Clearing Out Your Wardrobe to Gain Storage Space

There are so many reality television shows that depict how we, as human beings, hoard a lot of things. Typically, items in our homes fall into just two categories: wants and needs. At the start, we would usually be able to tell our desire to buy things as a need or a want. However, as we move along our everyday life, the advent of internet, information is readily pushed our way – that this item is good for you or good for the household, yet our vision gets blurry that we sometimes mistaken the need to be a want. Hence, we end up buying and accumulating items that we usually do not need at all. And the biggest purchases that we tend to mistake our need to be want are clothing and clothing accessories. This does not only goes out to women, but believe me, it also applies to men (as there are more and more metro sexual men nowadays).

Apart from walking down retail shops and shopping malls, attracting us with discounts and promotions, there is also the convenience of online shopping. Our email pops up with all the promotional emails and these tend to be very attractive! Even if categorizing these emails, as spam is as easy as a click, we tend not to do it since we are still ‘wanting’ to have the first option to buy something that we want at a very discounted price. Nevertheless, even if the price is not that attractive, but so long as there is a discount, we just buy the item!

One of the storage spaces that easily gets filled up is our closet or wardrobe. Wardrobes can easily become overcrowded as you buy new clothes with each passing season and some clothes become worn out or unfashionable. Sometimes you can’t just throw these away as you have just worn these once and the cuts and designs are classic designs. However, instead of filling up your clothing storage, there are some simple ways to make sure you can always see what you really have in your wardrobe:

• Give it away - anything that you haven't worn in a while can be given away to charity or thrown out if it is worn out. Usually, you would give away something that you have not worn for 6 months or if you see that the buttons are falling off. Someone would be willing to sew the buttons and use your piece of clothing.
• Sell it – These are pre-loved. If you can find some good clothes that you no longer want, and you have only used these once (and not even for a couple of hours), just sell them on Ebay or in a garage sale to earn some extra cash.
• Store it – These are usually winter clothing that are bulky and take up a lot of storage space. Buy vacuum bags and place these in empty cupboards in your home and even some mobile storage units that you can store in the attic. These are great ways to keep your clothes but free up precious wardrobe real estate.
• Think seasonal – Just like any other inventory, try to move your clothes around in storage season by season. For instance, in summer you can pack all your jumpers and winter woolies away until it gets cold again. You can go back to the previous item, wherein you can store these in vacuum bags and have these in storage somewhere in the home, like an attic. 
• Create sections – It is still best to organize your wardrobe. Create some sections within your wardrobe space and have some small storage for your accessories, or even underwear. Don't let your clothing become jumbled; otherwise it is very difficult to find what you need. Instead have specific sections for your clothes and accessories for easy access. If not, you will end up not using some of the items while some will be worn out in no time. 

Sounds simple? Yes, it is! Although you always hear this from friends and family members, especially if they had the chance to take a peek of your closet, it is still best to see these simple ways on how to clear your wardrobe space. Don’t wait for your pieces of clothing to tumble on you when you pull something out. Treat this storage space as their home, where they also need to be organized and be pretty from the inside and out. Once you have done such, your life will be easier and you will be able to find what you need to wear for the day.

Clearing Household Clutter with a Garage Sale

Doing spring-cleaning once in a while at home is therapeutic for most of us – it keeps you occupied and clears your household with all the clutter that you have accumulated. Some say that by clearing your household with the clutter, you are also giving yourself some much needed space to breathe and be able to have a better and ‘cleaner’ perspective of things. Having some ‘eye’ space – a cleaner and more spacious area for your eyes to roam around in your household, you could think clearly and put things in a better perspective of things.

There are a few of those who would donate to charity some of the clutter that are still in good condition, while for those who are some entrepreneurial spirit in them, although half goes to charity, the other half would be put up for sale. Hence, there comes about the garage sale, which does not only bring about some extra cash, but friends and family members re-kindling friendships and relationships and just have a good conversation!

