So, you’re moving house and have started to appreciate just how much you own and how much effort it’s going to take to pack everything and move it to your new home. Moreover, every time a potential buyer books a viewing, you seem to have to spend ages cleaning and tidying. 

One of the best things you can do to reduce viewing-day and moving-day stresses is to rent a self storage unit. Here’s why.
 

Help potential buyers to see your house as their future home

If your house is still on the market, now is a great time to rent a self storage unit to minimise the amount of clutter and excess belongings in your home. 

There’s a fine balance to strike, though - you need to remove enough of your belongings and furniture to make it easy for potential buyers to see how large your rooms are, but if you remove too many belongings and furniture, your house might seem cold and austere.
 

What you’re aiming to achieve by decluttering

You should aim to have enough furniture and furnishings to make your home seem welcoming and comfortable, but not so much that potential buyers won’t be able to imagine their belongings fitting into the space available.

By decluttering, you’ll also make it much easier to keep everything clean. It’ll be so much easier to run the vac around, wipe away dust and clean the hob if you don’t have to dust and clean everything else or work around all your belongings.
 

How do you declutter for a potential buyer?

The ideal time to declutter properly is when your house is on the market. Decide what items you won’t use again, or that you’re happy to part with: those items could be given away, sold or recycled. That’ll leave you with less clutter to take with you to your new home, which sounds great, doesn’t it? 

If you’re stressed out and have a million other things to do, though, you might not be able to cope with having to think about whether you can part with certain items or whether you’ll need them again in the future. Be kind to yourself, and save that job for after you’ve sold your house and you have less pressure in your life, and just box everything up for now.
 
If you’re using your garage, the top of your wardrobes, the loft or the cellar to store things, those are the places to empty now, while the property is still on the market. Box everything up, clearly labelling what’s in each box and where it’s come from. 

Do the same with out-of-season clothing, extra bedding and duvets, toys your children don’t play with anymore, books and DVDs/electronics you don’t use (and tidy wires and cables while you’re at it).

In the kitchen, pack away all those extra pots, tins pans and dishes that you only ever use if you’re hosting a lot of people, and all the extra utensils and crockery you don’t use regularly.

Pop your boxes into your self storage unit where they can stay until after you’ve sold your house. Your house will look like there’s loads of room for potential buyers to store all their things and plenty of space to live in. 
 

Use self storage to reduce the stress of your move

Hooray! Your potential buyers loved your decluttered home, and they’ve bought it! Now all you’ve got to do is move everything from your old house to your new house, and you’ve got about 3 to 4 months to wait until the sale is completed and you can move house.

If you already have a self storage unit that you’ve been using for your clutter/excess belongings, now is the time to start moving more substantial items into it. Why? 
 

1. It’s less stressful to move some things now

Moving house can be a very stressful life event. By putting your belongings into a self storage unit a bit at a time during the weeks leading up to moving day, you can reduce the stress of the move considerably. Keep only the basics that you’ll need for your new home.
 

2. It’ll reduce your removals costs on moving day

Removals companies charge on the basis of how much you need to move (as well as how far you need to move it). If you’ve moved all but your essentials into your self storage unit, those essentials may well fit into a smaller van and will definitely take less time to load up.
 

3. It’s easier to settle into your new home

Once your essentials have been unloaded from the removals van and put into your new home, you’ll find it’s much easier to do things like clean, fit new carpets and decorate than you would if you had to work around all your belongings. 

If you had all your belongings to unpack and tidy away as well as that cleaning/decorating/carpeting, that’s a lot of extra work for your first days in your new home, and there’s a risk that your belongings will get damaged in the process. Keeping everything but the basics in your storage unit will keep them safe, clean and out of the way while you turn your new house into your new home.

As an extra bonus - if you have renovations to do, you won’t have to worry about wiping dust off everything every night!
 

4. It’ll help you evaluate what you need and want to keep

By keeping a self storage unit for the weeks leading up to, and the weeks following your move, you can establish how much you really need to keep. In your new home, you can get a good feel for the space available and be choosy about how you fill that space. 

It can also help you to establish what you really want to keep. There are some items you’ll have formed an attachment to, and there’s nothing wrong with keeping things just because you want to. You don’t have to limit yourself to keeping only what you ‘need’ - where’s the joy in that? Some things, though, like children’s toys or books or clothing, that you no longer need but have some nostalgia attached can be captured in other ways. Digitalise them - photograph the toys and clothes, and opt for digital versions of all but your most treasured books.

Ready to rent a self storage unit?

If you decide that you’d benefit from renting a self storage unit for your house move, you can rent one from us for a week or however many weeks you choose. There’s no deposit to pay if you reserve a unit, and we have stores available all over the country. You can add things to your unit or take them out whenever you choose during our extensive opening hours, and we’ll keep everything safe, clean and dry until you need it back.