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to be used where the whole house's items need to be stored. The smaller the van, the lower the cost so it's an important consideration.

Having booked your storage room and arranged transport on the given day, you then need to load the furniture into the van and ensure that it gets to the storage facility undamaged. The packing of items is very important so that they won't move around too much if you need to break suddenly! Professional removal service companies should have great experience of this and should have ropes, etc, to tie items securely.

Once you get to the storage facility, you will need to oversee the loading of your furniture into the storage room. If you think that you're likely to need some of the items at a future point (i.e. before all the items are removed) then try to have those items accessible when you're loading the room.

That's pretty much it. You will probably be given a key for the padlock that secures your room, and a combination code to facilitate access to the storage facility. You will also need to effect payment, both to the storage company and also to the removal van company. The storage company will probably require proof of identity to make sure to bring things such as a driving licence, recent bank statement, etc. You should check with them beforehand to make sure that you know everything that you need to bring. They will probably also try to sell you insurance, which may be worth the peace of mind it brings, especially if your furniture is of considerable value.

To give an indication on likely costs, here is a breakdown of the costs I incurred. (They may of course vary considerably by country/locality).

Storage (for a 20 square foot room): just under 14 per week (so about $7 per week)
Insurance: just under 3 per week for a value up to 3,000 (so about $1.50 per week)
Transport: 50 for a man and a van to take the items to the storage facility, plus the same to then move it to my new home, so 100 in total (or $50).

There are, of course, reasons other than staging why someone may want to put furniture into storage. However, the same factors should apply in determining which facility to choose and what additional things you need to be aware of. Certainly, from my perspective, the process was fairly straightforward and I definitely derived value from it. I think it also made me realise how much junk I had accumulated and that it is more pleasant to live in a slightly less cluttered living environment!

Learn more about this author, Simon Wright.
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