access different items.

Hope that this simple guide to storing items when moving house helps you make the correct decisions when moving home.

Are you planning to move in 2024? Or perhaps you’re planning to upgrade or downsize in 2025?

Speak to a member of our team to find out how we can take the stress out of moving home.