The longer we live somewhere, the more stuff we accumulate. Some of it is probably useful, some of it may have strong sentimental value. But when you’re selling your home, an excess of possessions simply becomes clutter. Clutter, however much loved, creates the impression that the property is too small and there’s nowhere to put anything, thereby putting buyers off.

A good decision is to rent a storage unit for a period while your house or flat is on the market. Anything non-essential can be stored well out of sight, half a mile down the road, leaving the property you’re hoping to sell looking fresh, tidy and appealing to potential buyers.

However, the cost of a storage unit can easily mount up, so it’s important that you use yours efficiently. Another consideration is that you’ll be moving house yourself  – taking on a storage unit is a good time to get ahead with the packing.

Here are my top tips for making the most of your storage unit:

1. Put away, give away, throw away

When you’re packing up your stuff to store it, don’t just sling it in a box and tell yourself you’ll make a decision about it later – you won’t. If you don’t love it or use it, let it go now. Believe me, you’ll kick yourself if you paid money to store something you later throw away. You might be able to save money by paying for a smaller storage unit than you planned, or make money by putting some of your unwanted items on eBay. Charity shops will be happy to take your donations, and anything really old or broken can go to the tip.

2. Sort it by category

When the boxes leave storage and go to your new house, you’re going to have to find things. If you can’t, there wasn’t a lot of point in packing them in the first place! Pack as tidily and logically as you can, and label the boxes clearly – you may tell yourself that you’ll remember that the family photos are in the box with the bananas on it but in six months’ time you will have forgotten.

3. Set a time limit

You might start enjoying life with no clutter on the worktops and forget you’re paying to store a massive pile of stuff in a storage unit. Worse, the worktops might start getting cluttered up with new clutter, while the old clutter is still locked away…oh dear. The best way to avoid this is to put a time limit on how long you’re going to use your storage unit – maybe one month from when you move into your new place.

Dockleys works closely with house doctor and decluttering companies to help our clients get their homes ready to sell. If you think you need some help before you home goes on the market, please get in touch with me, Adam Dockley, today on 020 3633 4440 to get started.