You don’t necessarily have to be a wine expert to begin your own wine collection, there is plenty of help and advice available to get you started. We have compiled some of the best tips and tricks to get you on your way to developing a cellar, which will have your friends green with envy.
There will always be something about wine you didn’t know, no matter how advanced your knowledge is. Education is paramount in becoming a successful wine collector. Read as many wine books, columns and websites as you can. Where possible, visit your nearest vineyard (or take the opportunity to go next time you are holidaying somewhere renowned for wine production). Look out for wine tasting events as these sessions will help you decide which wines to add to your collection. To really develop your knowledge on the subject, it would be a good idea to take a wine course.
There are 3 main categories of wine;
1. Drink it now,
2. Keep it for 2-5 years
3. Keep it for 5 years or more.
If you don’t know which category your wine falls into, you will not get the best from your bottle. The majority of wines (about 90%) do not improve with age and are meant to be drunk within the year. Seek advice from wine merchants, as they should be able to provide a knowledgeable service about the best wines to buy and how long to keep them.
Although you should be confident in your own taste and build a wine collection which will adhere to your own preferences, you should also broaden your horizons and buy new wines, which you have not tried before. The more you experiment, the better you will be at differentiating between the countries wines come from. For example, with time you may be able to tell whether a particular chardonnay comes from Burgundy, New Zealand or California. As you get more confident, you may even be able to taste the difference between different regions of the same country.
Make use of the various promotions and discounts on offer. You can usually get money off when you buy wine by the case. Alternatively purchase directly from the wholesaler or make use of any friends in the restaurant business by placing orders through them. To get the best deals shop around for wine clubs – these can often save you lots of money as they cut prices for their members.
Organisation is a key aspect to your wine collection. Once you have brought your wine make sure you put it in good order. This is essential to avoid getting in a muddle, and ensuring you do not waste a valuable bottle of wine, which is not yet ready to drink. Cataloguing your bottles in a book will help you know what you have and when you can open or sell your bottles. If you open a bottle, make sure you log it and add tasting comments alongside the notes, for your future reference.
Tailoring a storage solution for your new collection is one of the most important things to consider. Improper storage of your wine can ruin your stock so it is essential to store your wine under the right conditions.
At Big Yellow Self Storage we know the importance of storing wine properly. At our flagship store in Fulham we offer specialist wine storage rooms. Our private cellars are climate controlled and computer monitored. You can even access your vintage vinos 7 days a week. To find out more visit The Wine Cellars section on our website now. For more information about wine tasting courses and events visit eatmytown.co.uk.
Making use of the space under your bed is a great storage solution, it’s also an area which is often forgotten about. The area can be used for items that aren’t used regularly such as out of season clothes, shoes and bedding. Whether you have drawers or a raised bed, a little creativity and a few simple storage solutions can transform an empty area into an indispensible storage space.
One of the best storage solutions for underneath the bed is vacuum storage bags as they come in a variety of shapes and sizes.
They can be filled with sweaters, clothes and any other soft items, then by using a vacuum cleaner you can easily suck the air from the bags which reduces them to a compact storable size. The deflated bags can then stored underneath the bed and even stacked together to maximise the space you have available.
There are always more traditional storage containers such as clear plastic bins that can be used to store bulk items. They come in different sizes depending on the space you have available to use and can easily slide from beneath your bed.
For all of your storage needs including storage boxes and vacuum storage bags visit us in store or order online at our online box shop.
Making tough decisions about what clothes to keep can be the hardest part of de-cluttering your wardrobe and many people are afraid that they might throw out something they’ll want in the future. As a result wardrobes can become your own personal indoor storage sheds which house all the old, off season and mismatched things you can’t bear to throw away. Indecision is what causes clutter to build-up and often leads people to hoarding clothes that they would no longer wear, but keep just in case.
Keeping all your clothing may seems to be the easiest option but if you can replace the thought of “I’ll get into this someday” with, “I’ll get new things when I lose weight” as an extra incentive and you’ll be on the right path.
Here’s some top tips on how to tackle the mountain in your wardrobe:
1. Start at the top of your wardrobe, pick a shelf and take out all of the items. Be hard on yourself because if you haven’t worn an item of clothing in over a year, it’s unlikely that you ever will in the future. If other items don’t fit you can give them away, donate to charity or keep in a self storage room.
2. When your wardrobe is empty, clean the shelves, walls and the floor to freshen up the area before you put sorted clothes back in. Once you have done that, start organising your clothes by everyday items, colour and by the length. If there are items that you wear more frequently than others you can place them in an area where it’s easily accessible for you.
3. For every new item of clothing that you add to your wardrobe, be sure to remove an old item so it won’t take up valuable space. It will also ensure that your wardrobe doesn’t get re-cluttered and stays manageable.
You can even maximise your wardrobe space by keeping your out of season items elsewhere and rotating them. We have wardrobe boxes that help to make storing clothes easy. To find out how you can benefit from storing your clothing in our self storage rooms at any of our stores, visit our Quote and Reserve Online page to get started.
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.
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.
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.
