Keys that don't line up, a property for sale that has to be empty for handover, a renovation running over — moves rarely happen in one smooth go. Storing your belongings externally for a while prevents two things: improvising with boxes at family members' places, and rushed decisions to get rid of things you actually wanted to keep. For moving situations, people usually rent one to three months — exactly the bridging period.

Floor out, kitchen replacement, full living room re-plastering — every serious renovation puts your furniture in the way and exposes it to dust, moisture and the weight of crew traffic. External storage for two to twelve weeks keeps your interior intact, lets builders work efficiently, and saves you from shuffling furniture between rooms every evening.

Christmas decorations are in the way eleven months a year. Garden furniture, the BBQ and parasol take up valuable shed or garage space in winter. Skis, surfboards and camping gear get heavy use in one season — and sit idle for months in between. For these repeating cycles, storage works well: you get it back when the season starts, and send it away again when it's over.

An Amsterdam canal house, a Rotterdam loft, a Utrecht studio — city living often means fifty to seventy square metres without an attic, without a shed, with narrow stairs no guest wardrobe will fit through. External storage becomes a kind of extended utility room: you keep the spare mattress, the winter wardrobe and the second table — just not in your living room.

Children leaving the parental home, a parent passing away with belongings that can't quite be cleared yet, a sabbatical or a temporary work assignment abroad. In these phases, more space is needed to keep things until the right moment — not to decide everything at once, but to give yourself time to make those decisions calmly.