What makes the best underbed storage bag?

What to look for in an underbed storage bag?

As the brand with the widest range of underbed storage bags available, we here at Neusu know more about underbed storage than anyone would realistically want to. So, we’re here to try and explain some of the things to consider when choosing the best underbed storage bag for your needs.

Black Extra Large Underbed Storage Bag

There are five main points to look at when selecting an underbed bag:

  1. Proposed contents of the bag, both in terms of quantity and actual items (e.g shoes are a common requirement, but they have a very different bag design available to duvets)
  2. Size of the bed and space available under the bed (What is the clearance height for a bag to go under? Is there already something store underneath?
  3. Colour of the bag required, which is normally dictated by the colour of the carpet in the room
  4. Material the bag is made from (polyester vs natural is the normal choice and they both have benefits and drawbacks)
  5. Quality – not all bags are the same, even if they claim to be made from the same material.

This is before you get into the design of the bag itself and how well it has been manufactured. For example, most of Neusu’s underbed storage bags are made with four handles to allow you to manoeuvre the bag without ripping it, whereas most other designs only have a single handle to keep the cost of manufacture down.

What exactly is it that you need to store?

This is probably the best starting place when looking for an underbed storage solution. Most common answers are duvets and bedding, clothes or shoes. If it’s anything other than shoes, then you are looking for a general underbed bag with a single compartment. If you are wanting to store shoes, then there are specific underbed shoe storage bags available with a compartment for each pair to keep them well protected.

Assuming you are looking for a general purpose storage solution, then the next question is how much do you need to store? It could be anything from a single lightweight duvet through to a couple of winter weight king size duvets with pillows. Most companies only produce one or two sizes of underbed storage bags, but the Neusu range incorporates the following capacities: 70 Litre, 80 Litre, 100 Litre, 110 Litre, 130 Litre, 150 Litre and 180 Litre, so you can see that we have a lot to choose from. The smaller sizes (70 & 80) are suitable for a single duvet set or a kingsize duvet by itself. The 100-130 range can take a kingsize duvet and pillows or two double duvets, and the 150-180 can handle multiple kingsize duvets. In each case though, you need to check the other criteria to ensure that the bag will fit under your beds.

We’ll consider the sizing implications in depth below.

How much space dictates how big a bag (duh!)

There are two things to consider regarding sizing of your ideal underbed bag. The first is the floor space under the bed – if you already have bags under there, how much space is left? Assuming you are starting from an empty position, you may think that you can only expect to get one bag under any bed, but in truth even single beds can handle more than one underbed bag. Here’s a rough guide to mattress sizes in the UK, which gives you an idea of the area available which you can then cross reference with the sizes of the underbed bags. We’ve given a rough estimate of which Neusu underbed storage bags will fit under each bed, but you should fully measure under your own bed beforehand as all sizes are estimates.

Bed / Mattress sizesDimensions in cmsDimensions in InchesEstimated bag capacity
Small / Children’s Single190cm x 75cm74.8″ x 29.5″2 x Large (80 Litres)
Single190cm x 90cm74.8″ x 35.4″1 x XL (130 Litres) & 1 x Large (80 Litres)
Double (Small / Queen)190cm x 120cm74.8″ x 47.2″2 x XL (130 Litres)
Double200cm x 135cm78.7″ x 53.1″2 x XL (130 Litres) & 1 x Jumbo (180 Litres)
Kingsize200cm x 150cm78.7″ x 59″2 x Jumbo (180 Litres) & 1 x XL (130 Litres)

Of course, you may want to substitute in different bags, so have more Large bags versus one of the Jumbo bags. These are given as suggestions only and by measuring the space under your bed and comparing with the dimensions given on each of our bags, you will be able to work out how much you can get under your own bed. One tip we should note here, which is to ensure you leave some space under the side of each bed so that the bags don’t come right up to the edge or poke out. Ideally you want them sat back under the bed and that way they will hardly be noticeable, but still easy to get out when you need them.

