If you are about to put your items into storage, then it is likely that they are valuable things that you cannot live without, otherwise you would not be spending a fortune on holding on to them right? You should try to avoid storing things that you don’t really need, as otherwise you will be spending valuable money for no particular reason other than emotional ties to objects that you will never really use again. If you are storing things therefore, you will be wanting to keep them as safe as possible, so that nothing loses its value whilst it is in storage, as otherwise that would be against the point of storing it. We’ll take you through a few tips and tricks for packing your items for storage so that they retain their value, whether monetary or emotional, and so that you are not stuck in a position at which you just want to throw everything out after it has become dirty, broken or rotten whilst in storage.

Firstly, make sure that your storage unit is not susceptible to damp, pests or extreme temperature change. These are the factors that can hurt your items whilst they are left alone, and you will be unaware of the changes that they can make until the point at which you come to open up the unit. Rot will set in to many different materials, from wood to soft furnishings, whilst rust and corrosion can be caused on metal items, so damp must be avoided at all costs. Pests like rodents or insects can eat through clothing or soft furnishings, as well as gnawing on wood, which is obviously terrible, and can reduce your items’ value dramatically. Temperature change may not seem as obvious, but for delicate wood and metal items, like musical instruments, the changes in temperature can result in warping that will damage certain things permanently.

Once you are positive that your storage unit is as solid as possible, then you should turn an eye towards the packaging of your items that are destined for storage. Using new boxes will allow you to stack them, as their shape will remain solid for a long time, preventing any of your stacking to collapse. This is a great way in which to save room and prevent space being used up unnecessarily. If you are storing anything with fabric or soft materials on, then you will need to wrap them in plastic before boxing them, to add an extra barrier against any potential damp getting to them. Plastic wrapping will also prevent your soft items from getting too dusty, which can be an issue, as fabric items can be a lot harder to dust off than harder objects.

Use a decent amount of tape when sealing off your wrapping, as the stuff can lose its stick over time, and if a box pops open, then the contents will become dusty and can be exposed to other damage, which can be extremely dangerous. Dust is more than just a nuisance if you are storing items like electrical goods, which can be affected greatly by such issues. If you are storing pictures of mirrors that have delicate frames of glass fronts, then tape a layer of bubble wrap to the delicate parts, and then over that tape another layer of cardboard, which will act as a barrier against any corners knocking against them. This sort of protection will mean that you can stack such items up against each other a bit more snugly than if they were unprotected.