Sorting a storage unit without paying for it twice

The unit costs money every month whether or not you open it. The goal is not to organise it — it is to stop paying for it. Work out the monthly cost before you start, and keep that number in front of you.

Bring the right things

• A clipboard and a marker, so every box gets a number and a one-line contents note.
• Boxes, tape and a roll of bin bags.
• Gloves, a torch, a knife.
• A phone with space for photographs.
• A friend, for the boxes you cannot lift alone and the decisions you keep avoiding.

The first pass is a census, not a sort

Open every box, photograph the contents, write a number and a two-word label on the side, and put it back. Do not decide anything on the first pass. You are finding out what is actually in there, which is usually different from what you remember.

The second pass makes the decisions

Come back with the list and decide in bulk: everything in boxes 1 to 9 goes to the new house, 10 to 14 is donated, 15 to 18 is thrown away, 19 to 21 needs a decision from somebody else. Decisions are faster in a batch than one box at a time.

Take the things you are keeping out on the second trip, not the last one. A unit that is 30% empty at the end of day two is a unit you will finish.

What is never worth storing

• Mattresses and upholstered furniture: they absorb damp and come out smelling of the unit.
• Old paint, solvents and propane: many facilities prohibit them, and they do not improve with age.
• Anything you have already paid to store for more than two years without opening it.
• Paper: documents belong in the house, not in a metal box with no climate control.

End the contract properly

Give the notice the contract requires, sweep the unit out, photograph it empty, and get the date and the final amount in writing. Keep that until the last invoice arrives.

Check your facility's rules on what may be stored before you load a vehicle.