Where can I safely store my stuff?

Question

I'd like to find a place to store stuff while I'm out adventuring, without spending 5000 on a house (at least, until I can afford that...). Where can I safely store items without worrying about them disappearing?

There are two possible places that come to mind, Gerdur's house (to which I have the key and was told I could stay), and the small bedroom given to me at the College of Winterhold (which I was told was mine, despite seeing J'zaro sitting in it later). Can I store items safely in either of these places?

Answer 1

Places you can safely store your items include any houses you buy, your companion(s), and your horse.

Places considered to be owned by you (and therefore contain safe containers) are (spoiler warning):

• Arch-Mage Quarters (after you become Arch-Mage)
• The Dawnstar Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary (After you've finished the Dark Brotherhood quest line)

I have personally stored items in my apprentice quarters in the College of Winterhold without problems, however others have had stuff go missing from there, so be careful.

Other containers may not be safe. Given what some other answers have said, Gerder's house does not seem like a safe place for long-term storage.

Answer 2

Your best bet is to get a house. If you need additional space now, maybe try storing the items in your horse or companion, or try out those two locations you mentioned with something inexpensive. See if it disappears.

Answer 3

The Skyrim manual states:

WARNING! Do not leave things in containers you do not own! They may not be there when you come back for them. Buying a house is one way of owning containers.

I, and Doug, have also stored items in the room assigned to you at Winterhold College and it appears safe.

EDIT: As stated in the comments below, the Winterhold College room is not safe. It just seemed safe to me at the time when the game was very new.

Answer 4

Don't tell anyone, but if you just dump stuff on the ground in cities, I'm pretty sure it's safe. You don't have to use chests at all!

I dumped this armour I had that I couldn't be bothered selling just outside Blue Hall (The Solitude Jarl's house) and 10 hours of game play later it's still there.

Answer 5

I stored in the chest in that house for 29 hours and I just lost thousands in reserve gold and even more in items.

I would say buy a house and store there, and never put all your eggs in one basket

Answer 6

You remember getting the house key at the start of the game? Hob and Gerdur's house in Riverwood is your safe house until you actually purchase your own. I always store my stuff in the barrel beside the bed and nothing has ever gone missing.

Answer 7

In addition to player-owned houses, there are some locations that do not respawn - and thus are safe for long-term storage.

One such location is the Abandoned House in Markarth. This is an especially useful location as you do not need to purchase it (therefore you don't need to have a sum of gold on hand). To gain access to this location you only need to begin the The House of Horrors quest - you need not finish it.

This can all be done very early in the game (by taking a cart from Whiterun to Markarth), making it a great storage location.

To more specifically answer your question: Neither Gerdur's House nor the College of Winterhold are safe places. If you follow the links from your question, you'll see that they both have a respawn time of 10 days.

Answer 8

The wardrobe in your bedroom in the College of Winterhold is definitely safe. I always use it and never had any kind of problem. Don't bother about J'zaro, he never takes your stuff. An interesting alternative is Anise's Cabin. You can safely store your items in the cupboard in the basement and it has an alchemy lab, an arcane enchanter and a bed. You may also be useful to take a look at this article about containers in Skyrim.

Answer 9

Basically, i like the aesthetic sort of play.. I like mining things and stacking the ingots on a table, or the floor. I Thought of a cool thing to do, find somewhere that is secret, like that place in the first town in the inn, and just leave stuff on the table in there, and its been about 40 hours real time since i left 50 gold bars there, nothing vanished. it would seem that NPCs lack the ability to pick up things that they see. Even in POHs i am too cautious to leave things in chests after playing oblivion. Another thing you could do is climb mountains and find moonstone ore, its quite expensive to sell, and before you know it youre rich.

Answer 10

I'm pretty sure the APPRENTICE quarters (in the Hall of Attainment) in the College of Winterhold is safe. However there is also a room in the Hall of Countenance that shows the bed as unowned - this is NOT a safe place to store anything, so don't get confused.