Thursday, April 8th, 2010
We all know what it’s like. You’ve had your phone for a while, it’s looking a bit tired – but more importantly, it’s acting it. There are a number of things you can do to fix this, and breathe new life into your handset before banishing it to the back of a drawer for good.
Sluggish performance on most phones is almost always caused by a lack of memory, itself caused by having too many apps on your phone. To delete some apps, go to the main menu and find your applications folder. Doing this will show you a list of all the apps installed on your phone. Tap on an entry and your phone will show you how much memory the app takes up, as well as giving you the option to delete it.
You can set single speed dial keys by holding down the key from the home screen, but for setting up a whole lot, go to the Options menu, select Phone Options and then Speed Dial Numbers. Here, you’ll see the whole alphabet, ready for you to assign.
Finally, using the wrong version of software on your phone can also slow it down. The process for this is different for each manufacturer, but if you call your operator – they’ll be able to talk you through how to update your phone, and delete the old version to save space!
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Tags: Big Yellow Self Storage, boxes, business storage, clean, clutter, collectibles, de-clutter, declutter, furniture storage, mobile, personal storage, self storage, self storage blog, spring, spring clean, storage, storage solution, student storage, UK storage, wine storage
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Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
Did you know that most hamsters inhabit semi-desert areas where they live in burrows consisting of multiple tunnels and chambers – the most important of which store food and bedding for the animals to sleep in. Hamsters are nocturnal, so they sleep during the hot days and move around in the evening when it’s cooler. As such, conserving energy is vital.
Most species of hamsters have expandable cheek pouches in which they can carry food and bedding back to their burrow to store. In fact, the word ‘hamster’ comes from the German word ‘hamstern’ which means ‘to hoard’.
A hoard of nuts buried by a rodent 17 million years ago is the oldest food larder so far discovered in the fossil record. A team from the University of Bonn in Germany found a burrow containing 1,800 fossilised nuts when digging at an open-cast mine near Garzweiler. Back then, hamsters were predominately found in the wild, and though they’re mainly now kept as pets, this proves that behaviour hasn’t changed much since then.
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Thursday, April 1st, 2010
Our customers have busy lifestyles – that’s why we’re constantly evolving our service to make your experience as efficient as possible. We’re extremely proud to launch a completely new and unique service to help our new customers save time: Check in online.
With Check in online, we streamline the process of getting ready to move your items into our storage rooms, by offering you the ability to complete everything online.
What’s it all about?
• Our Check in online system helps you enter all your details before you move in, thereby saving you time when you arrive at Big Yellow
• Don’t worry if you don’t have all the information to hand – you can save and come back to the page as many times as you want before you move in.
• Our system helps you plan your self storage more effectively by sending you email reminders to help you get organised for your moving day, perfect for those looking for a stress free experience when renovating or moving home.
Check in online is now open to all reserved customers with internet access – if you’ve reserved over the phone or in person, no need to fret you can still check in online. Just ask our sales team for your customer number, or alternatively check your reservation confirmation email.
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Tags: big yellow, Big Yellow Self Storage, boxes, business storage, check in, clutter, collectibles, de-clutter, declutter, fine wine storage, furniture storage, industry, moving home, online, personal storage, self storage, self storage blog, storage, storage solution, student storage, time saving, UK storage, wine storage
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Thursday, March 25th, 2010
Going to Uni is an exciting experience. However, the process of actually moving can be stressful to say the least! There are plenty of helpful resources available from your school, the government and even your new campus. But sometimes, what you really want is the opinion of your peers, straight from the horses mouth.
When can you move your things into your room? Is there a place to park outside and drop things off? What about cupboard space? These three sites will connect you with current and post graduates to answer all of your questions.
Student Room – where GCSE, A Level and university students share academic and social knowledge: from study help, to choosing a university, careers, and student life.
National Union of Students – NUS is the national voice of students helping them to campaign, get cheap student discounts and provide advice on living life to the full.
The Student – With news, features, classified adverts and forum.
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Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
Cash for Kids is a Dundee-based charity we’ve supported for some time, providing self storage space at our local Armadillo site for hundreds of toys over the Christmas period last year. So when the chance came up to sponsor their annual fundraising quiz night, we signed up straight away. The event takes place tonight, at the at the Fairmuir Social Club and places are limited, so if you fancy yourself as a bit of a mastermind, contact the team on 01382 200 800 to get involved.
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Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
Self storage isn’t simply about putting things away for safe keeping. Deciding to hire a room can also act as the motivation you need to de-clutter your living space.
Most of us hoard things and stash them away – whether it’s old clothes, letters, newspapers or plastic carrier bags. But you know it’s time to organise or de-clutter your home when you’re spending far too much time looking for things! In the long run, removing the things that really aren’t useful on a day-to-day basis will save you time and stress, creating a more relaxing home.
Items that may seem essential – but take up a lot of room and haven’t been touched in years – are more often not. Get rid of clothes you haven’t worn for years, de-clutter shelves, cupboards and under the beds, take the contents of your attic or garage to a car boot sale – you may even make some money.
One of the main things is to just get started, fix a scheduled time each day to tidy and start small. Take one room at a time, and don’t expect overnight results. Try a deadline perhaps but be realistic and when you decide that something really might become useful one day – your storage room is the place to put it, not just another spare room!
