Where things go
Into storage
Sealed and held, decided later
For the things you are not ready to decide about. Used well it is the most humane part of a downsize; used badly it is a cupboard you pay rent on for years and never open.
What it actually involves
It is a deferral, not a decision, and it is worth being honest about which one you are making. Deferring is entirely reasonable in the middle of a move. Deferring indefinitely is how a storage unit becomes a thing your children deal with.
A proper inventory is what makes it useful. A sealed unit with a real list can be revisited usefully; an unlisted one cannot, and after a while nobody is willing to open it to find out.
Papers, photographs and documents are the most common contents and the least suitable for an unheated garage. They want somewhere dry and somewhere findable.
Set a point at which you look again. Not a deadline — just a moment, once the new place has settled, when the list gets read. Most people find that half of it has answered itself by then.
What we do
Seal once, list properly, and give you the inventory rather than keeping it to ourselves
Keep papers and photographs separate from furniture and somewhere dry
Bring things back out in part-loads rather than making you take the whole unit at once
Tell you honestly when we think something is being stored instead of being decided about
The hard part
Agreeing when you will look at the list again. Without that, storage quietly becomes permanent and the decision passes to somebody else.
Get in touch
Start whenever you are ready
Including if that is a long way off. We will come and look, talk it through, write it down and then leave you alone until you get in touch again. There is no obligation and we will not chase you.