Store the pieces you'll use again by a date you can name, or that you couldn't replace; sell or give away the rest, and send anything nobody can use to your council's bulky waste collection. If you're keeping something "in case" and can't name when you'll need it, that's usually your answer: let it go. On our September 2026 price lists, the median (middle value) of the listed prices is £78 every four weeks for 25 sq ft and £143 for 50 sq ft, about £1,014 and £1,859 a year. Nothing is added at checkout: the total in your quote is what you pay, and our prices include VAT. Keeping wins only when that, plus contents cover and moving costs, is less than buying the pieces again minus what they'd sell for now.
Downsizing, clearing a parent's home, moving abroad or already storing with us? Each has its own section below, and merging two homes is the worked case.
The store-or-sell sum
Keeping costs the storage, plus contents cover, plus moving it in and out. Letting go costs what you'd pay to buy the pieces again, minus what they'd fetch now. Storage at the median of the listed prices:
| Unit | 16 weeks (4 four-week periods) | 1 year (13 four-week periods) | 2 years (26 four-week periods) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 sq ft at £78 every four weeks | £312 | £1,014 | £2,028 |
| 50 sq ft at £143 every four weeks | £572 | £1,859 | £3,718 |
After your first four weeks, rent is charged automatically every four weeks, which is 13 payments a year, not 12. Listed prices for 25 sq ft run from £44 every four weeks (March, Cambridgeshire, first floor) to £188 (Leatherhead, ground floor), and for 50 sq ft from £82 to £304 at the same two sites. Our price lists also show introductory discounts (50% or 75% off, depending on the list); the figures above leave them out, so ask when you book how long any discount lasts. Every size is in how much it costs to store furniture.
Then add:
- Contents cover. Clause 31 of our terms makes it "a condition of this Agreement that the Goods remain adequately insured by You at all times for their Replacement Value". Clause 31 is "Subject to Clause 48 if applicable", which covers insurance we arrange; ask with your quote whether to take ours or use your own policy, and what ours costs.
- Moving it both ways: a van or removal firm to take it in, and again to bring it out.
A worked case: a spare sofa and double bed from merging two homes (if a piece is jointly owned, agree what happens to it before you sell or store it). Our size guide fits "a sofa, a double bed frame and mattress, a wardrobe, a chest of drawers, small appliances and 20 to 30 boxes" in 50 sq ft, "provided you stack well and stand the mattress on its edge". A year there is about £1,859 before cover and moving. Letting go wins unless buying a similar sofa and bed again, minus what yours would sell for locally, would cost well over that. Needed back in 16 weeks, the storage is about £572, so keeping may win.
How much space your keep pile takes
Our room-by-room size guide gives rough floor space:
| Piece | Floor space |
|---|---|
| Three-seat sofa | about 20 to 25 sq ft |
| Upright piano | about 15 sq ft, and nothing can be stacked on it |
| Wardrobe | 10 to 15 sq ft each |
| King-size bed, base and mattress laid flat | about 30 sq ft |
| Large dining table | its footprint, plus roughly 2 ft each side to get past it |
The guide says 25 sq ft "does not comfortably hold a sofa or white goods". A three-seat sofa, a king-size bed and a wardrobe "already account for 55 to 70 square feet of floor before a single box goes in", so with a king rather than a double, price 75 sq ft as well as 50. For a grand piano or anything outsize, call us on 0800 2545585 before booking. Units smaller than 25 sq ft appear on some sites' price lists; check your site's page if you're keeping only a box or two.
How to decide, piece by piece
| Route | It fits when | The test |
|---|---|---|
| Store | You'll use it again by a date you can name, or it can't be replaced | Does the sum above favour keeping? |
| Sell | It's worth money to someone else and easy for you to replace | Will the price cover the effort of selling? |
| Give | It's in good, sellable condition but not worth your time to sell | Does it meet the charity's rules (below)? |
| Dispose | It's broken, stained or missing parts, or a charity can't take it | Council collection or a registered waste carrier |
Irreplaceable pieces are worth keeping on that ground alone. But if your next home will never have room for one, storing it has no end date: roughly £1,014 a year in 25 sq ft at the median listed price. Ask whether family can take it now.
Flat-pack: price it against buying new. If a replacement is cheap, sell it or give it away first.
