Storage ideas

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

It’s time to clean out the camper. After a mouse issue last year we decided not to store anything in there, unless it was in a secured plastic tote.

Two of the beds, though, have four inch foam mattress pads.  I cannot get them to fit into a tote, no matter how big, as they just expand; neither do I have any closet space in the house where they could stay folded up and tied with rubber bands or whatever. One is a queen size and one is a full size.  Any ideas??

[Ali in OR]

Under a bed in the house?

[Carrie12345]

I’m thinking they can maybe be folded into a giant vacuum bag and then put in a tote or box. Some of the vacuum bags I used when packing to move were HUGE.

[prairiewindmomma]

Can you bungee it to the wall or ceiling in the garage? 

[matrips]

Will a mouse get through plastic?  Wondering if you can put the two mattress pads in a zippered mattress protector thing and just leave in the camper?

[fairfarmhand]

Can you put them in vacuum bags and then put those in the tote?

[lmrich]

I  think a mattress cover that zips is a great idea - maybe double it and leave it in the camper? 

[Faith-manor]

2 hours ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle Again said:

It’s time to clean out the camper. After a mouse issue last year we decided not to store anything in there, unless it was in a secured plastic tote.

Two of the beds, though, have four inch foam mattress pads.  I cannot get them to fit into a tote, no matter how big, as they just expand; neither do I have any closet space in the house where they could stay folded up and tied with rubber bands or whatever. One is a queen size and one is a full size.  Any ideas??

Dh and I roll ours tight - it takes two of us to do it, tie down as tight as possible, and then wrap in one of our camping tarps, store in the rafters of shed.

[itsheresomewhere]

We rolled ours and wrapped in contractor bags with a mint  bag. It worked

[itsheresomewhere]

You could buy mattress bags and put them in it with some mint and leave them in the trailer instead of my method.  I am too cheap to buy the mattress bags. Lol

 

There is a wonderful nontoxic rodent repel spray that works.  We spray the trailer with it and around it every couple of months.  

Edited November 2, 2022 by itsheresomewhere

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

we live next door to a dairy barn—literally share a driveway with it. Even with a lazy cat and a dog who thinks rodents need to die we still occasionally have mice, so that eliminates using my garage or basement and I’m hesitant about under the bed, even though we’ve had no evidence of mice actually in our house.  A mouse ate through a plastic garbage bag last year which is why I was considering plastic totes.  
 

DH has contractor bags and mint might work.  

[Faith-manor]

8 minutes ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle Again said:

we live next door to a dairy barn—literally share a driveway with it. Even with a lazy cat and a dog who thinks rodents need to die we still occasionally have mice, so that eliminates using my garage or basement and I’m hesitant about under the bed, even though we’ve had no evidence of mice actually in our house.  A mouse ate through a plastic garbage bag last year which is why I was considering plastic totes.  
 

DH has contractor bags and mint might work.  

Also, I have been told that lavender, rosemary, and mint is the trifecta of "stay away" for rodents and insects. I do not know if that is actually true. But, just figured I would add that. Everyone can choose to try it at their own peril! 😁

[kbutton]

17 minutes ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle Again said:

we live next door to a dairy barn—literally share a driveway with it. Even with a lazy cat and a dog who thinks rodents need to die we still occasionally have mice, so that eliminates using my garage or basement and I’m hesitant about under the bed, even though we’ve had no evidence of mice actually in our house.  A mouse ate through a plastic garbage bag last year which is why I was considering plastic totes.  
 

DH has contractor bags and mint might work.  

I think the issue with getting through layers is to use multiple layers and/or more difficult materials like a tarp. So maybe something inexpensive on the outside of something more robust. If you have those Bagster service bags near you, they are pretty heavy duty stuff--tarplike but different. You buy the bag and pay the service later, so if you just wanted to fashion a fancy tarp out of one, you don't have to pay the pickup fee (unless something has changed).

If you have a punctured but clean kiddie pool, pool raft, or air mattress, you might cut it to lay flat and wrap around the mattress. It would be harder to chew through.

If you go the squishing route as Faith-Manor said, you might squish and roll a plastic layer right up with the squished foam to make it harder for air to get back into the layers. Then maybe tape with duct tape.

[Annie G]

30 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

Also, I have been told that lavender, rosemary, and mint is the trifecta of "stay away" for rodents and insects. I do not know if that is actually true. But, just figured I would add that. Everyone can choose to try it at their own peril! 😁

It would at least smell nice. 😁

[itsheresomewhere]

2 hours ago, kbutton said:

I think the issue with getting through layers is to use multiple layers and/or more difficult materials like a tarp. So maybe something inexpensive on the outside of something more robust. If you have those Bagster service bags near you, they are pretty heavy duty stuff--tarplike but different. You buy the bag and pay the service later, so if you just wanted to fashion a fancy tarp out of one, you don't have to pay the pickup fee (unless something has changed).

If you have a punctured but clean kiddie pool, pool raft, or air mattress, you might cut it to lay flat and wrap around the mattress. It would be harder to chew through.

If you go the squishing route as Faith-Manor said, you might squish and roll a plastic layer right up with the squished foam to make it harder for air to get back into the layers. Then maybe tape with duct tape.

Mice here ate through the put away deflated easy set pool like it was butter.  Those are a bit thicker than a kiddie pool.  That was the one dang time I didn’t use mint when storing something..

[prairiewindmomma]

Can you get it small enough to fit into galvanized steel trashcans (like the Behrens 20 gallon) or a metal footlocker? The only mouse proof containers we had on the ranch were metal. It needs to have smoothish straight sides (ie no ledges).