7 things you should never store under a bed, according to professional organisers

One of the most common desires for homes across the country, is more storage. While in older homes you might find storage built-in as standard, more modern homes might not have this luxury so finding clever storage solutions for your things becomes the name of the game.

Many of us would think to utilise the space beneath our beds, but before you do, you might want to know the things you shouldn’t store under a bed and why. While under the bed can be turned into a smart bedroom storage idea to make use of otherwise wasted space, storing the wrong things under your bed could lead to their ruin or damage. It could also stop you from getting a good night's sleep or could attract vermin.

We've spoken to an assortment of storage experts and professional organisers to get their take on some things you shouldn’t store under a bed, as well as some things you should, so read on to discover the ultimate 'do's and don'ts' for storing items under your bed.

1. Don't store anything!

As mentioned, utilising the space under your bed for storage might seem like a great idea, however, this is only true if you have the right sort of bed, that provides built-in storage. You might feel that storage ideas for small bedrooms are hard to come by, but there are more options than under the bed.

Vicky Silverthorn, Professional Organiser and Founder of You Need a Vicky explains. 'Ideally, under a bed would work best being clear. I purposely bought a bed that was hard to store things under to encourage a good declutter rather than over-store things in my house.'

'Just because you can’t see something doesn't mean it doesn’t affect us. We are responsible/have a responsibility for every single item we own. When we declutter our stuff we clear space in our minds as well as our homes.'

'Every little action we take to become more organised and give ourselves less to think about moves our lives towards simplicity. Tiny changes we make in our over-busy and over-complicated lives can make a big impact,' Vicky explains.

Sue Spencer, Professional Organiser, KonMari Consultant and founder of A Life More Organised shares that same sentiment and advises, 'If you have a metal or wooden bed frame, it’s best to avoid storing anything underneath them. These spaces are magnets for dust and are difficult to keep clean. Leaving them empty makes it much easier to keep things dust-free and tidy.'

'However,' she adds, 'if you’re short on storage space and need to use the under-bed area I recommend buying under-bed boxes or bags. I’m a big fan of IKEA Skubb boxes, they’re lightweight, affordable, and practical. Using a storage box keeps everything contained and clean, making it easy to pull items out when needed and stopping you from having to crawl around on the floor trying to retrieve things that have slipped into the middle of the bed.'

2. Important paperwork

Another one of the things you shouldn’t store under a bed is paperwork and bills.

Sue advises, 'Avoid hiding important or emotionally significant documents under your bed. Paperwork should be organised and regularly reviewed, not forgotten in a dusty corner.'

In order to make sure you stay on top of bills and any other important deadlines, try not to store the associated paperwork tucked away under you bed. You want to be able to reach for these things fairly easily and if they are hidden under your bed, they could easily get forgotten about. Instead, look to home office storage ideas and try to keep all paperwork in one place.

3. Work

Similarly, keeping your day-to-day work, projects or laptop beneath your sleep space is another one of the things you shouldn’t store under a bed.

Vicky explains, 'Even knowing that work is under your bed, means your brain and body is trying to sleep or relax on a constant to-do list, which will play on your mind and is not good vibes for a restful night of sleep.'

While it might seem convenient to grab your work or laptop from under your bed as you start each day, making the effort to put the them in a home office or elsewhere in your house will massively help towards getting a good nights sleep.

4. Forgotten food

Breakfast in bed is a luxurious treat most of us would find hard to say no to, but don't let any leftovers sneak under the bed and harbour bad smells, or worse, attract unwanted visitors.

Katherine Blackler, Professional Organiser and Founder of Sort My Space comments, 'One of the things that I would definitely avoid storing under a bed would include any perishables or food products that you could lose track of and encourage vermin to discover.'

Similarly, Sue warns against what might be lurking in other bedrooms of the house, namely a teens den (or 'pit' as many a mother has referred to them.)

'Plates, food wrappers, and mugs don’t belong under beds, and they may be the reason for that mysterious bedroom smell!,' she explains.

5. Disorganised belongings

When storage is lacking in your home, it's easy to just stuff bits and bobs under your bed to worry about another day, but this could easily lead to things get forgotten about or even damaged. Plus it can play havoc on your mind, as Vicky explains.

'Something that’s disorganised will play on your mind, even if you don’t realise it. If you are storing things under your bed they should be categorised and neat, and you should be able to recall exactly what’s there, eg. shoes, seasonal clothing or toys.'

Try to organise items into categories before storing them under the bed and avoid shoving random bits and bobs under there.