Garage sales happen mostly when people are moving, apart from just doing your annual or regular spring-cleaning. For those who are relocating, throwing a garage sale before your house move not only clears away the clutter but it can also raise a few dollars to pay for packing materials and removalists. It helps you defray some of the costs of moving, no matter how small the earnings will be.

When moving you always have two options when clearing out your items – to keep them in storage or just do away with it. Garage sales or donating it to charity would be good as you create some space, earn some money, and keep your costs down when it comes to storage. While you will want to keep some items in storage, anything you won't need at your new address can be organised and sold. Once you are done with the sorting, creating some publicity for your garage sale would be the next week. You need to sell these off before your big move; otherwise, you are left with the same dilemma of having too many items on hand.

Here are a few ways to make your garage sale a successful one:

• Create strong signage and add it to poles, fences and notice boards in your local area. If you have a lot of items place an advertisement in the local paper as well. Just try to manage your costs on the advertisement page. One of the objectives you have in mind is to earn at least some cash and if your advertisement costs are higher than your projected income, then it defeats the purpose. Might as well give these items away. 
• Make sure your prices are much cheaper than retail price. Remember, you're not trying to make a profit, just clear your unwanted items.
• Have cheap tables and baskets of $1 and $5 items. If not, request people to bring their own bag, and if they do, you give them $1 off. You are at least doing your part of being environment friendly. 
• Make sure you have a power cord and batteries so people can test any toys or electronic equipment.
• Keep your big money items (or things you really want to get rid of) front and centre just like you would in a store.
• Have some plastic covers in case there is a slight chance of drizzle. It is better to sell items that are dry rather than wet and damp. It might reduce the price you set.

These are just one of the few items you need to note when having a garage sale. Regardles of how big the scale is or not, you still need to publicize it; otherwise, you will end up with more items in self storage, or might as well donate these to charity. It doesn’t hurt to earn a little bit to defray the costs of moving.

Tips on How To Move Your Business The Smart Way

“Location, location, location.” This is what you always hear during your management classes or entrepreneurs when they hear you putting up a business. Location means that you are easily accessible by your customers or that you can easily reach out to them when they need you. That is why, it is always good to do your due diligence every now and then to understand where your target audience is and how you can better serve them by being accessible. Don’t be intimidated by the thought of moving and what goes with it. Moving to a new location, indeed, entails a lot of challenges along the way (assuming that you have already found the best location to move to) – sorting your current things on what to bring and what to leave or throw away, seeking self storage facilities near the new location while waiting for the latter to be ready, and unpacking and making sure that everyone knows where you are right now. Don’t fret since despite these stressful activities, relation is good. Change is good.

Relocating a business is always good if it is well organized. It can mean moving to a better location, increasing the size of its premises or simply finding a better deal on its lease. Moving to a new location can give you and your business a new start, even if you are already in the business for a while. It will clear your vision on how to do things and how to do business. It can be challenging, as you need to do a lot of tasks before, during and after the actual move, but whatever countless ways on how you view it, relocation is often a good means of expansion.

Business owners or entrepreneurs looking to relocate should consider their access to a suitable workforce. This means finding premises that are either close to public transport or a population centre. If a business requires educated or specialised workers, this will affect the location decision.

There are a number of things that you, as a business owner, need to consider.  One of the most important considerations is your accessibility to your customers. It is a moot point to relocate to a nice and cozy location if your customers have a hard time finding you or, as a business owner, you hava hard time reaching out to your customers. This will just make your costs of maintaining the business go up, that in the long run, it is not cost effective anymore. But once you are sure and made a good business study that relocation is indeed good for your business, then you are set to move!

Other costs that businesses should consider are the costs of relocating. Apart from being near to your customers and getting the best deal on the lowest lease you can get, you also would like to consider an accessible area that is cost effective for you when you move. Relocation charges can be very expensive, especially if you are moving to a place where it is not accessible to movers or relocation companies and you pay a higher premium for them to make it happen. It is sometimes now cost effective in the long run for moving to a lower cost area further away may save on rent but carry more expensive moving charges.

