We’ve just inked a national deal with DX Business Direct who are a leading independent mail, courier and secure logistics company. The deal will see DX Business Direct place dedicated ParcelXchange depots in 18 of our Big Yellow Self Storage store forecourts across the country.
ParcelXchange offer a series of intelligent lockers with built in track-and-trace functions which enable businesses to dispatch parts nationwide for engineer collection via an overnight delivery service. The service can reduce distribution costs, improve stock control and increase engineer efficiency. The lockers on Big Yellow forecourts will provide 24/7 access to the virtual depot and a state of the art security system with pin code entry.
The role out of lockers is expected to be complete by the end of June 2011 and there is a possibility that the partnership could extend to more Big Yellow stores in the future.
Click here to take a look at what ParcelXchange can offer you.
Deciding how to store items in your home is a very important part of de-cluttering and getting organised. The following tips will help you make quick and valuable decisions which will help you organise all areas of your home.
Hallway – Sort through your collection of scarves, hats, coats and other items of clothing that take up space. You can keep the items that are used daily or weekly as any of the excess items can be moved into a nearby cupboard, donated to charity or put in a self storage room.
Living Room – Old books, DVDs and CDs are the usual culprits so lose the bits and pieces and only display your most prized possessions.
Kitchen – The main source of frustration in a kitchen is overstuffed cabinets and drawers filled with duplicate kitchenware, dishes that are used only on special occasions, mismatched containers and appliances that you no longer use. If you can’t bear to part with an item consider relocating it or putting the items in storage.
Closets – It’s time to be strong and clear out those items that haven’t been worn in the last year, no longer fit or are out of style.
Bathrooms – Throw away any items that have expired or those that are no longer in use. Items such as toothbrushes can be kept in holders to save space and keep them clean.
Office – Any paperwork that can be found on a website or email should be recycled. Filing systems can help you minimise the inflow of paperwork and help reduce your existing paperwork piles.
Kids Room – Teaching children the concept of ‘one in, one out’ can stop toys from becoming jumbled and cluttered on the floor.
Garage –When you clear space in your house, boxes of old clothing, sports equipment and extra furnishings usually end up in the garage and will never return inside your home. To create a vast amount of free space you can donate the items or keep them in self storage.
As you prepare to move house, there’s inevitably going to be a lot of clothing, possessions and gadgets that you don’t need any more. While the most important things that you can’t quite part with – or simply don’t quite need to be a part of your new home immediately – can go into self storage, the sites below will help you get rid of the things you no longer want and make some money in the process!
eBay - the original and biggest auction site, sell anything here from cars to computers on your own terms.
Gumtree – started in March 2000 as a local London classified ads and community site, it is designed to connect people who are either planning to move, or had just arrived in the city, and needed help getting started with accommodation, employment and meeting new people. Now a much more comprehensive offering, it covers 60 countries and allows you to find or advertise everything from a nanny for your kids to a bargain for the living room.
Amazon – Amazon.co.uk includes a feature in which you can enter your own goods into its seller’s marketplace. This means that you can add your books, clothes or toys to its main directory, and while buyers are scrolling through the products, they can choose your item if the price is right.
Spring is coming to an end, and summer is just around the corner. At this time of year, many people have spent weeks cleaning the house, de-cluttering, storing away stuff for safe keeping – and are feeling that air of change. If you’re planning to sell your home, the sites below will provide advice and gets things moving from your own front room.
Tepilo – Sarah Beeny’s smarter way to buy, sell or let a property. Though some people will always prefer to use an estate agent, for those that like to take control of the sale/rental of a property, this site simplifies and explains the whole process – which is often perceived as something more complicated than it really is.
Globrix - In 2008, Globrix.com launched as a joint venture with News International, the media company behind The Times, The Sun and The News of the World. Since then, Globrix.com has quickly grown to become an award winning property search engine, listing more UK properties to buy or rent than any other property site.
Rightmove – Rightmove.co.uk is the UK’s number one property website, aiming to be the place for UK home movers to find details of all properties available to buy or rent. It’s a more convenient and effective way for people to find their next home, including: up-to-date property information, available for free, accessible 24 hours a day to anyone with web access and far more complete in terms of number of properties and depth of detail.
One of the most precious of childhood toys is the stuffed animal. It holds endless memories, attends countless tea parties and accompanies many kids everywhere they go. As such, when it’s time to put them away, a lot of attention needs to be paid to getting it right – whether it’s a short term or long term option.
First up – do you want to put them on display, or away for safe keeping? If it’s the former, you can use shelves to display the toys, bearing in mind that they’ll accumulate dust – so a boxed self storage room with doors might be a good option. Or, buy an easy to open toy box, though it’s important to consider safety when selecting furniture for a child’s room. Be sure that features such as height and weight are taken into consideration. You could also use a mesh laundry bag to keep toys off of the floor, or put smaller toys into the pockets of a shoe hanger for easy and visible storage.
If they’re being stored away from sight or in a self storage room, you can put unused stuffed animals in plastic bins with secure lids for easy storage in the attic or garage. If you purchase bins of the same size and shape, multiple bins may be stacked more efficiently and take up less space. Wrap antique bears or toys in acid-free tissue paper and store them in archival or acid-free boxes when not on display. Be careful not to over-stuff the boxes as this can matt or crush the fur.
You can find all manner of packing supplies at Big Yellow Self Storage to help keep your items in top condition when storing from plastic boxes to tissue paper. Visit our Box Shop online to view the range.
Have a handy tip to ensure precious keepsakes stand the test of time? Let us know your suggestions in the comments area below.
