Navigating life as a student in London can sometimes feel like a game of 3D chess. The rules are confusing, and just when you think you’ve got it figured out, something else comes along and takes you by surprise.
This is particularly the case when it comes to finding and moving between student accommodations. An often effective solution to navigating these moves, especially if you spend the summers away from London, is to use a storage provider.
Here’s what to look for in your search.
Short-Term Plans
As a student, you’ll often just want to store your belongings for a short period of time. Whether that’s a few weeks in between rental contracts, or over the summer months while you’re back home, it’s important to choose a provider that offers attractive short-term plans.
Make sure that they’re competitively priced, and that big savings aren’t only available on their long-term storage contracts.
Flexible Storage Sizes
Students also often don’t need to store a lot of stuff – it could just be a bedframe, desk, and some winter clothes.
As a result, you’ll want to make sure you find a storage provider like Redpath that offers flexible storage sizes, so that you’re not paying for more than you need.
Try to work out roughly how many boxes and what pieces of furniture you’ll need to store, so that you can provide them with this information when you reach out for a quote.
Packing & Pickup Services
Relatively few people in the capital have access to a car, and this is perhaps particularly the case among student populations. As a result, you’ll have to figure out a way to get your belongings to and from the storage facility.
There are a lot of storage providers that can also provide assistance with packing and transporting your belongings. This will often be more convenient, and sometimes cheaper, than having to hire a fleet of Ubers or a man with a van.
Access To Your Belongings
Lastly, if you suspect that you’ll want to have ongoing access to your belongings while they’re in storage, it’s important that you choose a provider that can facilitate this kind of ongoing access.
Some providers will want to put your stuff in a container and then lock it away until the pickup date, but this won’t work for a lot of people.
Make sure that you ask about access when asking for a quote. Some providers may need up to a week’s notice to make sure that your belongings are all ready. Self-storage services tend to be a lot easier – you can just go and access your personal lock-up whenever the facility is open.
Finding the right storage provider for your needs can make life a lot easier as a student, and it’s absolutely worth putting the time in to find the best solution. By checking that they offer the services outlined above, you should be able to narrow down your search to a handful of providers that will be just perfect.
Thanks for stopping by!
Magda
xoxo