There are also cases wherein you relocate because you want to downsize your business office. But you have inventory that requires some storage for a period of time, but the movement of the inventory is quite fast and you do not need a big storage space at any given point in time. As a business, you will also have to decide what to do with unwanted stock or inventory and furniture from their current location, especially if downsizing. If your current space is just for office, and it makes sense to hire a self storage facility, work out the costs.

Sometimes it can be cheaper in the long run, rather than have a permanent office and self storage space that in most times, the storage space is under utilized. Find reliable and trustworthy self storage near Sydney. Work out a contract that would allow you to expand you storage space a little when you need it, and shrink it down when you don’t need that much space. Even if this may mean paying a little extra for short-to-medium term storage, as a business may want extra shop fittings and stock at a later date when it expands.

Relocation can be good, especially with proper planning. Don’t be daunted by the costs you are faced, but work out the costs over a longer period of time. Once you see the bigger picture, you will be able to say that relocation is indeed better for you and your business.

Declutter Your Home with Ease

It is sometimes innate for us to hoard items without knowing it. We seem to find things to buy even if these are items that we actually do not have any use of. This is especially true if we think that we have enough space at home, when in reality we do not. We continually build up the amount of items we have at home that we end up with a lot of clutter. If you really check on these items, half of these (or even more than half of these!) are things that you do not actually need. But what can we do, then? It is simple – de-clutter your home!

If you go to every space that you have at home – rooms, cupboards, cabinets or even shelves – you will be surprised that most of the items you will find are those that you have not used for a long time. At least for six months or more! Without a regular cleanup you can quickly find that cupboards, spare rooms, and other parts of the home become cluttered and you need to unload some of these items out of our home. To maintain a clutter-free home, it is important to be ruthless about what you keep and what you throw away. You just have to ask yourself a few simple and heartless questions – “Do I need this in the next 3 months or more?” or “Will I ever get to use this at some point in time?” If you find that you do not find any use for these items then it is about time to do away of these things.

Spring-cleaning is just the way to go. Do a regular general cleaning of the house. If you have kids, make it more fun for them so that they will help you or even have an easier time to clean their closets. Have a contest among your kids – whoever donates the most toys they do not need, they win something of value to them like a free movie with two of their friends. If you are living alone and just need to get it over and done with, why not make it more fun and profitable for you? Why not do a garage sale, instead? Don’t price the items too high, but just enough to get these disposed and earn a little money at the same time. For those items that are ‘un-usable’ just close one eye and throw it away. Sometimes, it is better that way.

During a spring-clean, regardless whether you are moving houses or not, ensure you are not keeping anything you won't need again. This applies to everything from clothes to the food in your cupboard. Give yourself plenty of time to sort through each room.

If you find that there are items that you do not immediately need, but cannot bring yourself to throw away, consider renting some storage space. This will give you extra space to reorganise your home without the need to throw away or sell things you may want later. However, do always remember that renting mobile storage modules in Sydney is not permanent. You will soon forget that you have one, and later on, you end up with more clutter at home and at the storage facility. So, try to re-visit some of the items in stored in the facility, and see if you can throw away most of these.

When you get into the same cycle of de-cluttering, then hoarding, follow this simple steps – look at what you have at the moment, ask the basic and simple questions of whether you need any of the items immediate, sort the items to things you need, things you can donate, and items that you can throw away (be ruthless in this part), and last but not the least do that actual donating or throwing away of things.

Once you have de-cluttered your house, just remember to make sure that you have follow-up by cleaning regularly and packing away what doesn’t get used.

Moving Your Bedroom Items

When moving house there is always a lot to do and the bedroom can often be one of the trickiest rooms to sort, clean, and pack. If you have a large family this means organizing multiple people, and multiple rooms full of clothing, personal belongings, toys and furniture.

