As winter finally releases us from its cold grip and the days begin to get warm and bright, the first thing you may notice around your house is all the clutter you accumulated from November to March. And that’s when the itch to start spring cleaning begins.
But how do you spring clean? It’s more than just tossing out garbage; many of the household items cluttering your living space, closet space, and storage facility are still necessary seasonal items. That said, seasonal items aren’t typically during the warmer, non-holiday months. These items can clutter up your in-home storage space—but don’t fret!
Our handy guide on how to use a self-storage unit for spring cleaning offers spring-cleaning storage tips that can help you achieve and maintain the clutter-free home of your dreams!
First, we’ll review our favorite decluttering methods with our handy spring cleaning checklist. Then, we’ll cover the home preparations you should make before you get started, followed by the amenities that separate the poor self-storage units from the convenient storage facilities.
We’ll even throw in a few tips on transporting your belongings in and out of the long-term storage space. Finally, we’ll reveal how Storage.com can aid your decluttering process by helping you find a climate-controlled storage unit near you!
What You’ll Need to Declutter Your Space for Spring Cleaning Storage
- • Clear, stackable plastic storage containers (multiple sizes)
- • Labels and markers for container organization
- • Cleaning supplies for item preparation
- • Moisture-absorbing packets for humidity control
- • Protective covers for seasonal clothing and furniture
- • Moving supplies (boxes, tape, bubble wrap)
- • Inventory checklist or digital tracking app
- • Storage unit size calculator
- • Map or zone plan for storage organization
- • Vertical storage solutions (shelves, hooks, overhead bins)
- • Wall anchors and mounting hardware
- • Clothing storage bags for winter garments
- • Portable storage bins for easy transport
- • Basic tool kit for assembly
Spring Cleaning Storage Tip Checklist
Evaluate Your Living Space and Storage Needs:
- Start your spring cleaning journey by evaluating every room in your home to pinpoint problem areas with limited storage capacity requiring functional storage solutions.
- Creating a floor plan can help you plot out some alternative storage solutions.
Sort and Declutter:
- The next step toward your clutter-free, beautifully organized home is to employ the 80/20 rule as your go-to declutter method.
- Keep the 80% of items you regularly use and say goodbye to the 20% that are just taking up space.
- Get friends and family involved to make the decluttering process more manageable and even enjoyable.
Utilize Vertical Storage Solutions:
- Don’t let your walls and ceiling space go to waste.
- If your house has a high ceiling height, install shelves, hooks, and overhead storage bins in ceiling corners to maximize your available space while organizing your belongings.
- Just remember to use proper anchors and check weight limits when mounting vertical storage solutions – these techniques work doubly well in a self-storage unit.
Invest in Portable Storage Containers:
- When it comes to keeping miscellaneous, decorative, and breakable items organized and easily visible, clear, stackable plastic containers are your best friends.
- We suggest purchasing a mix of portable storage container sizes. And don’t forget to label everything – your future winter-season self will thank you!
- Portable storage bins are a great closet decluttering idea because you can lug them to and from your storage unit as needed.
Seasonal Rotation:
- Move those bulky winter coats, cold-season clothing, and holiday decorations to your storage unit until you need them again.
- Employ protective covers and moisture-absorbing packets to keep everything in the same shape it was in when you saw it last.
- Store seasonal items toward the back of your unit and frequently used, common household items up front for easy access.
Create Long-Term Storage Zones:
- This tip is a favorite of ours whether you’re using your garage, a portable storage unit, or a basement storage space to store different types of items.
- Designate areas for different categories of items like sports equipment, holiday decor, winter clothing, outdoor gear, lawn equipment, and tools.
- Make a map, handwritten checklist, or a digital inventory of what’s stored where – you’ll be glad you’ve got a storage zone map when it’s time to find things later.
Create and Enforce a Maintenance Routine:
- Schedule regular decluttering visits to your basement, attic, garage, and/or your storage unit.
- Rotate items and conduct some deep cleaning to prevent your organized system from falling into chaos.
- Set aside specific times each week for the daunting task of tidying up that freed-up space at home to keep that clutter from creeping back in.