Garage and shed contents: clause 18(c) bars storing "combustible or flammable substances including but not limited to gas, paint, petrol, oil, cleaning solvents or compressed gases". Whether a drained petrol mower can go in isn't settled in our terms, so ask us on 0800 2545585 before bringing one.
Your situation
Downsizing to a smaller home
Take a downsizer keeping two three-seat sofas, an upright piano and a bureau. Counting the bureau like a wardrobe (the guide doesn't list bureaus, so measure yours), that's 65 to 80 sq ft of floor before boxes, which puts them in 75 or 100 sq ft. At the median of the listed prices (£176 and £230 every four weeks) that's about £2,288 or £2,990 a year. Our page on whether storage is cheaper than moving somewhere bigger runs the sum over several years, and self storage for downsizers covers what to keep.
If you don't yet know what the new home will hold, store for a set period, say three to six months, and put a review date in your diary; then apply the rule above.
Clearing a parent's home
Our size guide puts probate and estate clearances in the 100 to 150 sq ft range, and suggests a removals estimate before booking if you're not sure of the inventory. At the median (middle value) of the listed prices, 100 sq ft is £230 every four weeks and 150 sq ft £319, about £2,990 and £4,147 a year. We don't offer a clearance service ourselves. For a large clear-out, the BHF says you "may require our house clearance service instead" of its free collection. See whether to put things into storage before a house clearance.
Moving abroad or into a furnished let
Set the length of the let or the time abroad against the table: that's the storage side of the sum. Before you go, tell us how you'll pay from overseas; see how to pay for storage. Notice to end the agreement must be in writing, and clause 39 allows "delivered by hand, pre-paid post or email", so it can be given from abroad. Ask us which address to use.
Selling it
Local listings suit everyday furniture a buyer can collect. For antiques and period pieces, an auction house or antiques dealer can value a piece before you decide. Check the fire label (below) is there before you offer a sofa to a dealer.
Giving it away: charity collection and fire labels
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) says: "We can pick up furniture and electrical items from your home for free." You book online with your postcode, which first checks whether the BHF collects in your area, then add the items and a preferred date. If it needs more detail or can't make that date, "your local BHF store will contact you within 3 to 5 working days". Its van crews "will refuse to take items that we cannot sell", which means items:
- have no obvious stains, rips, marks or odours;
- work (particularly electrical items);
- have all parts in place, such as wardrobe doors and drawers;
- if upholstered (sofas, mattresses, padded dining chairs), have "a fire safety label firmly attached or sewn into every item", with no rips or tears that expose the inner fabric.
It takes bags and boxes of small items "only if you are also donating household items". It can't collect children's items such as cots or prams, used pillows, duvets and quilts, washer-dryers and certain washing machines, or used personal items.
The label rule comes from the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988. A compliant piece carries a permanent label headed "CARELESSNESS CAUSES FIRE", usually behind a loose cover at the back or under a seat cushion. If it's been cut off, the BHF can't take the piece. The rules don't apply to goods made before 1 January 1950.
For other charities, the Reuse Network's service finder covers "200 reuse organisations across the UK": enter your postcode, search 10 miles or more, and tick "domestic furniture". The Reuse Network doesn't collect itself; a local reuse centre may.
Disposing of what nobody can use
Find your council through GOV.UK's council finder and search its site for "bulky waste" to see what it takes, what it costs and how soon it can come.
If you pay a private firm or a man with a van instead, check they're a registered waste carrier: householders have a legal duty to hand waste only to someone authorised to take it. A carrier's number starts CBDU; check it on the Environment Agency's public register or on 03708 506 506. A council can give a householder who breaches this duty a fixed penalty notice of up to £600.
Already storing with us and ready to clear out
Clause 41 lets either of us end the agreement "by giving the other party written notice"; the notice period is on your agreement's Cover Sheet, normally 14 days. You "must remove all Goods in the Unit before the close of business on the Termination Date and leave the Unit in a clean condition". Under clause 7, goods left behind can be treated as abandoned, and you're "liable for Storage Fees for the period from abandonment to the sale or disposal of the Goods together with any costs of disposal incurred". So book the charity collection or council pickup before your end date, not after.
Work out what you'd keep, then get a price online to put a real number in the sum, or call us on 0800 2545585.
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