6. Leather goods

Shoes are always a tricky one to store neatly, and rather then them taking up precious floor space, popping them beneath the bed could be great storage solution. But Sue warns, depending on what they are made of, leather shoes could actually be one of the things you shouldn’t store under a bed.

'The dry, dusty environment under the bed can dry out and cause damage to natural materials like leather,' she explains. 'Plus, shoes tend to gather germs, dust, and unpleasant smells. If not stored in a box, you’re also likely to misplace one of the pair.'

Instead, look to other shoe storage ideas and try to at least refrain from keeping real leather shoes under your bed.

7. Things you use on a daily basis

The last of the things you shouldn’t store under a bed are things that you need access to regularly. If they are in storage boxes or drawers, it means getting on the floor and rolling them out every time you need something, which if it's daily, could really affect your body.

Even if you have a storage bed or ottoman, it's still a lot of strain to be opening up on a regular occurrence, as Sue is familiar with.

'I had one client whose cleaner was delighted when we found a different space for the towels and bedding, as she was lifting the guest bed's hydraulic action every week to change their beds. My client hadn't clocked how hard work it was to do that weekly.'

FAQS

What should you store under a bed?

Katherine Blackler, Professional Organiser and Founder of Sort My Space says, 'Personally, I use my under bed storage drawers for my fancy dress costumes, sorted and stored in pouches of different categories or outfits. And for my fancier shoes that I only wear for special occasions (most of which are in their shoe boxes for protection).'

'Other examples of things you could keep under the bed, again wrapped to protect against dust or moths, would be seasonal blankets, off season duvets and even suitcases. Depending on the height clearance, you sometimes need to "butterfly" the suitcases (eg. open the zipper and store them opened half half) but you might be able to nest smaller cases into the cavities of a larger suitcase when opened in that format. This works in an enclosed hydraulic bedbase but you might want to wrap them in a bin liner or plastic sheeting if they're sliding under as is.'

Sue adds, 'I like to store out-of-season clothes or bedding in storage boxes (or drawers) under the bed. Try to store similar items together and label the boxes so you can easily grab what you need without rummaging.'

'Toys can also be stored under the bed - under-bed storage boxes are perfect for bulky toys like Lego sets or train tracks. It’s also a great way to rotate toys, helping little ones avoid overwhelm from too much clutter.'

'The ultimate aesthetic (and supposedly energetic) vibe for a bedroom would be to keep the space under our beds clear from any belongings. However, most of us don't have the luxury of leaving the largest storage area of the bedroom untapped.'

She adds that 'when working with clients in some house shares, we've had to use the under-bed space for less obvious items like pots and pans and crockery items that were personal to them they didn't want in the communal kitchen. So be prepared to think laterally depending on your situation.'

'It may also be that under-bed drawers are the only drawers that you actually have in your bedroom. If so, you can separate the drawer into smaller categories to keep socks, underwear, gym gear etc in and look down on them in one go. You'll need to be able to easily open that drawer on a daily basis so this can be a good discipline to help keep the floor free of obstacles alongside your bed.'

What type of bed is best for storage?

Professional organiser, Vicky Silverthorn says, 'The best kind of bed for long-term storage is an ottoman. Seasonal items are perfect to store as well as spare bedding and clothes/items you only need for holiday, eg. ski wear. This also frees up space in your wardrobe so what’s in there is actually what you’re going to wear at that time of year.'

'Ideally, what you store under an ottoman wouldn’t be things you need daily though.'

Sue adds, 'If you're tight on space, definitely avoid divan bed bases (unless they come with built-in drawers) as they are a wasted opportunity of space for your needs.'

'If you have a metal or wooden bed frame you can often fit under bed drawers retrospectively. These solid-sided drawers can tidy up the bed edges visually and as they have castors on, may be more functional than plastic boxes or cardboard boxes and bags for seeing and reaching your stuff.'

'Even though ottoman beds have enclosed storage, they can still gather a lot of dust. I always use storage bags inside this type of bed as it keeps things organised and clean. I always store similar items in each container so it’s easy to find what you need when you want it.'

'If your bed has built-in drawers, central drawers are more practical than those with two separate compartments, as the ones near the bedside table are often difficult to access.'

'Hydraulic beds are also useful but can be expensive investment and keep in mind that they still take a certain amount of muscle power to lift them.'

'So I would recommend hydraulic lift options are used for storing occasional-use or off-season items only, eg Christmas decorations, off-season duvets, guest bedding supplies, sentimental items like greetings cards and letters from friends and family photographs (basically things that you don't need to access on a very regular basis but don't want to chuck away either).

Hopefully you are now totally clued up on things you shouldn’t store under a bed as well as things that you should, and are one step closer to a more streamlined and clutter-free home.