Storage & Packing Tips
Packing Furniture
Empty the contents of wardrobes, drawers, and cupboards to protect the shelving and structure of these items. Clothing and personal goods should be packed in strong and secure cartons with some naphthalene, mothballs, or similar products to protect and maintain their condition. Remove any crumbs from furniture to prevent attracting vermin.
- Use a simple dust sheet or cover placed between items when storing furniture items on top of each other to minimise scratching and damage.
- You can save space if you dismantle large furniture items such as beds and tables before you store them. Make sure you keep hold of all the nuts and bolts, put them in a plastic bag, and tape it to the item!
- Spray your wood furniture with a good quality furniture spray before storing it to give it some added protection.
Glassware & Fragile items
To avoid your glassware and fragile items from being damaged while in your storage unit, you need to ensure you pack them correctly.
- Wrap each item in protective packing material, such as bubble wrap. Alternatively, fill the boxes with packing peanuts.
- Make sure each item is separated in the boxes by protective material to avoid items from banging together and breaking.
- Don’t make the boxes too heavy to avoid damaging your glassware if the box breaks or is dropped.
Appliances
Fridges, freezers, and other whitegoods should be thoroughly dry and clean before storing. Don’t place items inside fridges or freezers as the shelves and linings can be easily marked and damaged.
- Make sure no food crumbs and scraps remain in your appliances to avoid attracting vermin and pests.
- Make sure no moisture remains in your appliances to avoid mould and mildew.
- A deodoriser or open pack of bicarbonate soda placed inside appliances can help maintain freshness and avoid unwanted odours.
- Store appliances with the door slightly ajar.
HiFi & Tech Gear
Technology items are often expensive, so it’s important they’re stored correctly to prevent them from being damaged.
- If possible, store items back in their original packages. These boxes were designed to protect the item in the areas they’re most fragile.
- If the original boxes are unavailable, make sure you use a lot of protective material.
- Make sure you store these items off the floor to protect them in the unlikely event of flooding.
- Don’t store other items on top of your HiFi and technology gear.
Tips for Packing Boxes
When it’s time to start packing your boxes, these tips will make the process a little easier for you.
- Don’t overpack your boxes. While it’s easy to stuff as much as possible into your boxes, this will make them too heavy to lift and will cause them to potentially break when you pick them up.
- Take the extra time to label your boxes in detail. The more effort you put into labelling what’s inside each box, the easier it will be for you to find specific items down the track.
- Use strong boxes. You might have plenty of old boxes lying around, but if they’re not strong enough to hold many items there’s no point in using them. The last thing you need is for everything you’ve just packed to spill out onto the floor as soon as you try and pick a box up.
Storage Unit Packing Tips
Follow these packing tips for your storage unit to ensure you’re making the most of your space.
- Store the heavier and larger items such as your furniture pieces or appliances towards the sides and back of the unit.
- Anything you know you’re not going to need to access in a long time, move towards the back of the unit. Anything you need to access more frequently should be stored towards the front.
- Utilise the height of your storage unit by stacking things on top of each other.
- If you have lots of small items to store, consider bringing in some storage furniture items, such as bookshelves.