You should always start off by packing those rooms that aren’t in regular use, such as the attic, the guest bedroom, the garden shed and garage, and even large closets. Then turn your attention to the main bedrooms. First sort through all the clothing and personal items in each bedroom, get the member of the family whose room it is to help too even if they are still young as this will make them feel easier about the upcoming move too, together you can decide what is to be taken to the new house.

Kids especially grow out of clothes and toys very quickly so it is very likely that you’ll soon have a growing mound of unwanted items to get rid of. This is good news for the new property as it won’t be as cluttered, but the bad news is that it will take up valuable time to organize, which is why it’s always best to make a detailed plan before moving with regards as to what needs accomplishing first and always give plenty of time to get things like this done as they will take a while.

Make different piles with items to be given away, items to be thrown away and those to be kept. Start sorting through the clothes that are to be kept and make sure they are packed in marked boxes so they can be placed in the right room in the new home. Try to keep clothing boxes sealed so they don't get dirty during the move. Also put shoes in separate containers - you don't want your clothing to smell of cheesy feet!

If you really want more space at the next house then try and encourage the kids to give some of their things away, clothes they have outgrown and toys they are too old for now. If they still really can’t bear to part with certain belongings then consider putting some things into a storage facility as they are very affordable and will keep things safe until it’s decided what’s to be done with them. You can rent a storage unit at a low storage price and clear space whilst keeping everyone happy at the same time.

Next clear out the linen and other bedding and pack it away in black bags or boxed. Personal items in the room can be sorted through and kept or discarded so in the end there is only the furniture left to deal with. Larger pieces of furniture can usually be dismantled, for example beds can be taken apart so it’s easier to move them and wardrobes too.

What Can You Put into Storage?

It’s taken as the norm these days that most homes simply aren’t big enough to contain all the items a family owns, that’s why more and more are turning to storage units to take control of the chaos in their house.

Storage facilities offer flexible solutions for keeping household and business items safe when you do not need to use them on a daily basis. However, there are some restrictions common to most storage unit providers around the country. This is due to legal and safety considerations on the part of the storage company.

Common restrictions include: 

• Combustible materials such as chemicals, gas and fuel
• Live animals or plant materials
• Firearms - although there are some conditions where these are allowed
• Illegal goods, stolen goods or restricted substances.

Some goods may not be subject to restriction but could require specialised storage, such as wine which requires a controlled temperature.

Large items for weekend and holiday entertainment purposes are common things that end up in storage units as people simply don’t have the space for them. These include things like canoes and small rowing boats, windsurfing and parasailing gear, surfboards and other similar items that take up a lot of space but aren’t used on a regular basis.

There are some people that like to collect cars, or have a spare vehicle that is taking up space outside the home but rarely driven. Everyone has their reasons as to why they don’t want to sell these vehicles and so putting them into storage means they are safe and kept out of the rain and wet, this also applies to motorbikes, and boats that need to be sheltered.

Most things you keep in the house are allowed to be put into storage; this includes furniture and household items, kitchen utensils and carpets, shelving, wardrobes, beds and sofas. Self storage gives the perfect opportunity to declutter the premises, store belongings safely, or put away items that you want to keep but are simply in the way at home.

Facilities generally offer two types of storage services that can accommodate businesses and private clients. Business storage is ideal for archiving sensitive or confidential documents, client records and files, and is generally much safer than keeping them under lock and key in the company office. Excess stock, surplus materials and promotional equipment and literature are also often put into storage until they’re needed again so they don’t take up all the space at the business premises.

People like to put their personal possessions into self storage if they are sharing a house with other lodgers or the house is simply too small to hold all their belongings. It means they can go and look at them whenever they feel like it and don’t have to throw things away that could offer memories from their childhood or some other happy occasion.

Ask your storage provider if you have something that requires storage but are unsure if it is allowed. Most household items will be fine to keep in storage and you will only be limited to the size of the mobile storage module or facility.

What Unusual Things Have Been Found in Storage Units?

Self storage facilities are used by residents and businesses for all kinds of reasons, from families simply looking for a storage space for a few months, to individuals who like to collect and never throw anything away. While storage units usually contain old documents and files, antique furniture and general household items, over the years some companies have found some truly bizarre items.

