How to store your clothes in self-storage: 5 handy tips

Clothes are one of many things customers store safely and securely in a Store First storepod. Some pack away seasonal stuff to save space. Others store baby clothes for posterity. Nostalgic customers keep special items safe for sentimental reasons. Whatever your story, a self-storage unit is an affordable and convenient extension of your home storage solution.

To keep clothes in tip top condition, follow these useful tips for safely storing clothes in self-storage.

Keep it clean

Make sure your items are in great condition before they're packed away, as stains deepen over time and prove much harder to remove later down the line. Ensure clothing is completely dry and ironed, to preserve it in the best possible state for use later on. Always follow washing instructions on each individual item. Whether that's washing at 40, hand washing or heading to the dry cleaner's, you'll thank yourself later for making the effort now.

Pack for success

Vacuum packing is a great space-saving trick and it can work well for seasonal storage. However, there are reports that compressing garments' natural fibres and depriving them of air can damage them in the longer term. What's more, vacuum bags can lock in moisture and cause mould to develop.

Air-tight plastic containers are a smart solution for longer term storage of clothing. They keep everything nice and dry, eliminating the risk of mildew or mould. Plus, they're easy to stack.

Label up

If you're storing a large amount of clothing, it's a good idea to label boxes and/or vacuum bags to make them easily identifiable when you come to need them. You can do this by garment type, size or even owner, if you're storing away belongings for the entire family.

If you're stacking shoeboxes, you could stick a picture of the shoes on the end of the box to save you trawling through them all if you need quick access to a particular pair.

Store smart

When packing items into your boxes, make sure you place the heavy garments at the bottom and lighter things close to the top. This way, the extra pressure from heavier items can't affect the shape of the lighter items.

Make a plan

While some items may be stored away for the foreseeable future, many of us simply wish to pack away seasonal goods until we can next make use of them.

Winter hats, scarves and gloves or summer bikinis, shorts and sandals are likely to be needed much sooner than that box of baby clothes saved for nostalgic reasons. With this in mind, plan your pod to enable easy access to items on regular rotation. Storing seasonal garments near the front or in an aisle space will save valuable time later on.

All Store First self storage centres have a range of boxes and packing materials for sale to home and business customers. Plus, we can offer plenty of friendly advice on how best to store your belongings. Pop in, call us or email your local centre (find it on our locations page and click through for details) to speak to a member of the team.