I’ve been finding I need to grab a coat before leaving the house these last few weeks, and the trees are looking decidedly bare. On my list for this weekend is a trip to our storage unit. I’m taking some summer items up – I used Jeremy’s handy summer kit checklist from last year. But I’m also looking forward to bringing out some household goods that we only use in autumn and winter.

1.       Heavy boots

There is nothing quite like stamping through a pile of crisp autumn leaves, or crunching the ice on a newly-frozen puddle. And the satisfaction is at least doubled if you’re wearing a good pair of heavy winter boots.

2.       Winter clothing

There always comes a day in late autumn when you realise you should have worn a scarf and some gloves. It hasn’t happened to me yet, but I’m bringing out a bag of hats, scarves and gloves ready. I’m looking forward to finding my favourite jumpers, too. And I’ve just remembered a brand new winter coat that I picked up in the sales at the start of the year.

3.       Snow gear

Our neighbour says that the thick clusters of glossy scarlet berries on holly trees around the village suggest we’re going to have a hard, snowy winter. While we’re still enjoying pumpkin spice lattes and carving pumpkins, it seems bit early to bring out the car’s snow socks and the ice shovel. But if it does snow early then I’ll be a bit annoyed if I have to drive over to our storage unit to get them out.

4.       Cosy blankets

The nights are noticeably colder and darker, and I expect we’ll be spending more time on the sofa enjoying films and box sets. (I’m looking forward to the new BBC/HBO His Dark Materials series.) So I’m bringing out our warm blankets in anticipation.

5.       Halloween decorations

Over the years we’ve collected some spooky decorations for Halloween. I can’t wait to scare our neighbours! And now I come to think of it, I packed up some ghost stories and horror films that we might enjoy during the October evenings.

6.       A bit of scrap wood

I stashed a few bits of broken furniture in the unit meaning to fix or upcycle them one day when I had a bit of spare time. But I’ve realised that day will probably never come. So I’m going to bring them out and hand them over to the village bonfire society, which put out a call for scrap wood in the last parish magazine.

Of course, all this to-ing and fro-ing will mean changes to the inventory in our storage unit. Generally insurance is mandatory with a self-storage contract – but that doesn’t mean you need to take the storage company’s recommended offering. It’s quick and easy to adjust your insurance coverage with a Store and Insure policy, and the premiums are rated on a daily basis, so you’ll get a rebate for any unused insurance period.