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Storage units and self storage
A renovation, a gap between two homes, a few years abroad. What goes into a storage unit stays out of sight for months — and that's what decides how you pack it.
Updated October 2, 2026
What is a storage unit
A storage unit is a space where you keep furniture and boxes for a while, and pay for it. There are two common kinds:
- Self storage — you rent a locked unit, in the size you choose, and you’re the one with the key. You drop things off and pick them up whenever you want, within the facility’s hours.
- Full-service storage — a company picks up your things, keeps them in a warehouse, often in sealed containers, and brings them back when you ask.
When a storage unit is worth it
- A home renovation, to empty rooms without filling up the others.
- Between two homes, when moving out of one and moving into the other don’t happen on the same day.
- Moving abroad, or a stretch away, so you don’t have to sell what you want to come back to.
- A smaller home, while you decide what stays.
- An inheritance, while the family works out what happens to everything.
How to pack and organize a storage unit
Packing for a storage unit is packing for a move, with three extra things to watch. These are the storage unit tips that matter when the door stays shut for months:
- Damp. Everything goes in clean and dry. No plastic wrapped tight around wood or fabric for months — it traps moisture. Moving blankets and paper breathe. If you’re organizing a storage unit with clothes, the same rule applies to them: clean, dry, and not sealed tight in plastic.
- Weight on top. The boxes will sit stacked for a long time: heavy ones at the bottom, and every box filled to the top so it doesn’t cave in.
- An aisle. However you arrange a self storage unit, leave an aisle to the back. Whatever you need will always be behind everything else. Even in a small unit, that aisle is the best way to reach the back without unloading the front.
The most important thing: knowing what’s in it
After six months, nobody remembers what’s in each box in a storage unit. And going there to open boxes looking for one thing — which might not even be there — is an afternoon gone.
So before you close each box:
- Number it, on two sides and on the lid.
- Record what’s in it, with photos.
- Write down where it is: in the storage unit, and if you can, where in the unit.
With that, the question “is the camping gear in my storage unit or in the garage?” gets answered at home, on your phone.