When someone stops paying the rent on their storage unit the company gives them a certain period of time to clear the debt, but if the payment still isn’t forthcoming the unit often ends up being sold off in a self storage auction sale. There are plenty of people out there who take a risk when buying a storage unit at auction; they either end up paying a thousand dollars or more for a unit that just contains a pile of junk or a hundred dollars and strike lucky. 

Here are just some of the surprises people have got when opening an abandoned storage unit:

• The dearly departed - yes, it is more common than you might think for human remains (such as ashes) to be found in storage units. In one case in Florida in the United States a family stored their grandmother's body for almost 20 years after her death!
• Weapons - guns are more common in US storage units, so that isn't entirely unusual. However, there have been cases of live hand grenades and other more serious munitions found in storage.
• Long lost music - it seems a storage unit belonging to Michael Jackson's father Joe was the home of over two hundred songs by the pop artist that had never been released.
• Treasure - in one case in San Jose, a man found over half a million dollars worth of bullion, gold and silver ingots, and rare coins, valued at thousands of dollars, after he invested just over $1,000 to buy the contents of the unit without knowing what was inside.
• Space materials – a storage unit in the neighbourhood of Cape Canaveral in Florida revealed its contents as a rocket from the NASA base and a countdown clock.
• Body parts – a medical examiner kept his unit stocked with brains, lungs and body tissue and other body parts that when discovered came to the grand total of 100 different people! Seems he liked to carry out private autopsies and then store the parts in plastic Tupperware.

As you can see storage units are used for all kinds of things, they’ve been known to be the venue for parties and get-together's for guys, some people have based their offices in them, and there was a case where a woman lived in one with her young child for 5 years! This shows you just how flexible and adaptable they can be and how imaginative people can be when hiring one.

Protecting Fragile Household Items During a Move

Moving belongings to a new house can be a mammoth task and can be quite stressful for the home-owner, and there is enough going on when moving without the added factor of worrying about things getting broken.
While some household items can be packed without much chance of damage, others need to be packed very carefully if they are to arrive in the same state as they left.

Anything fragile, such as glassware and china, are the most likely items to be damaged in a move. Provide fragile items with plenty of protection by wrapping each piece separately and placing them carefully in a hard box, this can be cardboard as long as it’s tough and good quality, or invest in durable plastic boxes with handles, making sure there is no room for the items to move around. Stuff the empty space around the items with extra padding, newspaper or old magazines are fine and do the job just as well, but if you have bubble wrap then even better.

Padding in-between each item will stop them from banging against each other which could lead to breakages or cracks, plates for example should be packed separately and placed on top of each other at the bottom of the box as they are flat and heavy.

Art pieces can be easily damaged in a move because they are often delicate, large, or irregularly shaped.

These kinds of valuable things should always be kept separate from regular household items; you might even want to take them to the new house yourself by car. For smaller items wrap them well in bubble wrap or similar padding and pack them in sturdy boxes, if they are quite large then a moving blanket might make more sense as it acts as a very effective padding material. Consider hiring an art transport company to do the job if you are really anxious, or at the very least insure expensive artwork before the move.

Always check boxes containing fragile items are labelled accordingly, so that others helping with the move treat them with the care they need. You could even colour code the boxes, a bright colour for the fragile items would make these boxes stand out and remind the movers that there are breakables inside.

Large or oddly shaped furniture can be awkward to move. Ask others to help lift heavy objects to avoid damage to the furniture or physical injury to yourself. If you really do have a lot of things and are daunted by the thought of moving then why not hire the services of a professional moving company and make life easier?

Another good method of saving yourself some trouble is to make the move in little steps, start by moving the larger items to the new property and put other things into self-storage for safekeeping until you’re ready to collect it. This can make a move much more manageable as there is less to deal with on moving day, and as most good storage services will come and pick your things up you don’t even have to worry about getting to the facility for storage in Sydney!