I may have a need to clear a bungalow of all the stuff in it (including furniture for arguments sake) in the next couple of months.

Any ideas what the contents of an old persons house would shrink down to? If I had my way I’d pay someone to come in and take it all away but that’s not an option unfortunately.

The plan is to move everything out of it into storage (and in all likelihood photograph anything that goes into a box so it can be easily referenced later down the line) so that the mother-in-law may finally be able to move on after the death of her parents.

If anyone has any experience of this or something similar that would be great

if there’s an attic involved it could be rammed with stuff 🙁 currently clearing my folks house – after mum has moved into sheltered housing so some furniture went with her – and there is more stuff than you can imagine. lots more. no idea of m3 or anything like that, and part of the problem will be storage of the stuff itself (boxes and so on)..

I’d say you will be better disposed to figure that out once it gets to the point you need to do it. Rubbish answer but true.

FWIW I put a furnished 1 bed flat into the back of a luton van and into storage, IIRC it was a 6×12 lockup.

I stored a three bed terraced house contents in a fairly small room (~10x15m) I had a hell of a lot of furniture stacked very well in that room.

See if there’s a place that rents containers near you, they are a bit cheaper than the self store places. We emptied a 3 bed house and a lot of stuff went to the tip, enough to easily fill a single car garage. Remember if you have stuff like wardrobes once they are in place you can fill them with boxes etc.

Hmm, proper ventilated warehouse or metal box of dubious provenance?

There’s a reason they’re cheap, usually because they’re suited as a more “agricultural” solution. I know which I’d be spending the money on*

*however if you can store a container and install a dehumidifer that works (ie. good air flow) then it would probably work out cheaper in the long run to buy the container and sell it at little to no loss. No guarantees it’s the best choice though.

however if you can store a container and install a dehumidifer that works (ie. good air flow) then it would probably work out cheaper in the long run to buy the container and sell it at little to no loss. No guarantees it’s the best choice though.

Depends on what time period you’re storing over – but theres a few of issues

dehumidifiers need to be emptied regularly (every few days), otherwise they just switch themselves off.

dehumidifiers are also vulnerable to frost damage in the winter, unless you also heat (the non-insulated metal) container too.

theres nothing in a container to plug a dehumidifier into

sell it at little to no loss

if you haven’t got space to site a container then you still need to pay rent on the ground its sitting on. It also cost £3-£500 to get one delivered and the same again to take it away.

I’m thinking on an unused driveway (best case scenario) but yes, these are also considerations against the idea.

Getting rid is okay though, next buyer pays delivery (sure some STWer would want it as an insta-shed)…

Be harsh, helped a local lady clear her ex-husbands bungalow lately (long term home), there was loads of stuff that got donated to charity & a skip load of stuff that no one wanted, or would want… She still ended up filling her bungalow!

As much as I want to be harsh (and both the Mrs and I would happily just chuck 95% of it) there is a concern that this could have a detrimental effect on the mental well being of the person we’re doing it for (armchair psychiatry at it’s best)

Personally I’m of the mind that while the initial reaction will result in at best me no longer being the favourite son-in-law – eventually she will come to realise that it was for the best and a necessary step.

Having spoken more about this with colleagues and the wife I’m toying with stealthily photographing and boxing up the contents of the spare room and garage and then seeing

a) when/if it’s noticed
b) how these actions are taken

This would be easy enough to revert to how it was if all hell breaks loose and if it’s accepted then we can possibly move on with more of the same.

I just want to rent it out and profit help her move on with her life

If I had my way I’d pay someone to come in and take it all away but that’s not an option unfortunately.

If someone else wants to keep stuff let them make the arrangements?

It cost me ~£500 recently to have a company come lift boxes / furniture for a 2 bed flat and store for a month. So if you’re looking for a company to come and pack stuff you’d be looking at upwards of a grand I’d have thought, plus £100+ per month to store it.