If you’re a frequent traveller, you’re bound to have a lot of suitcases and travel luggage in different sizes to accommodate your belongings as per the needs of your trip. But the fact remains that while hard bags and spacious luggage is ideal for travel, storing bulky suitcases at home is often challenging. Unfortunately, while there are quite a few benefits of living in a small home, having a lot of storage space is not one of them. So, you’ll need to cook some smart ways to store your luggage at home, and we’ve discussed a few ways in this blog to get you going.
Here are our top tips for storing luggage at home!
Luggage Storing Tips
There are three luggage maintenance tips that you need to consider before you store your luggage. These include:
- Cleaning the Suitcase
- Checking for Repairs
- Choosing the Right Storage Space
While most luggage isn’t high maintenance, these luggage storing tips will allow you to increase the lifespan of your bags and cases for longer. Keep reading to get acquainted with our tips.
Cleaning the Suitcase
First and foremost, even before you consider storing your luggage, you must inspect the bags for dust, dirt, and stains and clean them up immediately. Most travel bags face gruesome conditions while tumbling through the belts at the airport, and your suitcase will begin to wear down if you don’t clean it after every use.
Start the cleaning process by opening up all of the pockets and making sure the bag is completely empty. Turn it upside down if you want to shake some sand particles or paper scraps loose from the bottom of the bag. Then, use a damp cloth to clean out the interior of every pocket. You can also use a handheld vacuum to clean the interior.
Once the interior is clean, use a damp cloth for fabric-based exteriors and a wet sponge for hard plastic exteriors to clean up spots and dust particles. You can leave the bags aside to air-dry or wipe them with a dry cloth.
You can also choose to wash the bag entirely or send it to the dry cleaners, depending on the size and material of the luggage, but remember to dry it well. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a stinking interior.
Checking for Repairs
Ideally, you should check the bag for missing zippers, broken zips, torn lining, or tears in the fabric while you’re cleaning. However, we’d advise cleaning the bag before focusing on the repair, unless you’re certain that you’ll need to clean it all over again after it comes back from the repairman.
If you have to leave any of your travel luggage overnight for repair, don’t bother cleaning it. You’ll need to do it again once you get it back. Quick jobs like broken zippers, though, can easily be dealt with immediately without the bag needing another thorough cleaning. Make sure to close all the pockets before storing your luggage for a longer duration. You should also detach all buckles and straps and place them inside the bag before storing.
Choosing the Right Storage Space
One of the best ways to store your luggage is to ensure that you find a dry and cool spot for storage. This ensures that the bag will not become a victim to mould and mildew over time, causing the fabric to rot or the bag to face discolouration. Avoid areas where you might be exposing the bags to sunlight regularly, as that will also damage them in the long run. You can consider covering the suitcases with a plastic sheet to keep them from getting dirty until you need them for your next escapade.
Ways to Use Empty Luggage Around the House
Well, you need a place to store your belongings and have this hardshell case just needing a place of its own. What if you could store your cumbersome luggage cases while also making use of them for storing other stuff? Here’s how to use luggage for other storage:
- For Storing Other Luggage
- For Storing Other Belongings
Let’s discuss these ways to repurpose and use your luggage in detail below.
For Storing Other Luggage
If you bought a whole set of hardshell cases in different sizes, you do not need to find storage space for three different suitcases. Most luggage sets allow you to nestle the smaller sizes into the largest case, which means that you can actually use one bag to store all of the others and simply need storage space for the biggest case.
For Storing Other Belongings
Another trick to storing bulky suitcases at home is to repurpose them and use them for storing your shoes, off-season clothes, or even your book collection. The point is that your hardshell bag will take its due space, so why not use the space within to store something else that you don’t require as frequently? This will help you maximise the use of the space taken up by the bag in the storage area.
What’s more, with a little customisation, you might no longer need to hide the bag in the storage room. You’ll be able to hide it in plain sight as a shoe rack or bookcase with your favourites inside. This is only recommended for those who do not travel too frequently. Otherwise, you’ll be emptying your collections out of the case time and again.
Ways to Store Your Luggage at Home
Now, let’s move on to the best luggage storage ideas. Here are some that you should consider:
- Stow It under the Bed
- Store It in Your Closet
- Pile It Stylishly
- Slide It behind Furniture
- Stack It Up High
We’ll elaborate on these luggage storage ideas in detail below.
Stow It under the Bed
One of the ultimate suitcase storage ideas to store your luggage without affecting your home’s aesthetic appeal is to push the empty case under the bed. This is easy enough to do if you have a wooden bed, but with a metallic bed, you might not have enough coverage on the sides to keep the cases from being visible to guests. Consider covering them with a sheet or draping the bedcovers so that they touch the floor, especially when you want to hide the unsightly cases from the view of visitors.
Store It in the Closet
If you have a large and spacious storage room or closet, that should be your go-to for storing your luggage. Nestle the smaller sizes or soft shell bags into the hardshell cases and conveniently store them inside the cupboard with the door closed to hide them from view.
Pile It Stylishly
Ever considered hiding your luggage in plain sight? Well, that’s also an option, especially if you are the proud owner of vintage suitcases that can double as home decoration pieces. All you need to do is pile the case, size-wise, on top of one another, and there you have it—an antique element to the room without much effort. You can choose to fill the bags with some belongings to use the empty space within, but keep the heaviest items in the bag that is at the bottom and the lighter ones on top so that the stack does not tumble due to disproportionate weight.
Slide It behind Furniture
Another option for storing suitcases in a small home is to simply slide the largest pieces behind the headboard of your bed, behind your living room couches, behind room dividers, or even behind curtains. There are many convenient hiding places for storing bulky suitcases at home if you begin to think creatively and explore all your options.
Stack It Up High
Have you considered storing your travel luggage on the top of your wardrobe or bookshelves? While unusual, it is actually a very effective way to space storage and floor space by placing the empty bags above the sightline on the top shelves or on top of cupboards around the house. This is, of course, only possible if you don’t have floor-to-ceiling closets and have enough space between the top of the cupboard and the ceiling to slide the case in the available gap.
Now you know just how to store your luggage at home and how to optimise its use, even while it’s in storage. Check out some other creative storage ideas for small homes if you want to fit all your belongings and organise the interior in a better manner.
Stay tuned to Zameen Blog for more home décor tips and advice. You can also reach us with your queries and suggestions at blog@zameen.com.
