The leaves are falling from the trees, the weather is getting colder and the first Christmas decorations in the shops are going up. This can only mean one thing, it’s time to get ready for the winter.

Prepping for winter often means putting away all the things you’re not going to touch again until the weather starts getting warmer next year.

Self storage is a fantastic help when it comes to packing away your summer gear. In this guide on how to get prepped for winter we’ll walk you through what to store and how to store it.

 

What Should You Store?

One of the most obvious things to store is your summer wardrobe. Self Storage is a fantastic help when it comes to clothing, as you can pack away all your big coats and scarves when the winter ends, and then when summer is over you can quickly collect all your winter essentials and in their place pack away the summer clothes you aren’t going to wear until next year.

This way you get to have a seasonal wardrobe without having your cupboards taking up all the space in your house.

Another thing to store over winter is any sports equipment that won’t be relevant over the winter time. If you participate in any summer sports like surfing, or cricket you can pack this away.

Similarly, you might not see yourself cycling at all over the winter period, so you could pack your bike away, rather than have it clutter up your house.

Self storage is particularly useful for packing away garden equipment that you won’t be using over the winter time. Once you’ve finished off the last bits of gardening for the year your plants are likely going to be dormant over the winter, and so it is unlikely you will be needing all your garden tools like a lawn mower, strimmer, shears, chainsaws and anything else you might have stored in your shed for those ‘just in case’ tasks.

You should check with your storage unit whether you can store any petrol or diesel powered items, and if you are storing these, make sure you have emptied out the tank first.

Similarly you might want to pack away your garden furniture. You likely won’t be using your furniture during the winter time where it’s dark before you arrive home from work and too cold to enjoy sitting out on the patio.

During this time your furniture might be exposed to the elements and get damaged by the frost and moisture. You can prevent some of this damage by packing away your furniture into a temperature controlled storage unit.

 

storing summer clothes

 

How Should You Store Your Items?

The first, and most important thing is to make sure that your items are clean. If your items aren’t clean then you’re asking for mould or corrosion or, depending on the item, pests.

If you’re putting your bike away for the winter, it’s important that you’ve cleaned off all the mud and grime, and performed vital bike maintenance, otherwise you could come back to your bike next year only to find parts corroded or seized.

Once you’ve cleaned all your items the next most important thing is to make sure they are dry. Mould can spread extremely quickly and can affect and ruin almost anything you want to store.

If you’re storing electronics you should either look for a climate controlled storage unit, or make sure that you’re not storing these electronics on the floor, as the cold can negatively affect certain electronics, and especially batteries.

Again, depending on the unit you’re storing your items in, and whether you’re storing at home, you may want to consider covering up your items to prevent them from getting dusty. This might be by putting them in boxes, or by covering them with a linen sheet.

If there is a chance of moisture being in your items you don’t want to cover these with plastic covers, as these can trap and condense moisture.

Now you’re all set for the winter you can relax under a warm, cosy blanket with a hot cup of tea, knowing that all your items are decluttered and safely packed away.