How to Save Money on Furniture Storage
Storage costs can add up quickly, particularly if a house move takes longer than expected or a renovation runs over schedule. The good news is that the total cost is largely within your control. How you organise the storage, what you choose to store, and which provider you use all make a meaningful difference to what you pay. Here are the main ways to keep costs down without compromising on the safety of your belongings.
Reduce What You Actually Store
The most direct way to reduce storage costs is to reduce the volume of goods going in. You pay for space, and every item you can sell, donate, or dispose of before storage reduces the container size or the number of containers needed. Before booking, go through what you intend to store and set aside anything you could reasonably part with. Standard furniture — common sofas, basic shelving, everyday appliances — is often cheaper to replace on the other side than to store for more than a few months. Antiques, quality pieces, and items with sentimental value are a different matter and worth the cost of proper storage.
Choose the Right Type of Storage
Self-storage units charge a flat rate for a given floor area, regardless of how efficiently you fill the space. You also need to transport your goods to and from the facility yourself, which adds time, vehicle hire costs, and additional handling. Containerised storage — where your goods are packed into sealed containers at your home and transported directly to a warehouse — is often more cost-effective for a full household move because the container is filled to its volume rather than its floor area, and your goods do not need to be unloaded and reloaded between moves.
Arrange Storage as Part of Your Removal
At F Smith & Son, our large removal trucks are custom-built to carry individual storage containers. Your goods are loaded at your property, and the sealed container is lifted directly from the truck into our secure Croydon warehouse. This means your belongings are handled as few times as possible — loaded once at your home, stored, and then delivered when you are ready.
Arranging storage as part of your removal — rather than as a separate booking after the event — almost always reduces the overall cost. When storage is built into the removal from the start, the loading at your property only needs to happen once. If storage is arranged as an afterthought, there is often a second loading and transport cost on top of the original removal charge.
Reduce Handling at Both Ends
Every time your goods are handled — unloaded, moved, repacked, reloaded — there is both a labour cost and an increased risk of damage. Storage facilities that hold goods loose in large shared rooms typically require more handling than containerised facilities where sealed units move as a single piece. If you are comparing providers on price, factor in how many times your goods will be touched between leaving your property and arriving at the new one.
Get the Security and Insurance Right
F Smith & Son keeps security very seriously. Every storage container is security-sealed and labelled with a unique code, recorded on an inventory that lists the contents for security and insurance purposes. We offer insurance for goods in our storage facility with cover up to £250,000, which can be increased if requested in writing.
Getting insurance right from the start avoids the much greater cost of replacing uninsured goods. Check whether your home contents insurance extends to goods held in commercial storage before your belongings go in — policies vary significantly. If your existing policy does not cover commercial storage, confirm cover with us at the time of booking.
Time It Well If You Have Flexibility
If you have some control over when your storage period begins and ends, there are modest savings available. Avoid peak moving periods — spring school half-terms and the school summer holidays see higher demand and sometimes higher prices across the removals and storage sector. Midweek moves and midweek collections from storage are also typically easier to schedule and sometimes cheaper than weekend slots.
F Smith & Son are members of the British Association of Removers (BAR), hold BSEN 12522 status, and are Which? Trusted Traders. Our storage is part of the same removals operation we have run from Croydon for over 90 years, with the same commitment to quality. For a free quotation, contact our team. For more advice, visit the F Smith & Son Advice Hub.