What You Should (and Shouldn’t) Store in a Portable Container: A New Hampshire Guide

A MI-BOX container parked in a driveway in Gilford or Concord can hold just about everything a household owns — but “just about” is doing real work in that sentence. Every summer we see the same handful of items cause trouble: candles slumped into puddles by an August heat wave, a propane tank tucked behind a dresser, a box of pasta that turned a clean container into a mouse buffet. Here’s a practical rundown of what belongs in a portable storage container, what’s fine with a little prep, and what should never go in one.

What Stores Well in a Portable Container

The honest answer: most of a household. A MI-BOX is weatherproof, sits at ground level for easy loading, and keeps everything a short walk from your door instead of across town at a storage facility. These categories do especially well:

• Furniture. Sofas, dressers, bed frames, and tables are what containers were built for. Stand sofas on end to save floor space and load heavy case pieces against the walls.
• Appliances. Washers, dryers, and refrigerators store fine once they’re drained, defrosted, and dried out — details in the prep steps below.
• Boxed household goods. Books, dishes, clothing, and toys in sturdy, same-size boxes stack into stable walls and make the most of an 8ft, 16ft, or 20ft container.
• Tools and outdoor gear. Mowers and snowblowers (fuel run dry), kayaks, bikes, and patio furniture all handle container life well — and they’re usually the reason the garage needed clearing in the first place.

Containers also earn their keep as a seasonal swap station. Plenty of Lakes Region families load the snowblower, plow blades, and ski gear in May, then trade them for the kayaks, dock sections, and patio set in October. Everything stays dry, off the garage floor, and in one place — no more archaeology dig through the basement every time the seasons turn.

Items That Are Fine — With the Right Prep

A second group of items stores safely for months or years, but only if you spend ten extra minutes before loading day:

1. Refrigerators and freezers. Defrost 48 hours ahead, wipe the interior dry, and tape the doors slightly ajar so air circulates. A sealed, damp fridge grows mildew in weeks.
2. Washers and small engines. Drain washer hoses completely and run lawn equipment until the tank is dry. Trapped water freezes and cracks pumps; trapped gas is a fire risk and gums up carburetors.
3. Wood furniture. Give it a coat of furniture wax, then wrap in moving blankets — not plastic. Plastic film traps humidity against the finish and can leave a cloudy haze on antiques.
4. Mattresses and upholstery. Use breathable fabric covers, store mattresses flat on top of a level furniture layer, and skip the airtight plastic bags for anything longer than a few weeks.

What Should Never Go in a Storage Container

One more prep note worth the effort: photograph the inside of the container as you load it, layer by layer. Six months from now, when you need the one box with the winter boots, three phone photos will save you an afternoon of unstacking. Jot a rough map of where the must-reach items sit — near the doors is the rule for anything you might want before the container comes back.

Some things stay out no matter how carefully you pack. Hazardous and flammable items top the list: propane tanks, gasoline, paint and paint thinner, aerosol cans, fireworks, and ammunition have no business in an enclosed box that bakes in summer sun. Perishables are the next category — any food, even sealed dry goods, is an open invitation to mice and chipmunks, and in most of New Hampshire the nearest field mouse is about thirty seconds from your driveway. Skip living things too: plants won’t survive a dark container, and they bring soil pests with them. Finally, keep irreplaceables with you — passports, deeds, cash, jewelry, hard drives, and the family photo albums. Not because a container isn’t secure, but because if you need any of those things, you need them today, not after an hour of unstacking boxes.

Common Mistakes We See Every Summer

• Packing liquids “just this once.” A single bottle of cleaner or cooking oil tipping over can stain a whole layer of boxes. If it can spill, it doesn’t load.
• Storing food, even sealed. Rodents smell it through cardboard and chew through more than you’d think to reach it. Donate the pantry instead.
• Shrink-wrapping everything. Plastic sheeting over furniture traps New Hampshire’s summer humidity inside. Moving blankets and breathable covers protect better.
• Leaving fuel in equipment. The mower works fine going in; it’s the gummed-up carburetor eight months later that costs you a repair bill.

A Quick Gut Check Before You Load

If you’re standing at the container door holding an item and wondering, run through three questions. Would it survive a January night at ten below? Would a mouse want to eat it? Could I replace it if I had to? Two or three “no” answers means it stays in the house. Get that sorting right before loading day and a portable container will hold everything else — through a renovation, a move between homes, or a full New Hampshire winter — without a single unpleasant surprise when you open the doors again.

Local NH Cities We Deliver To

We deliver portable storage containers across Central and Western NH. Most-requested cities: Laconia, Concord, Meredith, Tilton, Gilford, and Plymouth. Don’t see your town? We probably deliver there too — get a quote.