Anyone Played Skyrim (Elder Scrolls V) Yet?

[Minty]

When you start playing Skyrim, one of the most annoying features is having nowhere to store your stuff safely until you can afford to buy a home. This means many trips to the various crafting stations with only whatever items you can carry before selling them immediately, rather than storing several raid's worth in a trunk, doing lots of them in one convenient go when you're in the mood, selling what's worth your while and keeping others bits to use to skill up with for Smithing, Alchemy and Enchanting.

But there are in fact some places you can use for free without worrying about losing your hard won loot.

Here's a handy list of good free homes to use in the game, and where to find them.

Mixwater Mill Workers Homes, nr Kynesgrove (Eastmarch)



Bang on the main road from Whiterun to Windhelm, you can use the Worker’s Home here as no one else does to store stuff in and use as a base. There’s only one person here, Gilfre the owner, who lives across the way and she won’t object.

The one drawback is that it’s right in the middle between two areas that suffer regular sorties from dragons against the giants on the other side of the river, and they’re not averse to having a pop at you.

However, if you simply hide behind the Workers Home (on the east side), this is a blind spot for the dragons: they know you’re there, but there’s nowhere for them to get low enough to blast you, so they leave you alone and fly off to find a giant to annoy.

There’s also the Riverside Shack to the north east of it, but since the previous occupant was eaten by a bear due to its alfresco nature, would you want to sleep in it or store your stuff?

The Alchemist’s Shack, nr Iverstead (The Rift)



Almost like a 10x10 starterhome in Sims 3! The end table by the bed doesn’t respawn, which makes it ideal for using to store things in that you want to come back to later on after travelling away.

Drela’s Cottage nr Morthal (Hjaalmarch)




Once you’ve killed the nasty piece of work in there, this becomes a neat little home base. The only snag is that it’s slap bang on the flight path of one of the dragons forever annoying the Morthalians from Elderblood’s Peak (a place where dragons just keep on respawning all game long, and which is a real bitch to clear of them). But again, hide behind the cottage and the dragon’s humped.

Alva’s House, in Morthal (Hjaalmarch)



Once you’ve got rid of its occupants (in the quest you’ll get sucked into the moment you get here), you have Alva’s House to do with as you please. Two big chests and a wardrobe all waiting to house your
junk, as well as the barrels. There's also a cellar.

Lund’s Hut nr Rorikstead (Whiterun)



Right on the Reach/Whiterun border, and a stone’s throw from that of Hjaalmarch, its occupant is dead and the inside and outside are overrun with Skeevers. Kill them and you have a base to use at a pinch.