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The most important thing is to keep your records standing upright, like on a bookshelf, not stacked flat on top of each other. The weight crushes the vinyl and distorts the sound over time. Store them in a room with stable temperature (around 15-20°C) and not too high humidity, ideally between 40-50%. Temperature swings are just as bad as excessive humidity, which encourages mold and oxidation.
Clean your records only when needed, and do it with a soft microfiber cloth moving from the center outward, never the other way around. There are specific vinyl brushes that don't cost much and work well. After cleaning, put them back in their original sleeves or in new quality cases - avoid cheap sleeves that shed dust. If the original sleeves are damaged, specialized vinyl sleeves are inexpensive on Amazon or in music shops.
Keep them away from direct light, especially sunlight, which fades the covers and degrades the vinyl itself. In damp basements or garages they'll end up in bad shape, so a bedroom closet is better than an underground storage room. If you have particularly rare or valuable records, consider getting insurance or at least taking photos to document them.
A mistake I see people make a lot is keeping vinyl records in environments with high humidity or temperature fluctuations - vinyl warps easily and once it's damaged there's no going back. If you're keeping them at home, a stable room is better, not a basement or attic where humidity and heat do damage. The original sleeves matter too: if they're deteriorated, consider putting them in new acid-free inner sleeves, because old paper can transfer substances that dull the record over time.
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