What NOT to pack for summer storage: the list to keep on hand

What can't go in boxes that are heading into storage?

What not to pack in boxes going into storage: food and drinks, liquids and flammables, original documents, cash and jewelry, medicines, damaged or swollen batteries. Laptops and phones in good condition, clean appliances and well-packed fragile items can go in. Then there's one category no regulation forbids, which ruins your summer anyway: whatever you'll need before September.

The full list is in Annex A of the Terms. Below is the version to keep next to the tape, with the reason for each line: once you know what happens in a box sealed for the whole summer, you don't need to learn it by heart.

Why some things simply don't belong in storage

A box sealed from June to September is a small chemistry experiment nobody asked for. Liquids always find the gap in the cap, food draws insects, damaged batteries swell. Five minutes of attention while you pack avoids all of it; in September it costs an afternoon.

I wrote this page watching what actually turns up at pickup, which is more an anthropological activity than a logistical one. Every category below exists because somebody packed it, and at least once that somebody was me.

If yours is the classic summer storage case, keep this page open while you pack.

Food stays home, even sealed

It's usually in box number 7: the forgotten pasta pack at the bottom, the tin that's "sealed anyway", the cereal bars "that last a year". They last a year in a cabinet. In a box sealed for the summer they last about as long as your patience does in September.

Packaged, long-life food stays out too, even "just bought". The reason is less charming than the rule: insects don't stay in your box, they go and visit your neighbor's, and at that point the problem stops being only yours.

Same for plants, seeds, animals (live or preserved), opened spices, used tea bags. If it ever had a biological life, it doesn't clear the check. Yes, including the sourdough starter. Especially the sourdough starter.

Liquids, sprays and hazardous products

Alcohol, stain removers, paint thinners, bleach, spray deodorants, the 100 ml perfume. Liquids and flammables are excluded from storage, and there's a practical reason besides the written one: a bottle that opens doesn't only soak your things.

If you're not sure how to classify a product, read the label. A hazard symbol or "keep away from heat sources" settles it. Anything you no longer need goes to a recycling center: in Milan they're run by AMSA, and paint, varnish and products labeled T or F are on its list of hazardous household waste, which the city's four centers accept.

Why does your passport travel with you?

Passport, ID card, driving license, original degree certificates: anything you can't replace with a phone call stays with you. The warehouse is indoor, dry and access-controlled, and every box is labeled and logged at pickup. The problem is different: a document you need while you're four hundred kilometers away is a document you don't have. Paper archives, on the other hand, can be stored.

Cash, jewelry, fine art and valuable collectibles are excluded by Annex A of the Terms, as are medicines, weapons and motor vehicles. The full list is also in the FAQ. If you have something of high value and don't know how to handle it, write to us from contacts before pickup: we look at it case by case.

Electronics go in, if the battery is intact

Smartphones, laptops, tablets, cameras, power banks and wireless earbuds can be stored with the battery inside, as long as the device is in good condition, switched off and unplugged from the charger. A damaged, swollen or tampered battery stays out, and so does the device it's in.

Hair straighteners, hair dryers, lamps and small corded appliances go in unplugged, emptied and clean. Old batteries go to the collection points in large supermarkets or to a recycling center.

Wrap the cables and protect the corners of delicate appliances with some bubble wrap. Same for glasses, plates and anything else that breaks: they go in if they're well packed and you flag them at pickup.

What you'll need before September

Nobody bans this category and everybody forgets it: the things you need "in a bit". The motorbike helmet, the outfit for your cousin's July wedding, the Kindle charger, your passport if a trip is booked, the dog's vaccination card. If there's a chance you'll need it, it stays out.

Before sealing the last box, write down what you need until September and keep the list in sight. Almost always one of those things has already ended up in box number 7, which in my experience is always number 7, and always the one at the bottom.

With the doorstep service the warehouse can't be visited, so there's no afternoon when you drop by for the helmet. A partial redelivery is requested by writing to us, with no dedicated button, and it's still an extra trip. Better to avoid it by choosing well what goes into number 7.

And what about the bit sticking out of the box?

Half of this page comes from one pickup. A customer handed us his boxes open: flaps raised, tape stretched across the top, volume nearly doubled. Half a chair was coming out of one, an iron rod out of another.

We loaded every one of them, on the agreed day. Since then we explain to customers how to pack a box before pickup, because one that sticks out takes the space of two and protects what's inside less well.

Then there's the weight: a box goes up to 20 kg at most, because one person lifts it. A box closes flat, and whatever doesn't fit inside we collect as a bulky item, without a box, declared in advance. How to close a box that holds is in the packing guide, which has got a lot more detailed since.