Did you know that the magpie – like all crows – does not have a musical voice and instead uses shiny objects stored in its nest to attract a mate? As with so many aspects of evolution – its reputation for stealing things is actually a feature of selection within its species.
Magpies collect and display objects with reflective surfaces in an attempt to find a partner, as the bird with the most objects of highest quality gets the strongest mate.
The birds will reputedly steal jewellery, silver and metals, earning them the name ‘The Thieving Magpie’. Rossini wrote an opera of this name (La Gazza Ladra). It concerns a French servant-girl who is accused of theft. She is tried, found guilty and executed. Later, the true culprit is revealed: a magpie. In remorse, the town organises an annual ‘Mass of the Magpies’ to pray for her soul. The title The Thieving Magpie was later used by progressive rock band Marillion for one of their albums.
We don’t condone stealing at Big Yellow Self Storage. If you’d like to store your valuables for safe keeping we provide 24 hour digital CCTV and every self storage room has its own alarm for you own peace of mind. We also have coded electronic gates, perimeter security fencing, smoke detectors and fire alarms to protect your things. All corridors are well lit, and all floors have an emergency phone just in case you need us. Visit our Quote and reserve online page to find out how you can benefit from self storage.
Do you think our friend the magpie has a bad reputation? Or is it a symbol of something else? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Big Yellow Self Storage has been happy to give a helping hand to Read International, a fantastic charity and the UK’s one-stop-shop for book donations. They have crafted a hugely inspiring network of students who volunteer at 45 universities across Britain accepting any disused books from anyone and everyone and then ship these to Tanzania and Uganda. These much needed donations give kids in these countries the chance to benefit from books that their schools could never usually afford.
Over 564,000 books have been shipped to date, a great success for them! Because they’re so successful in their donation drives that they acquire a large amount of books before they’re all ready for shipping without having the facilities to store them all. This is where we have been able to help with the cause as we’ve donated space where Read International can house these, sort them and get them ready for shipping. We’re delighted to work with Read International and help them with their great achievements.
To find out how you can get active with READ International or donate books to the project please visit their Facebook group.
Recently our Norwich & Edinburgh branches helped Read International deliver a vast stock of books, view the images in our slide show below.
Do you have a favourite charity that you support? Let us know what yours is in the comment section below.
Did you know that the most creative – and often efficient – use of innovative self storage strategy can actually be found in airports all around the world? From bras filled with snakes to primates stored in trouser pockets, some people try sneaking plainly ridiculous things through customs using methods that are quite frankly bizarre.
Custom officials at Melbourne Airport in 2005 became suspicious when they heard ‘flipping noises’ coming from underneath a woman’s skirt. Suspecting something fishy was occurring, they lifted it up to discover that she was wearing an apron of plastic water-filled bags containing 51 live tropical fish. Another smuggler tried to enter New Mexico with 16 packages of cheese stashed in his truck tires. However, he was busted by a border control X-ray machine and his truck confiscated as he’d failed to declare the extra goods.
Most bizarrely though, a man tried to pass through Los Angeles airport with two pygmy slow loris monkeys stored in pockets on his trousers. The man, Robert Cusack, 49, was travelling from Thailand and had previously drawn attention to himself after four rare birds of paradise escaped from his suitcase and flew over the heads of officials.
We don’t store living plants or animals at Big Yellow Self Storage but you can use our self storage for anything else you’d like for as little as a week, month, year or as long as you want. We only ask for seven days notice when you want to leave. Visit our Quote and reserve online page to get started.
What do you think of the sneaky tactics above? Got any stories you’ve heard about recently. Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
In one of the most crowded countries in the world, space is a big issue. To put this into context, Japan is roughly the size of California, slightly larger than Great Britain, and only a little smaller than France. However, it has over double the population of the UK.
As such, innovation in storing everything from clothes to food is standard. Storage lockers are placed around the city, as are bike racks – and data storage is a large part of the country’s economy.
What can we learn from this though? Building small can be a sign of higher ambitions, and creating a small home can be an amazingly positive and creative act, one which can enhance life in surprising ways.
‘The Very Small Home’ by Azby Brown presents stunning design advances in Japan. Particular emphasis is given to what the author calls ‘the Big Idea’ – the overarching concept that does the most to make the house feel more spacious than it actually is. Among the Big Ideas introduced here are ingenious sources of natural light, well-thought-out atriums, snug but functional kitchens, unobtrusive partitions and free-flowing circulation paths.
This book puts the house designs in the context of lifestyle trends, and highlights their shared characteristics. For each project, the intentions of the designers and occupants are examined. The result is a very human sensibility that runs through the book. A glimpse of the dreams and aspirations that these unique homes represent and that belies their apparent modesty. The second half of the book is devoted to illustrating the special features in the homes, from clever storage and kitchen designs, to ingenious skylights and nooks.
The one thing you’ll inevitably need if you’re planning to set up your own business from home is a lot of space. With the help of commercial self storage, you can make this process a lot easier by storing papers and documents securely offsite.
It’s a great way to store documents safely, and also provides the opportunity to many to not only change the way they work – but also expand their businesses. Records are important and have to be maintained, but storing them requires a lot of space. Self storage allows you to keep your files organised in one location – that’s easy to sort through when needed.
This isn’t only relevant to smaller businesses either. Is your business expanding or simply overstocked? You could use a facility for space for equipment, promotional material or to archive documents.
What if you need to free up valuable office or work space for something else – or are simply renovating, relocating or decorating your business? The possibilities are endless, and well worth considering in both the long and short term.
Big Yellow Self Storage provides secure do it yourself storage rooms for domestic and business customers for as long or as short a period as required. We provide space that’s easy to arrange, secure – and affordable.