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Monday, March 15th, 2010
The sun is finally here (almost), coats are getting lighter and the flowers are poking their heads out from under autumnal leaves and wintery ice. With this change in the air and Spring around the corner, a fresh start and a new look is on everyone’s minds – whether that’s a new haircut, new job or more often than not, some redecorating.
With this comes the long-awaited seasonal ritual – the packing away of the winter coats, boots, and sports equipment that are spilling out of closets and piling up in various corners of the home. Spring is a great time to get rid of all of the stuff that has been accumulating around the house. For some this may be just cleaning out the closet to accommodate for a warmer wardrobe, for others it is a time to really get down and dirty eliminating clutter and cleaning the whole house from top to bottom. Whichever way you do your spring cleaning, a cost efficient way to organise the leftover clutter is a storage room.
With Big Yellow Self Storage you can easily store your valuables while de-cluttering, redecorating to moving. You can store things of all shapes and sizes, with room sizes from 9 sq ft up to 400 sq ft. We employ state of the art customer service and technology in all our stores, boasting 24 hour digital CCTV monitored by staff round the clock. Each self storage room is protected by its own alarm while there’s also unique PIN entry access, well lit corridors and fire detection systems in all self storage locations with easy access 7 days a week. Visit our Quote & Reserve Online page for details on how we can give you a helping hand.
Over the next few month’s we’ll be bringing you the best tips, tricks and online resources to help you make the most of the spring clean season. Hit the subscribe button above to keep in the loop.
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Tags: Big Yellow Self Storage, business storage, byss, clean, clutter, collectibles, de-clutter, declutter, furniture storage, music storage, personal storage, self storage, self storage blog, spring, storage, storage solution, student storage, UK storage, wine storage
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Friday, March 12th, 2010
A woman in America was surprised to discover that her car’s indicator had stopped working because there were thousands of nuts stored under the bonnet of her car?
As reported in the Metro, Hope Wideup of Indiana came across the horde of walnuts when she opened the car’s bonnet to see what was wrong. ‘There were thousands in there. They were everywhere,’ she said.
Wideup suspects that it all started when a chipmunk snatched a garden glove from her yard. She later found the glove in the engine compartment when she was trying to repair the broken turn signal. Unable to fix the problem, however, Wideup let the car sit unused for a couple of weeks, before hearing an unusual noise from the engine when she finally tried to start the vehicle.
The moral of the story? Check under your bonnet regularly and make sure that one of your furry friends hasn’t taken up residence.
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Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
It was this time last year that we won a Sunday Times 100 Best Companies To Work For accolade. Guess what? We’ve just won again, but this year we placed even higher! We’re now sitting pretty at number 25, up 43 spots from 68. Even though the economic downturn has created a knock on effect on the self storage industry, our company culture of involving our staff at all levels and rewarding them has contributed to better results and continued growth.
For those who don’t know, the Best Companies organisation was formed with the purpose of making the world a better workplace and has established its reputation through an authoritative and highly rigorous methodology. Each year its media partner, The Sunday Times, publishes the top 100 scoring companies. Their site inspections and workforce survey identifies workplace performance and best practice according to eight key factors. These factors are particularly significant as they are defined through survey results from employees – straight from the horse’s mouth if you like!
Leadership
How employees feel about the head of the organisation, senior managers, and the organisations values and principles
My Manager
How employees feel about and communicate with their direct manager
Personal Growth
What employees feel about training and their future prospects
Wellbeing
How employees feel about stress, pressure at work, and work life balance
My Team
Employees feelings towards their immediate colleagues and how well they work together
Giving Something Back
The extent to which employees feel their organisation has a positive impact on society
My Company
The level of engagement employees have for their job and organisation
Fair Deal
How happy employees are with their pay and benefits
To see how we ranked against the other 99 and what our staff members had to say visit The Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For online here.
Many thanks goes out to our Head of Human Resources, Cheryl Hathaway and our brilliant staff members – without whom this wouldn’t be possible.
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Monday, March 8th, 2010
It really doesn’t take long to clean up your home when you’ve got an end goal in mind. If you are about to put your home on the market, then you should know that it becomes all the more important for you to make the space inviting. It’s a lot like presenting a blank canvas to a new family. Letting them see the potential for how they can make it their own – instead of getting distracted by what’s already there.
And when you are giving people the tour of your home, the last thing that you are going to want to do is make it look a lot smaller by failing to clear out any extra items.
Almost every home shows better with less furniture. Remove pieces of furniture that block or hamper paths and walkways and put them in storage. Since your bookcases are now empty, store them. Remove extra leaves from your dining room table to make the room appear larger. Leave just enough furniture in each room to showcase the room’s purpose and plenty of room to move around. You don’t want buyers scratching their heads and saying, “What is this room used for?”
What’s more, when you see those offers start coming in, you are going to thank yourself for taking the extra time to clean everything up.
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Tags: big yellow, Big Yellow Self Storage, boxes, business storage, clutter, de-clutter, declutter, furniture storage, home, music storage, personal storage, self storage, self storage blog, Self Stroage, staging, storage, storage solution, student storage, UK storage, wine storage
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