How to Store Your Baby Furniture Between Children

As your baby outgrows their belongings, you can either keep the items or get rid of them. While many people choose the latter option, there's no sense in getting rid of these items if you know you'll want more children in the future. Some parents choose to keep a few boxes of baby clothes in their homes or garages, but furniture is a whole different ball game. Cribs, high chairs and other large baby equipment takes up a lot of space, so you won't want to keep it at home.

That's where self-storage solutions come in. Storing your baby's old belongings allows you to keep them for future use while maintaining a clutter-free home. Of course, if you want these items to be usable the next time your family grows, you need to store them carefully. Here's how to keep those baby furnishings in full working order for baby #2 and beyond.

Clean & Thoroughly Dry

The best way to preserve your baby's furnishings while they're in self storage is to make sure they're completely clean before your put them there. From spilled milk to dirty nappy residue, babies can leave a whole host of bacteria on furnishings. Over time, these bacteria will multiply and could start attacking your furnishings. Clean everything as thoroughly as possible with baby-safe disinfectant, then make sure it's 100% dry. If you allow any moisture into your self-storage unit, you're leaving your wooden and fabric items open to destructive mold and mildew formation. 

Dismantle Items

One of the main reasons to dismantle furnishings is that it saves space, allowing you to opt for a smaller unit. It also has a second benefit -- it increases the longevity of your items. Many baby supplies are made from various materials. Cribs, for example, have a wooden frame and a soft mattress. Baby swings and high chairs often have plastic frames and fabric padding. The soft-good elements of these items need to be stored more carefully to prevent deterioration. Dismantle and wash items with soft, fabric components separately, then store the fabric in airtight plastic storage bins. This will keep them safe from moisture and pests. When dismantling furniture, remember that you'll need to put it back together again. If you don't have the original instructions, try to film yourself dismantling it and label each part to make reconstructing it easier. 

Stack Efficiently

If you want to get the most for your money, you'll need to make good use of the space you're paying for. Vertical space often goes unused in storage units. To avoid this, store all smaller items in stackable boxes that you can pile up. Ideally, you should store large, dismantled furniture in its original box so you can stack boxes on top of it. In addition, if you have baby items stored for a range of ages, make sure you put the items for young babies at the front of the storage unit. This will allow you to access them quickly and easily as and when you need them, without having to pull everything out of the unit.