How to clear out a storage unit fast

A storage unit is easy to fill and easy to forget, until the rent goes up, the lease ends, or someone else inherits it. Clearing one usually happens on a deadline, with no idea what's inside. Here's a plan for doing it in a day.

Before you go

• Read the rental agreement. Note the move-out notice period, the last day of your current billing period, how the unit must be left, and whether there's a charge for anything left behind.
• Check access hours and any rules on vehicles, trolleys and the facility's own bins.
• Find the key or code, and bring a lock-cutter if nobody knows where the key is and the facility allows it.

Bring the right kit

Gloves, a flashlight, a box cutter, tape, markers, bin bags, a few empty boxes, and something to eat and drink.

Sort it in four piles

Work from the door to the back:

1. Keep: goes home with you.
2. Sell or donate: good furniture and household items.
3. Recycle: metal, electronics and appliances. Appliances and scrap metal can be picked up for free; electronics drop off free at an EPRA BC depot (where to recycle electronics).
4. Haul away: everything else.

Look inside boxes before you decide. Units often hold documents, photographs and keepsakes mixed in with junk. Set aside anything personal, especially if the unit belonged to someone else.

Watch for things that can't go in the garbage

Old paint, fuel cans, propane tanks and car batteries turn up in storage units often. They're banned from garbage loads in Metro Vancouver (Metro Vancouver Disposal Ban Program Manual, checked 21 September 2026) and need a return depot; see our garage cleanout checklist for how to handle them.

Get it hauled in one trip

The fastest finish is one haul-away while you sort. We clear storage units across Metro Vancouver: the contents sorted into keep, recycle and dispose, metals and electronics recycled, and the unit photographed and cleared. Storage unit cleanouts run $159 to $599, priced up front, with dump fees included. See storage unit cleanouts.

Hand the unit back

Sweep it out, photograph it empty, return any keys or locks, and get written confirmation that you've moved out, so the billing stops.

Clearing a unit on a deadline? Call 604-348-7640 or get a free quote.