Don’t forget the clearance height!
So far though we have only talked about the area under the bed, but there is one more very important measurement that you must take into account when selecting the right size of bed, and that is the clearance space, or height beneath the bed. It goes without saying, but divan beds have no underbed space for use as storage, but even in non-divan beds there are differences in height. The normal height of an underbed bag is 18cm, and indeed most of the Neusu range is that height. However, some beds are lower so most underbed storage bags won’t fit, while others are more which means you are wasting space.

You can probably guess where the leading specialist in underbed storage bags is going with this… Neusu has also got a range for both, with Slimline bags offering 70L, 110L and 150L capacities but only 15cm tall for lower beds and then Full Depth bags of 20cm for taller beds, available in 100L and 150L capacities. You can browse the entire range of Neusu underbed storage here.

Choice Matters

Again, most manufacturers just have the one colour of bag, beige. While all of our range is available in beige as it is a neutral colour, we also know that lots of people have darker carpets, against which beige stands out. So many of the Neusu underbed bags are also available in black, and some also in blue. If you think that your bag may be visible from under the bed and you have a darker carpet, then look for one of the darker coloured bags as they will blend in better.

A quick word about materials (if you want to know more, check out our exhaustive post on materials used in underbed bags). This basically comes down to a choice of man made fibres or natural.

Underbed Storage Bag Dimensions

Natural sounds like the most obvious choice, but avoid anything made from lightweight materials – cotton wouldn’t last long! Canvas is a good choice, but it needs to be genuine canvas (some unscrupulous companies label anything as canvas as if it is a generic term, so you actually get polyester). However, it needs to be a heavy canvas so that it won’t rip, which makes them much more expensive than alternatives. Additionally, canvas underbed bags are not often backed (as that would require a waterproof and manmade material backing such as PVC, so would stop the bag being natural) so while that does mean they will breathe, it also means they are not damp proof.

Manmade fibres are split into two – non-woven and polyester. Non-woven is a cheap material, and while it can be good (we use in in our foldable boxes at 100-120gsm), most cheap bags are 60gsm or 80gsm and rip extremely quickly, which is why most of these sorts of bags are rated 1 or 2 stars by users. To our mind, non-woven is simply not an appropriate material for underbed bags, full stop.

This leaves polyester, which is what Neusu uses in the majority of our underbed storage bags. Again, as with canvas, it needs to be a decent weight, and ours are 600D which is about the toughest that you can reasonably sew. Some 600D polyesters can still be a little lightweight – it’s the old adage about all things are not equal, so you do need to ensure that you trust the brand. All Neusu bags use the same heavy duty 600D material.

Lastly, this leaves the backing – most manufacturers use the cheaper PVC to back their bags, but Neusu bags are backed with PE. We had to have this material specially sourced for our bags, but it has two advantages: firstly it is more environmentally friendly to create and secondly it does produce the same plastic smell that cheaper bags can have. Any smell from PE dissipates in seconds.

Hopefully this explains why we believe Neusu Underbed Storage Bags are the best made bags you can buy, but if even this isn’t enough to convince you then let’s have one last word on quality.

Quality Quality Quality

We’ve spoken at length about the quality of the materials that go into our Neusu underbed bags and why that should be one of your considerations when choosing an underbed storage bag, but there are other quality issues to consider as well.

Aside from the smaller 80L bag which only requires one handle, all of the Neusu Underbed Bags are designed with four web-stitched, reinforced handles: two on the front and one on each end. This allows you to move the bag when full and twist and turn it under the bed more easily and with less chance of ripping the handle off. Most designs only offer a single handle.

We only use grade 3 zips (most use 1 or 2) to ensure that they are stronger and less likely to fail. All our bags outside the smaller 80 Litres also have two zippers so you can open and close from each side and leave the zippers in the middle for easier access when pulling it back out from under the bed – these small design features enhance the quality of our bags and may cost us a little more, our customers have been clear that they appreciate our efforts, so we stick to our designs.

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