How to Prep Your Bulky Winter Items for Spring Cleaning
The first step in most self-storage situations is prepping your belongings for the storage unit. In this instance, that includes organizing and cleaning all of your belongings. We recommend sorting your stuff into four categories: keep, store, donate, and trash.
Analyze each item as you go through your home in a decluttering frenzy. To determine if it’s a keeper, ask yourself how often you’ll use it, if it fulfills an immediate purpose, or even if it brings you joy. If the object meets this criteria, then set it in the keep pile.
Each item you review has to prove its worth by checking multiple boxes in order to stay unpacked and on display in your home. For example, if the item makes you feel warm and toasty inside but doesn’t have an immediate purpose or only meets a seasonal need, you place it in the store pile.
If the belonging fails to bring you joy and meets no immediate needs at home, then it may be time to discard or donate, depending on the item’s condition.
We suggest cleaning the items before you sort them – regardless of whether it’s staying at home as a closet item, moving to self-storage, or getting donated. Wash any clothing and cold-weather blankets, wipe down any and all surfaces to remove dust or other contaminants, and otherwise ensure your items are in good condition.
The last important step of this phase is to take inventory of what is going into the storage pile before fitting these items into self-storage.
Spring Cleaning Storage Tips for Choosing the Right Self-Storage Unit
One of the reasons you should take inventory of what you place into storage is to know which storage features you’ll need to protect your belongings.
For instance, if you’re storing a costly collection of Christmas decorations that would make the Griswolds jealous, you’ll want to protect that investment with security features like 24-hour security cameras, electronic gate access requiring a keycode to enter the facility or even onsite management.
Weather-sensitive items such as fabrics, electronics, and even wooden furniture can be susceptible to damage in summer heat and humidity. Protect these vulnerable items with climate control storage, which maintains a constant temperature and humidity level within your unit to preserve your items.
Lastly, you’ll have to decide on the right storage unit size. Take into consideration the amount of stuff you’re storing. If it’s just a few boxes, a small 5×10 unit will help you reclaim your apartment closet space. Meanwhile, a larger 10×20 unit may be best for clearing out your garage—you may also want to consider a unit with drive-up access for quick drop-off and delivery.
Spring Cleaning Storage Tips for Transporting Items To a Storage Unit
Once you’ve prepared your items for storage, carefully cleaned them, and conducted a thorough inventory, now’s the time to place our spring-cleaned items into a storage unit. Here are a few last-minute tips and tricks on how to move your items into self-storage while spring cleaning:
- Clearly label all boxes so you can easily find anything you may need during the summer or fall, as well as easily reclaim them next winter.
- Avoid stacking everything into one large pile. Instead, line the walls of your unit to give yourself quick and easy access to all that’s placed into storage.
- Springtime is a great time to clean out the dust bunnies of winter. And when it’s time to break out the winter items at the end of the year, clean the dust bunny build-up once again during the seasonal storage swap.
How Storage.com Can Help You Use a Self-Storage Unit for Spring Cleaning
By now, you should have a pretty solid idea of how a self-storage unit can help with the daunting task of spring cleaning.
If you’re feeling truly overwhelmed by spring cleaning, consider enlisting the help of a professional organizer to coach you thoroughly through your decluttering process. These experts can offer valuable guidance, personalized strategies, and hands-on help to tackle even the most cluttered spaces.
But be forewarned, these pro-organization experts come at a cost that isn’t always affordable, especially when you’re right in the idle of a seasonal switcheroo. We suggest perusing the articles on our blog for more decluttering tips and strategies. Our expert advice can help you create an organized home that’s easier to maintain and more enjoyable to live in.
But even the most well-balanced and properly maintained home has its spatial limits. To truly take your organization to the next level, we suggest renting a storage unit to free up some additional storage space.
Storage.com makes finding storage easy. Our search tool lets you apply filters based on unit sizes and storage features like 24-hour access, on-site alarms and security, and even luxuries like Drive-up storage units.
Simply enter your zip code, and we’ll compare all the options in your area that meet your storage needs. Elevate your spring cleaning storage game by reserving a storage unit in your area straight from our site today!
